The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age - Walter A. McDougall

Title: The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age
Author: Walter A. McDougall
Publisher: Basic Books
Format: Hardcover with dust jacket
Edition: First edition, first printing, 1985
ISBN: 046502887X
Condition: Second-hand. Good. The hardcover remains sound, with visible shelf wear, rubbing, creasing and edge wear to the dust jacket, including wear at the spine ends and corners. Please see photos for the exact copy available.

Walter A. McDougall’s major history of the Space Age examines the political, technological and ideological forces behind the American and Soviet space programs. Rather than treating the space race simply as a sequence of scientific achievements, McDougall places it within the wider history of the Cold War, state power, technological competition and public policy.

First published in 1985, the book became an influential study of the political history of space exploration and won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for History. It will appeal to readers interested in the Cold War, NASA, Soviet history, spaceflight, technology and twentieth-century political history.