Moondust
In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth
by Andrew Smith
Category: Fiction / S - U
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication date: 6 January 2006
Number of pages: 384
Prizes:
Shortlisted for British Book Awards: Best Read of the Year 2006.
Description:
The Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 1970s have been called the last optimistic acts of the twentieth century. Twelve astronauts made this greatest of all journeys and were indelibly marked by it, for better or for worse. Journalist Andrew Smith tracks down the nine surviving members of this elite group to find their answers to the question "Where do you go after you've been to the Moon?"
A thrilling blend of history, reportage, and memoir, Moondust rekindles the hopeful excitement of an incandescent hour in America's past and captures the bittersweet heroism of those who risked everything to hurl themselves out of the known world -- and who were never again quite able to accept its familiar bounds.
What the papers say:
'Smith's mix of reporting and meditation is highly entertaining, and this superb book is a fitting tribute to a unique band of twentieth-century heroes' GQ 'A moving and thorough account of America's last great act of optimism' Guardian 'Fascinating and disturbing. We know what happened inside the Apollo Space Craft, but what went on inside the astronauts' minds? Did any of them really recover from their strange journey? Extremely thought-provoking' J. G. Ballard 'Smith's mission - gloriously realised in this spellbinding book - is to seek out the last nine and discover how the decades have treated the only humans to have walked on another world a wonderful collective biography written with deftness, compassion and humour' Observer
Author's Biography:
Andrew Smith is English although he was born in New York and lived in California until he was in his early teens. He watched the moon landings on TV in his home near San Francisco. He has written for Melody Maker, the Face, the Sunday Times, and the Observer where he has written on the KLF, death row, Damien Hirst, Jeff Bezos, Bianca Jagger and much much more. He currently lives with his family in Norfolk.
In Stock: 23 copies
