Space

by James A. Michener

The enthralling saga of America's exploration into space... the incredible successes of the Gemini and Apollo manned flights, the Viking landings on Mars, the breathtaking performances of the Columbis - these and other awesome achievements of the space programme form the background to James A. Michener's monumental new novel - one in which he blends fact, fiction and future possibilities, and which will delight and enthral his millions of readers.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Space, Science Fiction, Historical, Novels, Adventure

816 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1982

About the author

James Albert Michener is best known for his sweeping multi-generation historical fiction sagas, usually focusing on and titled after a particular geographical region. His first novel, Tales of the South Pacific , which inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Toward the end of his life, he created the Journey Prize, awarded annually for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer; founded an MFA program now, named the Michener Center for Writers, at the University of Texas at Austin; and made substantial contributions to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, best known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings and a room containing Michener's own typewriter, books, and various memorabilia.

Michener's entry in Who's Who in America says he was born on Feb. 3, 1907. But he said in his 1992 memoirs that the circumstances of his birth remained cloudy and he did not know just when he was born or who his parents were.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's too bad this story gets conflicted between science and religion. Possibly due to Michener's own convictions. As a result, this historical space fiction is gravitized to earth. 6 of 10 stars

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

On my list of favorite books now. My husband gave this to me when we were dating - a surprise package sent in the mail through a secondhand bookstore. I put off reading it because I was afraid I wouldn't like it - it would be dated, too detailed (my mom hates Michener for this reason), and I've seen 'The Right Stuff.' But reading it was more proof that he knows me too well.

Michener may be too detailed for some, but I loved the way he built this story bit by bit. There's a passage in the book where a reporter describes how Korean pottery is painted, and it could summarize his method of writing - layer upon layer, detail upon detail. The book gave me such a depth of appreciation of the race to put a man on the moon. It's one thing to read the facts of if, but to have it told through multiple perspectives of characters you become connected to, to learn just how much went into it through symbolic individuals - it's kind of breathtaking. There was so much sacrifice amidst the success.

The book also gave me a deeper appreciation of how old some of the back-and-forth arguments about NASA are - almost all of the stuff we hear about now in terms of politics was going on back then. Even the science arguments of sending men vs. machines was debated early in the story. I was surprised by a sub-plot about a religious and scholarly charlatan that would be believable today (unfortunately).

I recommend this book to anyone who loves learning about the history of our space program and what went into it. It's a beautiful story, so well told, that it will resonate with me for a long time.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Con técnicas de otra época y mediante “ficción realista”, homenaje a la carrera espacial.-

Género. Novela.

Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Espacio (publicación original: Space, 1982) nos acerca, mezclando ficción y realidad, al camino que siguieron los Estados Unidos de América para conquistar el espacio, desde el interés para hacerse con los servicios de personajes clave de la construcción alemana de misiles en Peenemünde durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial hasta la exploración de parte del Sistema Solar, mediante las vivencias de cuatro hombres (y sus familias) muy distintos entre sí.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have spent the past few days in Space :) What a trip! I am mind boggled at what the scientists, politicians and astronauts had to learn and do for our space program. Totally humbled and mind boggled.

[Mark Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published 32 years ago, this entertaining and enlightening novel evidences Michener's high opinion of such science fiction writers as Clarke, Weinbaum and Leiber as well as reservations about some tendencies of this popular genre. He even indulges himself a bit in it by creating a fictional account of an Apollo 18 voyage to explore the other side of the moon. A bit disconcerting is his creation of two fictional US states, Fremont and Red River which have elected Republican and Democratic senators respectively. He doesn't tell us where Red River is, though it is obviously a southern state, but Fremont is located on land taken from Kansas and Nebraska. His motive for doing this in a volume of realistic fiction is not apparent until the end when the electorate of Fremont votes to outlaw the teaching of evolution in it's public schools and to purge its public libraries of titles promoting "atheistic humanism" at the behest of a charletan preacher named Strabismus (who provides much of the comic relief in a story mostly quite sober). I'm assuming Michener was chary of attributing such a result in a plebescite to any existing US state. This novel abounds in well researched information about the birth and progress of the American space effort. The four heroes of this novel are Dieter Kolff, a German rocket man escaped from Nazi Germany, Stanley Mott, an engineer-scientist, John Pope, a test pilot turned astronaut and his wife Penny, an extremely savvy Senate counselor and political operative. This book taught me much and also provided an enjoyable nostalgic overview of the exciting years of my youth, but it also reveals Michener's interest in and sensitivity to those eschatological concerns with which even the best informed and most gifted struggle.

[Cliff Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though I love reading Michener I was somewhat reluctant to read this one. It was written in 1982. Surely the story and the science is going to be heavily out of date and everybody already knows about Neil Armstrong taking the first human steps on the moon. Tedious and boring and missing all the technological advances between then and now right? Maybe like watching Rocky 3 when you could be watching UFC we might wonder.
But this book is an incredible journey into the history and science which has created the space tech we have today. A world today which knows more about a subject we basically know not much about. We keeping thinking we know but keep getting reminded that we don't. The fascination is in the trying.

The book begins with WW2. What the Nazis were doing with rockets trying to recover the war in its very last stages during the Allied and Russian advance on Berlin. How the Americans and Russians took that technology by rescuing key German scientists and using them in their respective camps into what developed into the Cold War Space Race.

As we follow the American story to land on the moon we learn about aviation and test pilots, the Gemini and Apollo projects, Voyager 1&2 and the dream to travel to Mars and Jupiter and Saturn and beyond. In the process we see the human struggle to overcome scientific and political barriers but also theological and cultural issues which arise when we introduce into everyday American society the concept that the Earth is infact 4.5 billion years old spinning in the Milky Way Galaxy 150,000 light years across formed after the big bang 13.7 billion years ago. What does that all mean? It is certainly something we can wonder about forever without having a clue! But it is a compulsive wonder and one which leads us on an incredible journey. Thanks to James Michener for keeping that spirit alive.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so involved in this book that I started Googling what has happening while I was reading it because I was astounded to have such poor knowledge about the American space program. Then I figured out that two of the major missions they discussed are fictional. I mean, I know that Michener writes fiction, but so much of the rest of the novel is true that I guess I thought that would be too... Anyway, I wish the book had started with the disclaimer about who was fictional and who was "real" so that I could have not been quite so confused in the middle.

I have to say that the Apollo 18 mission was so stressful that I sat in my car during my lunch breaks to see what would happen. I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of the religious anti-science movement along with the space programs. Given my current era of "no global warming" and general political stupidity, it was a really fascinating discussion.

Absolutely recommend. Time to read reflective of having to wait through a few library cycles to get the book back. This is another very long one.

[Riley Haas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The older I get the more I seem to be winning the battle - or at least not losing the battle - with my completist streak. I am writing a review of this flawed novel after having read only 470 pages as a celebration of defeating my completist impulse yet again. I do not need to finish every book I've ever started, especially when they suck.
Reading Space, I wonder if I was too kind to the first Michener I read, Hawaii or whether this one is just shitty Michener. (It may be just shitty Michener, as it really isn't in his formula and it lacks the thing that I suspect made him so popular: focusing on the perspectives of different cultures in one novel when most mainstream American authors did not do that.)
The flaws that were evident in Hawaii are evident here as well: the novel is way too long, this is too much a celebration without a critical eye (more on that in a moment), etc. But there are a few really big flaws that make this novel pretty brutal and, ultimately, lead me to abandon it slightly over half way through, after my nth complaint to my girlfriend when she encouraged me (for the nth time) to stop reading something I hated. (Thanks!)
One major flaw is that the characters are really under-developed, despite Michener spending 176 pages (I'm serious! 176 pages!) on their collective backstories. They archetypes rather than people, meant to represent particular types (as Michener sees them) who serve the space program in one way or another. Some of them have roles that are highly unrealistic (such as the wife of one astronaut who is the lead council for the space committee) but most are just portraits of people, rather than people. The worst character is Stanley Mott, the protagonist, if we can say there is one. Mott appears to substitute for 8-10 different real people in the actual space program as his skills change to suit the needs of Michener's narrative. A man like this who served this many jobs in the space program could not have existed or, had he, he would have been bad at at least one of his endless number of new jobs. We're supposed to believe this one guy is a brilliant engineer, a brilliant scientist (despite being portrayed as ignorant of various things many, many times) and an amazing people person? I have yet to meet anyone like this. He's absurd. He's just a plot device.
Michener also has a weird - and very American - distrust of theoretical scientists in favour of the more "blue collar" engineers. It's very weird, given how both of these jobs were incredibly important for the space program. But, like any red-blooded American, Michener wants to celebrate people who work with their hands more than people who think. Even the men with PhDs in this novel are not nerds. It's really weird.
But probably the biggest flaw (depending on how much you hate shitty characters) is Michener's (once again wholly American) celebration of the great myths of the space program. Michener casts what appears to be an entirely uncritical eye about everything that happened - it was necessary because it happened. Even only half way through the novel, there are numerous instances where Michener presents scenes that should be assumed to be offensive to the 1982 reader (maybe not, as I was only 1) but which Michener presents without any kind of critical eye or irony or anything like that. This includes both his treatment of women and his treatment of non-white people (the latter a real surprise for Michener given Hawaii). Yes, depicting is not condoning, but it's hard to tell that Michener is not condoning this behaviour because he seems to think everything in this is necessary so that America can land a man on the moon.
What's the justification for the space program according to Michener? Propaganda, I think. If that's the real justification for the space program, Michener should have been a little critical of that idea, even back in 1982, no? And that's the problem with this novel: everything the US did to get into space is justified and the way they did it - or, rather, the way the dominant narrative as to how they did it - is presented here unquestioned, as if it was myth of the American space program - a bunch of able-bodied, can-do Americans working together to beat the Russians to the moon - that is of interest. Michener's novel is mythology, not literature and with those flimsy characters, it's not even good mythology.
Which brings me to section from 458 to 470 wherein Michener attempts to address why there weren't any black people in the space program. (Clearly, Michener did not do enough research to familiarize himself with the history that inspired Hidden Figures.) Michener wants you to believe that the honourable white men responsible for the space program were accidentally prejudiced against black people but...but!...when upstanding members of the black community brought this to their attention, these honourable white men did everything they could - everything! - to find qualified black men to be in the space program. Only there weren't any. At all. In the entire United States of America. Michener wants us to believe that in 1965 there wasn't a single African American qualified to be an astronaut or a member of Mission Control. So these honourable white men used affirmative action to put some less-than-capable black men (not women, of course) to put some black faces in the picture because, in the eyes of Michener, affirmative action was all about appearances and not about combating systemic racism.
I mean, fuck this guy. I thought Michener was pretty progressive in Hawaii but it's hard to believe the same man wrote this. I guess what seemed progressive in the 1950s seems regressive now but it's hard to believe that the man who wrote Hawaii actually believes that the only point of opening up job opportunities to people of colour is so that the workforce is proportional to the population
This section was the last straw. After I read it, I lay in bed thinking, is this really just what the Senator believes, or is it what Michener believed or is it what Michener thought America believed (and so must be reflected back)? Whatever the case, Michener presents it like everything else in this book: as necessary. All so that a couple of "genius" can-do white Americans can walk on the moon. (To what end? He never says. At least, not in the half I read.) Having read this, Michener now strikes me as one of those white men who refuse to acknowledge both male privilege and white privilege and continue insisting that everyone got the same systemic advantages they did.
Save yourself the mental energy. Read The Right Stuff instead. At least that's honest.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting & well written. The most readable book he's written, in my opinion. Maybe it was just that I found the subject matter so interesting. It's a good start to the U.S. space program, but certainly not all inclusive. He could easily have expanded this to a trilogy. If it had any failing, it was the limits of the book.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having both a great deal of science and politics, Kyle and I found it easy to like this book. I enjoyed the problems and discussions that went into launching our first rockets. Even the political side of this book flowed smoothly and brought the story together for the reader. 'Space' tries to get all of the viewpoints of the space race while maintaining Michener's ideas and thoughts on what should have happened. It is always nice to be able to look on the past to see where we went wrong. This books tries to do that along the way of telling somewhat accurately what really took place. Looking back on the book, I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a slow part or a chapter that I could have done without. I also liked how Michener intertwined the religious perspective. Ironically, we read this book just before the space shuttle Columbia burned-up in the atmosphere. The book did not predict this tragedy, but it did talk about the problems that took place in starting of the shuttle program and the possibility for error. At times I did have problems figuring out what parts were true and which were fictional. Yet, it only spurred interest to check out a textbook to see what actually occurred. I was also comparing this book with the movie 'The Right Stuff' which tells the story of the pilots who eventually became astronauts. This book filled in the holes where 'The Right Stuff' left off.

[Stratos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Κυκλοφόρησε πριν 30 περίπου χρόνια και βέβαια τώρα που ξαναδιαβάζετε ίσως να μοιάζει λίγο απαρχαιωμένο. Το θέμα ενδιαφέρον η πλοκή ενδιαφέρουσα, γενικά ενα καλό βιβλίο για χαλάρωση το βράδυ λίγο πριν τον ύπνο...

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

All 832 pages were well worth the effort. This is truly an American story with insights into the families of the USA Space Program and how it grew. The astronaughts, the test pilots, the politicians, and others--all come off as real human beings with aspirations, disappointments, and achievements. This book is very different from Michener's other books--less history and more current events. Many strong characters and many very weak ones.

[Katherine Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though the size of his books are daunting, I am never disappointed by Michener.

[GD · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was going to get a five star rating until the last page when it just suddenly ended. Dude I'm not exaggerating, the book is just going along, then there is one paragraph at the end that just says something like, "And these people were looking up at the stars like people had been doing since ancient times." I was like what? After having becoming invested in the characters over the last 800 pages, it was a real let down. I wanted to find out what happened next.

James Michener was a writer I avoided like the plague in my punk rock youth, then I randomly read Hawaii one day and just loved it. I don't like historical fiction, I had no interest in Hawaii, and I couldn't put it down. This book was kind of the same experience. Except I love outer space. But he takes a story that goes from the end days of WW2 up to the early 80s about the baby steps of the American space program, then people who helped, the people who hindered, the various different reasons people had for wanting to get the same things done, games with the press, games with an America dividing on religious/social lines, etc etc. The main characters are fictional, but the reader gets the impression that they are probably realistic and representative of the zeitgeist of the time.

This was a book that I picked up one morning and when I stepped out of the book the sun was going down. Recently it's been hard to find a book that sucks me in like that so completely. If a writer can take any random topic, and put it in the form of a 1000 page historical novel, and still keep me interested, he must be a master.

[Jana Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sprawling novel about the development of the space industry, but only as a way of exploring the intellectual climate of 20th century America. The entire build-up, slow as it was, and how it culminated kind of took my breath away. I actually teared up at the last 10 pages (which were concerned with an academic conference, so you KNOW Michener is the master). What I found most interesting and perplexing is the Michener appears to redeem religious thought at the end, when he spent the entire novel highlighting the ills and harms of abused and abusive religion and none on the best of what sincere, careful religious thinking actually has to offer. Focusing more on what religious thinking does best would have made the ending land a little more effectively. Nonetheless, I was taken up and away by Michener AGAIN and kept telling my husband to read the dang thing already. I tell the same to you.

[Sebastien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I once read Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" which is horribly dated now, and almost laughably so. I was afraid that the same thing would happen reading Michener's "Space," since it was written so long ago. I was naive. I should have never doubted Michener.

In true Michener style, he over-explains everything and creates realistic characters that you can relate to (most of the time). Some of the bits on the media's obsession with astronauts I could have done without, but I am so happy I got to know Randy Claggett, John Pope, Dieter Kolff, and Stanley Mott.

I never thought that a work of historical fiction would spark so much debate within my mind regarding space (especially whether it is better for a man to go or a machine to go). This is a truly remarkable book.

[Rosie Rios · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by Michener and I loved it! The book takes you through the begins of the space age starting in World War 2 and completes during the shuttle era of the early 1980’s. This book is historical fiction but I believe it gives a realistic perspective on how the complexities of politics, science, and religion can affect progress of organizations like NASA. I enjoyed the characters and I loved learning about the early history of NASA.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. However, THE RIGHT STUFF is a far more worthwhile read on the same subject. SPACE is workman like and well, plodding. It's not exactly dull, but it takes its time getting anywhere.
If you love science/fiction(not science fiction mind you)books by the likes of Carl Sagan, then Space will leave you feeling blah.

[W]

The sheer length of this book is rather daunting. Besides,the pace of Michener's novels is generally slow.

I have also read non fiction books on the space race and the moon missions. I'll give this book a shot but doubt I can go through all of it.

Also found the mini series based on this book on youtube. Let's see how good that is.

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good. But "The Right Stuff" is better.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

First novel I ever read by James Michener. A seriously awesome read all the way through. I love how Michener gives actual history lessons on the subject of the novel.

[Q Silver · Rating 1 out of 5]

I once read a satirical “demotivational poster” from Despair.com. It said “Blogging: Never before have so many people with so little to say, said so much, to so few.”

That’s a pretty good description of James Michener’s “Space”, though somehow he got thousands of people to read it anyway. It boggles my mind that someone could go twenty pages and give no more character depth than an encyclopedia…Michener manages to go over A THOUSAND PAGES!!

There are, in truth, no characters, no creativity, and no vibrance.

Every person is nearly the same, and the dialogue is as stiff and unbelievable as just about any book I’ve ever read. “The agony is almost beyond my ability to bear.” (Forget if that’s an exact quote, but it was something like that. Husbands and wives in 1969 America don’t talk to each other like this. It looks good on the page, but NO ONE talks the way many characters in this book talk.


I’m still going to read more Michener because I want to learn about Texas, Colorado, Alaska, etc…but in truth, I’m reading it for history, not for fiction, because this guy had NO IDEA how to write fiction.

[Bodosika Bodosika · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read

[Susan]

Always enjoy a good Michener book.

[Peter Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.6 - Enjoyable exploration of the space age. Was slightly long winded in some aspects.

[Graeme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Michener; epic historical fiction covering the end of the second world war through the moon landing, space race and beyond. Whatever your current perspective on this grand fascinating topic, Space has you covered in a well paced 800+ page narrative that helps explain the cultural phenomenon of putting a man on the moon, why we didn't build momentum and venture further, as well as touching on the science vs religion debate (if such a conflict is even necessary). All told via memorable characters who each have something unique to offer; some you'll like, some you may not. If you like your stories sweeping and far reaching, you can't go wrong here.

[Manu · Rating 3 out of 5]

..the final frontier. To me, space has been an abstract, with a few perspectives molded by the science fiction I read. with this work, albeit a novel, James Michener gave me a lot of tangible snippets of how humans working in this wonderful scientific field have evolved over time.
From the time of the Second World War, when creating rockets that would destroy opposing forces and cities was the priority to a nation's obsession to place a man on the moon, during the Cold War, to NASA and later scientists who grapple with manned and unmanned explorations and the possibility of life outside earth, this book, as with all of Michener's works, is one vast canvas.
And mirroring, and perhaps concluding a debate in the book, (man as a measure of success..and interest) Michener uses the lives of the politicians, astronauts and the scientists working on the missions to show the universal nature of man's self doubts, his trials, tribulations, joys, sorrows, successes and failures. Personal battles - with self and others, mingle with professional clashes to make the story..human. A few real life figures like Sagan and Asimov get a mention in this work of fiction.There are some wonderful hat tips to some excellent works in sci fi.
In tackling Space, Michener also draws attention to other profound things - evolution, religion, culture and gives some amazing perspectives on questions that each of us carry within us. A wonderful read, that re-created the awe and splendour that the cosmos invokes, and reminded me of the fundamental paradox of human existence - the preciousness in finite time and the meaninglessness, in the infinite.

[Pilouetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is the size of what i like to call, an airplane book. long enough to occupy me during the multifarious experience of air travel. and a plus that i am a space aficionado, a fan, though not quite fanatic. read this book because i am fascinated in the space program and the character of man (in most cases) that realized this impossible seeming vision. a man like my father, an engineer for boeing during the apollo period, and lived at cape canaveral nee kennedy space station, and me celebrating my first birthday on 20 july 1969 with a moon landing, nearly 'i dream of jeanie'-like in timing. and this, my first michner, not unlike a moon landing perhaps. i was impressed by the diversity of characters, not just the hemingway's i imagined, but gays, women, koreans, blacks, addicts, defectors, nazis, and texans. and lots of stars, supernovas, pulsars and astronomy. in fact, a hearty amount of scientific, mechanical detail oriented description of the tech that accompanied the space race. highly recommended, practically a blast for cross country, trans-atlantic flights.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read long ago. We're going digital, so rather than retain a physical copy on the bookshelf, I'll use Goodreads as my external memory drive.

This book is basically "The Right Stuff", and I think I read it at around the same time. Fabulous, gripping, and comprehensive fictionalized take on the personalities involved in the creation and development of NASA from its origins through 1982. True story: this book (and Michener's Poland) were so good, they convinced me to read everything he published with a black cover.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a good read, I would only suggest anyone to read this book, if:
1. one wants to know a bit of America's venture into space exploration, and the underlying political drama, along with the kinds of lives the people involved in it have been through, and all that goes along in that field and aeronautics. The story is also a bit of history of NASA.
2. one would like to venture into and read all books by James A. Michener. :)

I found this to be a fat book, but considering that it is Michener's I did not have much of a problem, except I had to take a break in between. Otherwise, the content was alright - not very interesting, but essentially not too boring as well.