American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race

 

American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley

This is one of those books that, before reading, I should have judged the book by its title and not by its cover. Books about the space race during the 1960s are always a plus for me, yet this book was really about John F. Kennedy.  Yes, Kennedy was very instrumental in getting the space race off and running in the U.S., and yes, it was his famous declaration of a man on the moon before the end of the decade that had space engineers running frantically trying to achieve that goal, but despite all of that, this book is too much about John F. Kennedy.

Sure, it focuses only on the aspects of Kennedy’s life (note I say ‘life’, not ‘presidency’) that relates to the battle for space dominance with the Russians, but Good Lord, there’s simply too much here.  We really don’t need to read about what Kennedy ate in his hotel before his famous “man on the moon” speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas.  Had Kennedy thought about ideas on space while having a bowel movement, the author probably would have included that here. Sorry for being gross, but this book really needed less detail.

Speaking of detail, there are times when the author also goes too deep in the weeds when describing rockets, capsules, or anything that makes these complicated instruments work. There were times when I felt as though I was reading a schematic or a blueprint as opposed to a recollection of key people, places, and events. We don’t get to read nearly enough of the Mercury 7 and their missions, yet when we do, these are the most interesting recollections of the entire book. Some of the Russian history is welcome as well including the “fighting” during the cold war between the two superpowers.

Not surprisingly, this story mainly ends after Kennedy is killed. Had I known this, I probably would have never bothered to read the book since there were too many key events during the space race between the years 1964-1969.  Yes, those events are included here, but mainly serve as postscript without much detail.  Again, the focus here is Kennedy.  Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy.

Although this book was packed with detail, I found it less than satisfactory. Perhaps the error is mine. I wish the front cover would have featured a picture of JFK instead of a beautiful view of the earth from space.  If you just want to read about the space race without Kennedy being the lead character, there are plenty other better books to choose from.