"Indispensable to anyone interested in the space race."--Houston ChronicleIn 1963, a young reporter for Time-Life named James Schefter was given a dream job: cover America's race to the moon. Since the astronauts were under contract to Life for their stories, Schefter was given complete access to the biggest players at NASA. But at the time, his primary role was to excite the public about the new, expensive, experimental space program, and...

A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his worldIt has the quality of myth: a poor cobbler’s son, a seminarian from an oppressed outer province of the Russian empire, reinvents himself as a top leader in a band of revolutionary zealots. When the band seizes control of the country in the aftermath of total world war, the former seminarian ruthlessly dominates the new regime until he stands as absolute ruler of a vast and terr...

The implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a coarse and a hard drinking "bulldozer," wished to destroy the union and create a capitalist Russia. The defeat of the August 1991 coup attempt, carried out by hardline communists, shook Gorbachev's aut...

*Includes pictures of Stalin and important people, places, and events in his life.*Discusses conspiracy theories surrounding Stalin's death*Includes a Table of ContentsIt is time to finish retreating. Not one step back! Such should now be our main slogan. Joseph StalinA lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of historys most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors Russian Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the...

"From October to Brest-Litovsk" is a compelling account by Leon Trotsky that chronicles the tumultuous period of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent negotiations for peace with Germany. Trotsky, a key figure in the Bolshevik movement, provides a firsthand perspective on the political and military challenges faced by the new Soviet government. His narrative captures the fervor of revolutionary ideals and the complexities of wartime diplomacy, illustrating the struggle to maintain powe...

Complete coverage of modern electrical and electronics systems for aircraftFully updated for the latest technological advances, this comprehensive text describes design concepts, FAA certification requirements, and aerospace-quality maintenance and repair techniques for aircraft electrical and electronics systems. The materials contained in this book will benefit designers, engineers, and technicians for all aircraft and aerospace vehicles. The requirements for the FAA Airframe a...

The complete story of the pilots who 'made ace' while flying the original MiG fighters.The MiG-1/3 family of fighters was built to satisfy a Soviet Air Force requirement for an advanced, fast, high-altitude fighter. Entering service in the spring of 1941, the problematic MiG-1 had its handling issues rectified with the hasty production of the MiG-3. Many of these were destroyed on the ground when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa. Nevertheless, enough examp...

Stalin's Red Army entered the Second World War as a relatively untried fighting force. In 1941, with the launch of Operation 'Barbarossa', it joined the battle with Hitler's army, the most powerful in history. After a desperate war of attrition over four years, the Red Army defeated the Nazis on the Eastern Front and won lasting fame and glory in 1945 by eclipsing the military might of the Third Reich. This book begins with a review of the historical background of the Red ...

For centuries the British developed a reputation as a nation of explorers. From Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe to the ascent of Everest, British explorers crossed oceans and continents and ventured where few, if any, had gone before. Until very recently, that legacy of exploration had not extended to space. For decades, successive governments chose to stay out of the human spaceflight programme, but in 2008 there were signs of optimism when ESA selected a new class of six as...

Besides absolutists of the right (the tsar and his adherents) and left (Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks), the Russian political landscape in 1917 featured moderates seeking liberal reform and a rapid evolution towards a constitutional monarchy. Vasily Maklakov, a lawyer, legislator and public intellectual, was among the most prominent of these, and the most articulate and sophisticated advocate of the rule of law, the linchpin of liberalism.This book tells the story of his efforts ...

How could the newly authorized space shuttle help in the U.S. quest to build a large research station in Earth orbit? As a means of transporting goods, the shuttle could help supply the parts to the station. But how would the two entitles be physically linked?Docking technologies had to constantly evolve as the designs of the early space stations changed. It was hoped the shuttle would make missions to the Russian Salyut and American Skylab stations, but thesewere postponed...

In 2013, the United States suffered its worst terrorist bombing since 9/11 at the annual running of the Boston Marathon. When the culprits turned out to be U.S. residents of Chechen descent, Americans were shocked and confused. Why would members of an obscure Russian minority group consider America their enemy? Inferno in Chechnya is the first book to answer this riddle by tracing the roots of the Boston attack to the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. Brian Glyn Williams describes the...