Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age

Brzezinski, Matthew

ISBN 10: 159887523X ISBN 13: 9781598875232

Publisher: Highbridge Co, 2007

Synopsis

Goes behind the scenes to describe how the fierce political battles between those on both sides of the Cold War conflict spawned the space race, discussing the implications of the 1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in terms of the battle between the two superpowers to put a man on the moon, in a study honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the Sputnik launch. Simultaneous.

About this title

About the Authors

MATTHEW BRZEZINSKI is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and former foreign correspondent at The Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism’s Wildest Frontier. He lives in Washington, D.C.

CHARLES STRANSKY has appeared on Broadway in Glengarry Glen Ross and The Front Page. He can be seen in The Spanish Prisoner, Homicide, andThings Change, all written and directed by David Mamet, and many other films. He has appeared in sitcoms such as Newhart, Murphy Brown, Frank's Place, My Sister Sam, in several episodes of Law & Order, and also in daytime dramas and commercials. He has narrated numerous audio books.

From the Back Cover

For the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik, the behind-the-scenes story of the fierce battles on Earth that launched the superpowers into space.

The spy planes were driving Nikita Khrushchev mad. Whenever America wanted to peer inside the Soviet Union, it launched a U-2, which flew too high to be shot down. But Sergei Korolev, Russia's chief rocket designer, had a solution. On October 4, 1957, the launch of Korolev's satellite, Sputnik, stunned the world.

In Red Moon Rising, Matthew Brzezinski draws on original interviews and new documentary sources from both sides of the Cold War divide. He shows how Khrushchev and U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower were buffeted by crises of their own creation, leaving the door open to ambitious politicians to squabble over the heavens and the earth.

The true story of the birth of the space age has never been told in such dramatic detail, and Red Moon Rising brings it vividly and memorably to life.

Reviews

This book tells the behind-the-scenes story of Sputnik, the first satellite launched into Earth orbit, and the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The story starts with the race for German technology, especially that of the German rocket scientists of WWII and moves through the beginning of the Cold War. The book offers a unique view of the geopolitics of the 1950s, and both history and space buffs will find it fascinating. However, the author tells the story in, at times, almost excruciating detail. This slows down the narration. Reader Charles Stransky is solid. He varies his tone and pace to good effect. And his pronunciation of Russian terms and names is crisp and clear. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Highbridge Co
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 159887523X
• ISBN 13: 9781598875232
• Binding: Audio CD