An academic study on the birth of the Soviet space program, situating the birth of cosmic enthusiasm within Russian and Soviet history.

Traces the development of rockets from the Middle Ages to modern times.

The thrilling stories and stunning illustrations of The Rockets' Red Glare are sure to capture the imagination of anyone interested in the fascinating history of the War of 1812.

On U.S. foreign policy, wars and presidents

Combining the narrative drive of the best of Clive Cussler with the knowledge of Tom Clancy, Rockets’ Red Glare is the techno-thriller of the year about an ingenious coup that would change the balance in the world’s arsenal forever On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy orders the US Navy to search all ships en route to Cuba. For six tense days, a frightened world watches as the two most powerful nations on Earth edge toward war. On October 28, under intense pressure, the Soviet Union agrees to dismantle its bases. The Cuban missile crisis is over. Or is it? Pensacola, Florida, 1987. Two naval officers of the Satellite Surveillance Group who have been tracking a Soviet Foxtrot class submarine suddenly come upon a mysterious VLCC supertanker—identity unknown. Hundreds of miles away in Houston, handsome millionaire industrialist Theodor Churcher takes off in his private helicopter for a clandestine rendezvous with the Soviet submarine in the Gulf of Mexico. Several days later, children playing on a beach in Louisiana find a severed arm floating in the surf—the fingerprints are those of Theodor Churcher. The final ominous moves in a brilliant Soviet strategy that began with the Cuban missile crisis are set in motion. Devastated by his father’s death, young Andrew Churcher undertakes a dangerous mission to the Soviet Union to recover stolen blueprints that would not only avert the unfolding nightmare, but might cleanse his father’s honor of the suspicion of treason. As he tracks a complex trail of move and countermove, Churcher is embroiled in a violent power struggle between two arms of Soviet intelligence. What Churcher doesn’t know is that he is to be the bait in a deadly Soviet trap. From the cockpits of US fighters to the decks of Soviet navy vessels, from the back streets of Moscow to the oilrigs of Texas, Rockets’ Red Glare is the ultimate techno-thriller.

"Libby and her great-aunt, Lobo, both learn the Pledge of Allegiance--Libby for school, and Lobo for her U.S. citizenship ceremony"--

A poignant, surreal, and fearlessly honest look at growing up on one of the most secretive weapons installations on earth, by a young woman who came of age with missiles The China Lake missile range is located in a huge stretch of the Mojave Desert, about the size of the state of Delaware. It was created during the Second World War, and has always been shrouded in secrecy. But people who make missiles and other weapons are regular working people, with domestic routines and everyday dilemmas, and four of them were Karen Piper's parents, her sister, and--when she needed summer jobs--herself. Her dad designed the Sidewinder, which was ultimately used catastrophically in Vietnam. When her mom got tired of being a stay-at-home mom, she went to work on the Tomahawk. Once, when a missile nose needed to be taken offsite for final testing, her mother loaded it into the trunk of the family car, and set off down a Los Angeles freeway. Traffic was heavy, and so she stopped off at the mall, leaving the missile in the parking lot. Piper sketches in the belief systems--from Amway's get-rich schemes to propaganda in The Rocketeer to evangelism, along with fears of a Lemurian takeover and Charles Manson--that governed their lives. Her memoir is also a search for the truth of the past and what really brought her parents to China Lake with two young daughters, a story that reaches back to her father's World War II flights with contraband across Europe. Finally, A Girl's Guide to Missiles recounts the crossroads moment in a young woman's life when she finally found a way out of a culture of secrets and fear, and out of the desert.