Red Moon Rising, Matthew Brzezinski
Red Moon Rising, Matthew Brzezinski
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Red Moon Rising
Sputnik and the Hidden Rivals That Ignited the Space Age

Author: Matthew Brzezinski

Narrator: Charles Stransky

Unabridged: 11 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/18/2007


Synopsis

The first book to capture both the Soviet and American sides of the event that started the space race and changed our world.

On October fourth, 1957, a time of Cold War paranoia, the Soviet Union secretly launched the Earth's first artificial moon. No bigger than a basketball, the tiny satellite was powered by a car battery. Yet, for all its simplicity, Sputnik stunned the world.

Based on extensive research in the US and newly opened archives in the former USSR, Red Moon Rising tells the story of five extraordinary months in the history of technology and the rivalry between two superpowers. It takes us inside the Kremlin and introduces the Soviet engineer Korolev, the charismatic, politically-minded visionary who motivated Khruschev to support what others dismissed as a ridiculous program. Korolev is virtually unknown to most Americans, yet it is because of him that NASA exists, that college loan programs were started in the US, and that Kennedy and Johnson became presidents.

Character driven, suspenseful, and dramatic, Red Moon Rising unveils the politics, people, science, and mindset behind a critical and transformative world event.

About Matthew Brzezinski

After working for the New York Times in Warsaw in the early 1990s, Matthew Brzezinski served as Moscow correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Following the September 11th attacks, he covered homeland security as a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of Casino Moscow, Fortress America, and Red Moon Rising. He lives in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brendan on June 20, 2016

All that you didn't know about the history of the Soviet/American space race. Really, I am surprised that there aren't more books about this rather major event in world history but, it seems to me anyway, that Matthew Brzezinski is one of the very first to put the extraordinary events leading up to......more

Goodreads review by Yibbie on May 09, 2019

Sputnik changed the world. This is an extremely detailed look at the events that preceded its launch and the American response. While it covers 1956-58 in the most detail, it starts with the scramble for German technology and scientists in 1945. Then it alternately follows Sergei Korolev and the So......more

Goodreads review by Cassandra Kay on July 09, 2012

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. Perhaps it owes in part to the fact that I knew literally nothing about this time period in history or what exactly the space race meant in terms of politics and becoming a nuclear superpower. This was a fun way to open my eyes to the motivations behind so......more

Goodreads review by Paul on March 14, 2017

I liked it a lot. If you are interesting in geeking out over the intricacies of the early years of the Soviet and US ICBM and space programmes, then this is the book for you. If you are not, it definitely isn't!......more

Goodreads review by Cropredy on July 10, 2015

This book was interesting. Before I read this, what I knew of Sputnik could be summed up as "The Soviets launched a satellite before the US - that sent the US into panic and led to an increase in science education." After reading this, which is well sourced with Soviet accounts as well as American, i......more