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Author Topic:   1969: The Year Everything Changed
cspg
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Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-27-2009 12:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Could be considered slightly as off-topic but it can certainly help place Apollo 11 in context; see also the review in USA Today; some interesting comments and parallels with 2009.

1969: The Year Everything Changed
by Rob Kirkpatrick

An original look at a pivotal year in America -- on its fortieth anniversary. For the fortieth anniversary of 1969, Rob Kirkpatrick takes a look back at a year when America witnessed many of the biggest landmark achievements, cataclysmic episodes, and generation-defining events in recent history.

1969 was the year that saw Apollo 11 land on the moon, the Cinderella stories of Joe Namath's Jets and the "Miracle Mets," the Harvard student strike and armed standoff at Cornell, the People's Park riots, the first artificial heart transplant and first computer network connection, the Manson family murders and cryptic Zodiac Killer letters, the Woodstock music festival, Easy Rider, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, the Battle of Hamburger Hill, the birth of punk music, the invasion of Led Zeppelin, the occupation of Alcatraz, death at Altamont Speedway, and much more. It was a year that pushed boundaries on stage (Oh! Calcutta!), screen (Midnight Cowboy), and the printed page (Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex), witnessed the genesis of the gay rights movement at Stonewall, and started the era of the "no fault" divorce. Richard Nixon became president, the New Left squared off against the Silent Majority, William Ayers co-founded the Weatherman Organization, and the nationwide Moratorium provided a unifying force in the peace movement.

Compelling, timely, and quite simply a blast to read, 1969 chronicles the year through all its ups and downs, in culture and society, sports, music, film, politics, and technology. This is a book for those who survived 1969, or for those who simply want to feel as alive as those who lived through this time of amazing upheaval.

About the Author

Rob Kirkpatrick is a senior editor with Thomas Dunne Books at St. Martin's Press. He is the author of The Quotable Sixties, Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators, and Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen. He lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut.

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (January 15, 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 1602393664
  • ISBN-13: 978-1602393660

cspg
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Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-30-2009 12:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hopefully the book is as good as the video the author posted on YouTube.

Apollo 11 was definitively a long time ago and for some obscure reason it does appear as somewhat odd - ahead of its time, probably. Or not in sync with other events. Maybe the topic for another thread? It's strange, very strange...

Chris.

Colin Anderton
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Posts: 151
From: Great Britain
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 01-30-2009 03:09 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Colin Anderton   Click Here to Email Colin Anderton     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
But were you around in the Sixties? Apollo 11 definitely did NOT seem an event that was ahead of it's time. It felt like a natural conclusion to that magical decade - and, after the rapid progress from Gagarin in 1961 to men on the moon just eight years later, it made us feel that we - the human race, that is - could do anything!

This isn't just a sugar-coated retrospective view of the Sixties - it did actually feel like that. There really was magic in the air.

Colin.

cspg
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Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-30-2009 03:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
No, I wasn't "around" (well, turning three during that year!). This may explain that. But then again, the XB-70 also did seem to be ahead of its time, and X-15 and Concorde...

Chris.

Richard Easton
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Posts: 175
From: Winnetka, IL USA
Registered: Jun 2006

posted 01-30-2009 06:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Richard Easton     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I agree with Colin. I was thirteen when the Apollo 11 landing took place and it seemed appropriate. I remember reading with eagerness the Life issue about the astronauts and the mission published just prior to Apollo 11.

spacecraft films
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Posts: 802
From: Columbus, OH USA
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 01-30-2009 08:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spacecraft films   Click Here to Email spacecraft films     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I remember it well and it seemed completely appropriate. At the time we were all still free and it seemed as if the future was something in which anything was possible.

Mark

mjanovec
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Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 01-30-2009 09:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mjanovec   Click Here to Email mjanovec     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think things only seemed ahead of their times when viewed in retrospect. But those views are somewhat distorted, I believe. Was Apollo 11 ahead of it's time? Or is the present day space program behind it's time?

I don't mean to take away anything from the accomplishments of today's engineers, astronauts, and scientists working on the space program. They are doing truly great things with the resources they are given to work with. But I can't help but feel today's space program is nothing like what it's leaders imagined it should be 40 years ago.

cspg
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Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-30-2009 11:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by spacecraft films:
At the time we were all still free and it seemed as if the future was something in which anything was possible.
You're no longer free?

As written in the book description:

"This is a book for those who survived 1969...
again!

cspg
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Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-30-2009 11:33 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by mjanovec:
I think things only seemed ahead of their times when viewed in retrospect. But those views are somewhat distorted, I believe. Was Apollo 11 ahead of it's time? Or is the present day space program behind it's time?

Good point.

Chris.

ilbasso
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Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 01-31-2009 09:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for ilbasso   Click Here to Email ilbasso     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The hardware and the program and the astronauts were reflections of the time. The challenge of beating the Russians at all costs gave us a clear and compelling goal and pumped the money into the program. The environment also enabled inspirational leaders to emerge. It helped galvanize the people with a "positive war" (as opposed to a destructive one) that we could win. It was the right program, with the right goal, and the right time.

Here's an over-the-top example, but imagine how fast we'd get back to the Moon if we learned that al Qaeda was planning to use it as a base for attack. You can bet that we would reprioritize a lot of things to get the hardware built and the crews trained quickly, and we'd be willing to take a lot more risks than we are now.

That's actually the attitude we had back then: we couldn't let the Russians "take the high ground" - we had to get there first. We were very worried that if they established superiority in space, they'd fill it with nuclear weapons aimed at us. It was a very palpable fear for all of us at the time. It drove us to do extraordinary things. We used what we had available and we took advantage of emerging technologies.

dwmzmm
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Posts: 82
From: Katy, TX USA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 01-31-2009 07:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dwmzmm   Click Here to Email dwmzmm     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by cspg:
No, I wasn't "around" (well, turning three during that year!). This may explain that. But then again, the XB-70 also did seem to be ahead of its time, and X-15 and Concorde...
The SR-71/YF-12A (Blackbirds) were definitely ahead of its time; and, yes, I was around during the 1960's....

------------------
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.
Challenger 498 Section
NAR Advisor

cspg
Member

Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-31-2009 11:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Absolutely!

Chris.

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