The end of the Cold War has lowered the curtain on a frightening fifty-year struggle for ballistic superiority. Of course, the direct and indirect results of the U.S.-Soviet arms race include much of today's technology. (The Internet, for example.) In this engrossing history, T.A. Heppenheimer chronicles the events leading to the most dramatic use of high-powered missiles -- manned space flight. From the Nazi rocketeers to Sputnik to the Apollo moon landing, the book presents the people and politics behind the accomplishments, including a great deal of recently declassified information on the Soviet space program and its main architect, Sergei Korolev.

Harold Check