Apr 7 1985
From The Space Library
In a review of . . . The Heavens and the Earth by Walter McDougall, a reviewer for the NY Times Book Review said that the book operated on four levels: as a narrative history of space activity, a political analysis of what caused Sputnik 1 and what Sputnik 1 caused, an exposition of the contradictions inherent in the Soviet socialist system and the American free-enterprise system, and an essay on the eschatology of what is called the "pursuit of power" Reviewer Alex Roland noted the book was based on a vast published literature complemented by archival research in the U.S. and Europe, interviews with many of the key principals, and recent declassification of important material, including National Security Council policy paper 5814.1, the first official national policy on space.
Roland called the book the "most comprehensive history of space activity written to date, the most thorough analysis of the political and social forces at work. It provides a plausible and compelling interpretation of how and why the space age has developed as it has. And it poses an original and stimulating paradigm for analysis of the post-industrial state in a world of continuing cold war. With this book," Roland concluded, "the history of space activity has come of age." (NYT Book Review, Apr 7/85, 1)
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