Space Race: The Untold Story of Two Rivals and Their Struggle for the Moon [Hardcover]

 

 

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Having an interest in all things involved in space I was eager to read this book although I did expect it to be a hard read that the history books that I have read in the past.
Imagine my suprise therefore when I started reading it and found myself engrossed in it form thte outset.
It tracks the progress of the space programmes in the US and in the USSR mainly concentrating on the two chief rocket designers in the seperate countries. This book reads like a novel and is often filled with more background information (the power struggles that existed with the soviets for example are particularly interesting) than was expected. This is good as it gives a fuller account of the people involved in the two programmes.
The book finishes quite abruptly with the landing of the Apollo 11 mission. This is no so much of a problem as the mission signified the end of the space race and has been covered well in many other books. However, there seems to be more of an emphasis on the soviet space programme. Reasons for this may be due to the fact that much of the information regarding the soviet programme was kept classified for a long period of time whereas the American space programme was a very public affair.
Finally this is a well written book that reads much more like a novel than a historic account on the 20-30 years prior to the Apollo 11 landing. This is a book that would therefore appeal to all who have an interest in the space race.

This book is really fascinating to anyone who is interested in the "space race" the author has done a wonderful job of showing the human sides of the amazing people who build and flew in these rockets. It's far more detailed then the TV series and is certainly a good companion to accompany it. From the moment I got this book in my hands I couldn't put it down. It's the best book I have read since Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" I will defiantly be looking into other works by this author

Reading this story, one finds it hard to shake off the feeling that there was some kind of fate in the stories of both Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev. Both were energetic, brilliant space visionaries, with the clout and charisma to see their dreams through, both should have died young, in the conflagrations of Stalin purge and war respectively, yet they didn't ... and was it a coincidence that both ended up on each side of the Cold War superpower divide, so both had both the political and monetary backing necessary to achieve their hugely expensive dreams? It was as if Something had decreed that it was necessary for humankind to get into space, and therefore Korolev and von Braun were selected by it to lead the way.

Cadbury's book is a captivating and clear-eyed account of this extraordinary tale. It is so good to see, at long last, a book that is not exclusively concerned with the American side of things, we are all getting a bit bored with that. Wonderful as it was, the American venture was not the only one, and it was, in any case, nowhere near as interesting as the Russian story. Due to the hardships the Russians endured, their tale has a depth and poignancy lacking in that of their rivals, not least because of the fact that Sergei Korolev was so much more attractive a personality than von Braun. Cadbury describes Korolev's suffering at the hands of Stalin's minions with great sensitivity, and her account of his early death is quite heartbreaking.

However, there are some caveats. For example, Cadbury makes several careless mistakes in quoting her sources - for example, when Korolev, knowing he was about to die, chose to relate his experiences in the Gulag to his two favourite cosmonauts, Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov, Cadbury states that he started to talk at four a. m, while Leonov, who was there, said he started talking at midnight and went on till four. This may seem a minor nit-pick, but it does seem to show that Cadbury did not pay proper attention to her primary sources.

Also, extraordinarily, Cadbury makes no connection between the agonizing heart condition (among other health problems) that Korolev suffered as a result of his gruesome ordeal in the worst of the Gulag camps - Kolyma. The implication given in the book is that they came out of nowhere. Korolev's illness and early death was a direct result of his cruel imprisonment, a fact that Cadbury does nothing to clarify. One would think that she is trying to excuse the evil, anti-human political philosophy that allowed such monstrous crimes to not only flourish but go unpunished. She does not make clear that Korolev's successes were in spite of the Communist society in which he lived, not because of it.

She also fails to relate another fascinating tale - the way in which Wernher von Braun was forced out of NASA once the moon race was won and he was no longer of any use to them. Whatever you may think of von Braun, this was out of order. And, while she goes into poignant detail about Korolev's last days, von Braun's own terrible death, from cancer, is only vaguely touched upon.

Yet the Americans richly deserved to win the space race - they did not cruelly abuse their scientists, or allow petty jealousies to sabotage their efforts, as the Soviets did. But it is good to hear of the other side of the story at last; and, despite some minor quibbles, it is difficult to imagine a more well-written and captivating account than this.

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5.0 out of 5 stars For a friend.
My friend asked me to buy her this so she could use it in her a level history coursework, she used it, didn't complain so Im assuming it must be good. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Mr. Connor Brailsford

4.0 out of 5 stars The whole story?
Being a child of the early 60s, I grew up during the Space Race. Like many around my age, my dad got me out of bed during the early hours of the morning to watch the moon... Read more

Published on 9 Dec 2009 by S. Horrigan

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining read
Entertaining review of the post-war space race between the US and the Soviet Union, told primarily through the eyes of the two men who led the teams designing each country's... Read more

Published on 26 May 2009 by lifeclearout

4.0 out of 5 stars And across the line...
Deborah's way of telling this amazing story really makes you feel as if you're in the race, or a spectator at least. Read more

Published on 8 Nov 2008 by J. A. van Biljon

3.0 out of 5 stars Get the physics right!
I found that the reading and enjoyment of this book somewhat marred by the type of basic A level physics mistakes commonly made by my students when they do not consider the... Read more

Published on 18 Nov 2007 by Mr. Adrian R. Moore

2.0 out of 5 stars Mills and Boon space history
I was really looking forward to this book, but it is a big disappointment.

I expect a hardback book of a TV series to be well illustrated, particularly if the BBC is... Read more

Published on 9 Aug 2007 by Nick Stevens

4.0 out of 5 stars race to space
Written to accompany the bbc series of the same name, this is a non fiction book that relates the story of the american and russian race to be furthest ahead with their space... Read more

Published on 19 April 2007 by Paul Tapner

5.0 out of 5 stars Space Race
It was the greatest race of the 20th century ... the race to rule the heavens ... a race between the two superpowers, Russia and the USA. Read more

Published on 29 Nov 2006 by J. Otto

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as a novel
This was bought for me as a gift and to be honest I expected it to join others of a similar vein on the bookshelf and stay there. Read more

Published on 17 Jan 2006 by the elf

2.0 out of 5 stars Space Race?
I should have realized when I picked up the book that I was wasting my money. The title is “Space Race: The untold story of two rivals & their struggle for the... Read more

Published on 5 Jan 2006 by Susan Anonstrom

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