The Kremlin and the Cosmos

New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1972. First Edition [stated]. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. Good/Good. ix, [5], 258, xi, [3] pages. Footnotes. Appendices. Notes. Selected bibliography. Index. DJ has wear, tears and soiling. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper. Inscription reads: To George and Barbara, whose enthusiasm for my literary efforts encourages me to more! Nick, March 31, 1972. [Unlikely that this was inscribed to President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush, but possible given the author's prominence.] Includes Acknowledgments and Prologue, as well as Chapters on The Cradle of Reason, The Dream at War, Secret Scientists, Korolyov, Khrushchev and the Space Race, Conceding the Moon Race, Proposals, and The Press. Also contains Perspectives, as well as Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Notes, Selected Bibliography, and an Index. Eight black and white illustrations of scientists and rocket pioneers follow page 80. The Russian venture into space--from the nineteenth-century experiments in rocketry to the landings on the moon. This is the first book by a Westerner to trace the development of the Russian space program from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century through the enormous success of Sputnik to the crucial decision--secretly arrived at and skillfully concealed--not to continue in the race to place a man on the moon in the 1960's. Nicholas Daniloff (born December 30, 1934) is an American journalist who graduated from Harvard University and was most prominent in the 1980s for his reporting on the Soviet Union. He came to wider international attention on September 2, 1986, when he was arrested in Moscow by the KGB and accused of espionage. The Reagan administration took the position that the Soviets had arrested Daniloff without cause, in retaliation for the arrest three days earlier of Gennadi Zakharov, an employee of the Soviet UN Mission. The Soviets initially contended that Daniloff had confidential government documents on him when he was arrested. After intense discussion between the governments, on September 23 Daniloff was allowed to leave the Soviet Union without charges. Daniloff became an instructor at Northeastern University's School of Journalism, and in 1992 he was named director of the school. He was written a number of influential works, such as The Kremlin & the Cosmos and was one of the co-authors of the book The Oath, a biography of Khassan Baiev. Derived from a Kirkus review: Daniloff's political history of the Soviet space program aims at stripping away the "layers of secrecy". Daniloff concentrates on the development of the space race and Russo-American attempts at cooperation, tossing out such previously orbited gossip as the CIA warned Ike and the National Security Council as early as 1955 of the possibility of a Russian satellite launch; in addition there are hush-hush generalizations about the Soviets' commitment to the moon race. Toward the end, Daniloff includes a chapter on the press in the Soviet Union (he was UPI Moscow reporter for several years); not surprisingly, it's the most successful section of this book.