Last week I finished:
Well, it's been a couple months since I've read a book about the Kennedys, and one can only go so long, so I decided to listen to the audio version of Douglas Brinkley's American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race. I chose audio because I had concerns that the book might be a bit dry, and I was right. Audio was the right choice for me. I suppose I may not have been the intended audience for this one. I have a romantic view of the moon landing (which happened 50 years ago this summer), but I have little interest in knowing the exhaustive steps taken, both scientifically and politically, to make it happen. I did learn a lot, but I also found myself tuning out every now and then. It's a long book. What struck me most about the moonshot (the name given to our race to the moon), was how unilateral the effort was (well, at least compared to how these things work nowadays; some Republicans, Ike included, harrumphed at the $40 million price tag). This was a generation who had just come home from World War II. They'd endured the unimaginable, were victorious, and were looking for a new adventure--a new "frontier" as Kennedy referred to space. Also, being that the United States was locked in a cold war with the Soviets, the space race, and Kennedy's promise to put a man on the moon before the decade (the 1960s) was out, was a quest not only to do the unimaginable, but to do it first, for the prestige in the eyes of the world and to send the message that the U.S. is powerful, visionary, and dynamic. It was vitally important politically, scientifically, and personally, that the space race and all its trickledown effects such as launching weapons and defense, be won by the United States, to give ourselves the homecourt advantage in the future. I was also struck by just how much energy both President Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson put into this project. I hadn't realized how invested both men were. Also, I didn't realize how many times the president suggested to the Soviets that the two countries join forces to go to the moon. These offers were rebuffed, obviously. Lastly, the book really brought home how important it is to have visionary people amongst us. I am not a visionary. I am not an idealist. I probably would have been one of those folks griping over the money being spent on space, not realizing how vitally important it was for the future. While visionary leadership can be taken too far, America is who she is because of that quality. My biggest complaint about the book is that it pretty much ends when Kennedy is assassinated. The actual moon landing is sort of blandly glossed over in the epilogue. I felt that the book was slowly building to the moon landing, but it was really just building to the president's death. But if you're interested in space, the moon landing, or JFK, this is worth the read. My rating: 3 stars.
This week I'll finish:
I'll be kind of glad to move on from this one.
Next up:
I cannot wait!
My Kindle re-read:
As charming as I remember.
My evening reads:
I am loving my nightly reads this month (well, I started early!). Each of them is a lot fun.
My next audiobook:
A nice summer read (listen), I hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment