'You must never behave as if your life belongs to a man. Do you hear me?'

Space Race: The Untold Story of Two Rivals and Their Struggle for the Moon Hardback

Space Race: The Untold Story of Two Rivals and Their Struggle for the Moon

Deborah Cadbury

From the author of ‘Seven Wonders of the Industrial World’, another highly anticipated TV tie-in charting the shocking but true story behind the space race – and the ruthless, brilliant scientists who fuelled it.

The end of the Cold War finally reveals a generation of secrets and cover-ups, bringing a historical opportunity: the unmasking of the true heroes and villains behind the biggest race of mankind.

This is one of the greatest stories in world history, beginning in the bloody throes of the Second World War and spanning through to the moon landings. With the two superpowers pitched against one another during the Cold War, this is the race to create the most powerful rocket and dominate the world, culminating in 1969’s ‘giant leap for mankind’. The most pioneering and high-risk experiments ever undertaken cost untold millions – and hundreds of lives as mistakes were made, some too horrific to be made public.

It is a tale that plays out against a backdrop of communism and espionage. Buried within this multi-million-dollar battle between nations are the dramatic accounts of the individuals whose passion to be the winner of this dream at any cost. With ex-Nazi Wernher von Braun on the American side pitted against the enigmatic Sergei Korolev on the Soviet side, this revealing new history shows the extent to which politics and personal ambition combined to create an explosive race for the glory of victory.

Reviews of Space Race: The Untold Story of Two Rivals and Their Struggle for the Moon

    • ‘Lucid, pacy and readable.’ New Statesman
    • ‘This fascinating book illuminates the complex relations between Germany, America and Russia during the space race of the Cold War years…”The Space Race” is much sharper than the usual television tie-in … Heroes, villains and victims populate this gripping story.’ Daily Telegraph
    • Praise for Deborah Cadbury:
    • ‘The Lost King of France’:’This is history as it should be. It is stunningly written, I could not put it down. This is the best account of the French Revolution I have ever read.’ Alison Weir
    • ‘The Dinosaur Hunters’:’Beautifully structured and sympathetically narrated, Cadbury’s book benefits from having a subject that successfully brings together science, suspense and sentiment. Something for everyone, then.’ Sunday Times

More from Deborah Cadbury