

A new history of the Apollo moon landings - jeeringmole
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21610336-revealing-new-history-apollo-moon-landings-holds-lessons-today-america-and

======
PeterWhittaker
The article attempts to convey a sense of how Americans felt about the Apollo
program as it happened - deeply ambivalent.

Looking back, we (especially, we, the arch-geek community on HN) see heroic
levels of optimism and success, progress writ large. But in the late '60s and
early '70s, just as the Apollo program was hitting its stride, the American
public had lost faith in science and technology and experts as providers of
progress; many were turning to evangelical churches, polarized political
positions, etc.

Studying history as "just the facts" is trite and tedious. Finding good
history that conveys that sense of culture and perception as it was as those
facts occurred is difficult but ultimately very rewarding.

Lesson for the future? Not sure. That's not as easy as reading the lesson of
the past.

