Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest

Gripping, packed with anecdotes, brilliantly researched and beautifully written, the story of how a nation went mad in its quest to put a man on the moon. For a very brief moment during the 1960s, America was moonstruck. Every boy dreamed of being an astronaut; every girl dreamed of marrying one. But despite the best efforts of a generation of scientists, the almost foolhardy heroics of the astronauts, and 35 billion dollars, the moon turned out to be a place of 'magnificent desolation', to use Buzz Aldrin's words. In Dark Side of the Moon, Gerard DeGroot reveals how NASA cashed in on the Americans' thirst for heroes in an age of discontent and became obsessed with putting a man on the moon, in the process limiting what could be acheived in space. Drawing on meticulous archival research, DeGroot cuts through the propaganda peddled by the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations - not to mention the NASA spin doctors - and exposes the truth behind one of the most revered myths of American history.

About the Author :
Born in California, Gerard DeGroot is Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews. He has written ten books on various aspects of twentieth-century history, most recently The Bomb- A Life, a history of nuclear weapons which won the 2004 RUSI Westminster Medal for Military Literature. He regularly contributes to national newspapers both in Britain and in the USA.

Review :
A canny academic's take on the real reason behind America's obsession with beating the Soviets to the Moon, and the absurdity of what they found Annoyingly thorough and readable DeGroot gets off to a terrific start: his prose is punchy, his contentions startling, his indignation palpable It can't be denied that beyond the dingy politicking, lunatic number-crunching and slide-rule stuff, there was something grand about the US space programme. DeGroot's achievement is to have preserved that, even as he exposes the dark side An elegant contribution to the history of the space age. For space nuts who think Apollo is all about heroism, it should be compulsory reading DeGroot goes far beyond his precise academic remit in bringing us this caustic, absorbing and suttee exploration of how and why the dream died DeGroot has a good ear for anecdotes and his narrative is highly amusing. An enjoyably written argument A gripping account DeGroot tells the story of the American lunar mission with verve and elegance