
Red Moon Rising
Sputnik and the Hidden Rivals That Ignited the Space Age
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Narrated by:
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Charles Stransky
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 U.S., 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.
©2007 Matthew Brzezinski (P)2007 HighBridge CompanyListeners also enjoyed...




















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Narration was fine but, as mentioned elsewhere, the dramatic music, emphatic countdown in Russian, and rocketlift off sound at the beginning of each half were a little jarring. :-)
The Real Story of the Start of the Space Race
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As such, this is an excellent read for anyone who grew up in that era or who can recall the cold war. Of course, if you're young enough to have heard of these things and are curious, this book will be of interest. It should be of interest to everyone, as it shows how politics and personalities can, and still do, drive national policy.
The author managed to weave all of these elements into a well paced and flowing work. The material in this work could have been very dry if presented wrong, but Mr. Brzezinski managed to breath much life into this book. He's the type of history teacher I wish I had.
If you read just one book about cold war history, make it this one.
Much more than space and satellites
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Performance: While the narrator did an acceptable job reading the main text (but not amazingly by any means), my massive frustration is the egregious mispronunciation of many names throughout the book, particularly the Russian ones. I am not looking for a flawless Russian accent, but I reasonably expect the correct syllables to be voiced. An example is Beria, a very easily pronounced name, which the narrator reads instead as "BAR-ia". But worst of all is the entirely incorrect reading of Sergei Korolev's name (as "koro-LEV" rather than "KERE-lyov") which is inexcusable considering that he is likely the main character in the book.
Story: I really enjoyed listening to the book's holistic recount of the political landscape on both sides of the Iron Curtain including the motivations, struggles, and bureaucracy present in the two countries. Covering the background of Von Braun and the Nazi V-2 program during WWII up through development of the R-7 Semyorka and the Redstone rocket family, and eventually culminating with the stage set for the Cuban Missile Crisis—Red Moon Rising illustrates the story of how the Space Race began and how its founders fought furiously through politics and entrenched miopic interests to take to the skies and win the struggle for public, propagandist, and political favor. This is a fascinating story and also one I mostly already knew well from a broad, factual standpoint. The book, however, filled in the context and the story of the visionaries who made it happen. The writing throughout most of the book is excellent, informative, and provides a delightfully fair coverage of both countries. But my only complaint is that the first several chapters were written in an awful style infused with unnecessary technobabble and unnecessarily specific details of "technical storytelling" wherein whole pages describe out-of-place narratives of machines and not people. This is most apparent in the introduction that awkwardly fails to start the book with a gripping moment-by-moment recount of the first V-2 bombardment of London. I have a good understanding of rocketry and had no trouble following along with the details, but for a book about political and personal struggles to bootstrap the race into the cosmos, these hyper-technical sequences at the start of the book were just an awkward distraction that should have been rewritten to fit along with the excellent and fascinating writing present throughout the reminder of the Red Moon Rising.
Mostly great book, OK narration, misread names
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What a great story
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A good historical account
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Pound for Pound…one of best histories read!
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Informative, straight-forward.
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Narrator got lost on the way to a b-grade thriller
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Bringing together both the technology and political situations of the time, with information from the Soviet side, it tells the story not only of the first satellite, but how personalities played a role in it's launch. It also points to the problems the post war American build up enhanced the Soviet's seeking to display an ability not yet possessed by the Americans.
The often times demeaning attitudes held by political leaders playing a large part in Nikita Khrushchev's desire, to proceed with a program which would focus the worlds attention towards the heavens.
Above average and well balanced
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Spell-binding behind-the-scenes history
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