Norman Mailer - MoonFire. The Epic Journey of Apollo 11
GOLDEN BOOK of the month!
"And the Moon came nearer..."
"A Moby-Dick of space [...] the gift of a genius." — New York magazine
It has been called the single most historic event of the 20th century: On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins met John F. Kennedy's call for a manned Moon landing by the end of the 1960s. A decade of tests and training, a staff of 400,000 engineers and scientists, a budget of $24 billion, and the most powerful rocket ever launched all combined in an unprecedented event watched by millions the world over. And no one captured the men, the mood, and the machinery like Norman Mailer.
One of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, Norman Mailer was hired by LIFE magazine in 1969 to cover the Moon shot. He enhanced his reportage in the brilliantly crafted book, Of a Fire on the Moon, which is excerpted here. Equally adept at examining the science of space travel and the psychology of the men involved—from Saturn V rocket engineer Wernher von Braun, to the crucial NASA support staff, to the three astronauts—Mailer provides provocative and trenchant insights into this epoch-making event.
Illustrating this volume are hundreds of photographs and maps from the NASA vaults, magazine archives, and private collections. These images document the development of the agency and the mission, life inside the command module and on the Moon’s surface, and the world’s jubilant reaction to the landing. This edition includes an original introduction by Colum McCann and captions by leading Apollo 11 experts, explaining the history and science behind the images, citing the mission log and publications of the day, and post-flight astronaut interviews.
The book you couldn't get your hands on is finally available as the first publication in TASCHEN's new series of GOLDEN BOOKS, created to celebrate the company's 30th anniversary! Originally published as a TASCHEN Limited Edition, Norman Mailer's MoonFire sold out instantly and earned accolades from publications the world over.
About the author:
Norman Mailer was one of the 20th century's greatest and most influential writers, as well as one of America's most renowned and controversial literary figures. The best-selling author of a dozen novels and 20 works of nonfiction, he also wrote stage plays, screenplays, television miniseries, hundreds of essays, two books of poetry, and a collection of short stories. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he lived in Brooklyn, New York and Provincetown.
About the contributing author:
Colum McCann is the author of seven books, including Let the Great World Spin. He has written for The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, GQ, The Times (London), The Irish Times, and La República.
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Norman Mailer - MoonFire. The Epic Journey of Apollo 11
Mailer, Norman / McCann, Colum
Hardcover, 27 x 32.6 cm (10.6 x 12.8 in.), 348 pages $ 39.99 |
- Reviews (90 items)
"If I ever had a dream that I could see in one volume the feeling of what Apollo should encompass, you have accomplished that.... The whole design, the choreography, the sense of pace, is absolutely magnificent. So many books have come out over the decades, but this actually purveys the feeling of that time radiantly. I think it will hold up over many, many the years, and of course having Mailer's writing is graceful.
Michael Soluri, Photographer and Space Photography Expert, New York, United States
Michael Soluri, Photographer and Space Photography Expert, New York, United States
- Clippings (117 items)
New Book Release Taschen: MoonFire
collectspace.com, United States, June 30, 2009
collectspace.com, United States, June 30, 2009
- See also (13 items)
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Norman Mailer, MoonFire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11 "A Moby-Dick of space... the gift of a genius." — New York magazine. Limited to 1969 copies in two editions. Both include a Plexiglas-framed, archival-quality, numbered photographic print of the most iconic shot from the lunar surface, signed by Buzz Aldrin. The Lunar Rock edition—12 copies numbered 1958–1969—also contains a genuine piece of Moon rock—the rarest mineral on Earth—encased in a special design by Marc Newson. |
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Sold! Unnamed Type: Anorthositic Impact-Melt Breccia with possible large Olivine Gabbro clasts Discovery site: North West Africa Size: 25 x 21 x 11 mm Weight: 8.9 grams 75,000 Euro |
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Sold! NWA 2995 (Paired Individual) Type: Lunar Feldspathic Breccia Discovery site: Algeria Size: 34 x 17 x 1 mm Weight: 1.40 grams 60,000 Euro |