{"product_id":"sputnik-the-shock-of-the-century-9780802713650","title":"Sputnik: The Shock of the Century","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn October 4  1957  as Leave It to Beaver premiered on American television  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. In his upcoming book  Washington journalist Paul Dickson chronicles the dramatic events and developments leading up to and emanating from Sputniks 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 Americas 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  howeverthe brilliant Sergei Korolevremained a Soviet state secret until after his death. Equally hidden from view was the political intrigue dominating Americas 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. Armys missile program  lobbied incessantly that his Rocket Team should be handed responsibility for the first Earth-orbiting satellite. He was outraged that Sputnik beat him and America into space. For his part  President Eisenhower was secretly pleased that the Russians had launched first  because by orbiting over the United States Sputnik established the principle of \"freedom of space\" that could justify the spy satellites he thought essential to monitor Soviet missile buildup. As Dickson reveals  Eisenhower was  in fact  much more a master of the Sputnik crisis than he appeared to be at the time and in subsequent accounts. The U.S. public reaction to Sputnik was monumental. In a single weekend  Americans were wrenched out of a mood of national smugness and post-war material comfort. Initial shock at and fear of the Soviets intentions galvanized the country and swiftly prompted innovative developments that define our world today. Sputnik directly or indirectly influenced nearly every aspect of American life  from the demise of the suddenly superfluous tail fin and an immediate shift towards science in the classroom to the arms race that defined the cold war  the competition to reach the Moon  and the birth of the Internet. By shedding new light on a pivotal era  Paul Dickson expands our knowledge of the world we now inhabit  and reminds us that the story of Sputnik goes far beyond technology and the beginning of the space age  and that its implications are still being felt today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647134687285,"sku":"ByrdShop_0802713653","price":26.07,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780802713650.jpg?v=1781688945","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/sputnik-the-shock-of-the-century-9780802713650","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}