Sputnik: The Shock of the Century

New York: Walker Publishing Company, 2001. First Printing. Hardcover. [10], 310 pages. Illustrations. Diagrams. Footnotes. Bibliography. Index. Pencil erasure on half-title. Inscribed by the author. Paul Dickson (born 1939 in Yonkers, New York) is a freelance writer of more than 65 non-fiction books, mostly on American English language and popular culture. He has written many articles on a wide variety of subjects, including baseball and the military. He is a founding member and former president of Washington Independent Writers and a member of the National Press Club. Dickson coined the term "word word". For his published work on baseball, The Washington Post has described Dickson as "baseball's answer to Noah Webster or, at the very least, William Safire." In May 1979, he appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to promote his book The Official Rules, which detailed the history of Murphy's Law and similar aphorisms. Carson and Dickson spent time sharing similar sayings that they enjoyed. Dickson graduated from Wesleyan University in 1961. He resides in Garrett Park, Maryland. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the space age. Sputnik, all of 184 pounds with only a radio transmitter inside its highly polished shell, became the first man-made object in space; while it immediately shocked the world, its long-term impact was even greater, for it profoundly changed the shape of the twentieth century. Washington journalist Paul Dickson chronicles the dramatic events and developments leading up to and emanating from Sputnik's launch. Supported by groundbreaking, original research and many recently declassified documents, "Sputnik" offers a fascinating profile of the early American and Soviet space programs and a strikingly revised picture of the politics and personalities behind the facade of America's fledgling efforts to get into space. Although Sputnik was unmanned, its story is intensely human. Sputnik owed its success to many people, from the earlier visionary, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, whose theories were ahead of their time, to the Soviet spokesmen strategically positioned around the world on the day the satellite was launched, who created one of the greatest public-relations events of all time. Its chief designer, however--the brilliant Sergei Korolev--remained a Soviet state secret until after his death. Equally hidden from view was the political intrigue dominating America's early space program, as the military services jockeyed for control and identity in a peacetime world. For years, former Nazi Wernher von Braun, who ran the U.S. Army's missile program, lobbied incessantly that his Rocket Team should be handed responsibility for the first Earth-orbiting satellite. Condition: Very good / Very good.

Keywords: Dwight Eisenhower, John Medaris, Missiles, NASA, Rockets, Satellites, Soviet Union, Sputnik, Inscribed, Bumper Project, Cold War, Robert Goddard, International Geophysical Year, John Medaris, Hermann Oberth, Redstone Rocket, Rocket Team, Satellite, W

ISBN: 0802713653

[Book #33527]

Price: $60.00

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