Sputnik: The shock of the century by Paul Dickson, Walker, $28, ISBN
0802713653
AFTER that day nothing can be the same again. With the US’s self-confidence
shaken after years of prosperity, and the President under fire for initial
inactivity, it feels like a new Pearl Harbor. The dormant special relationship
between the US and Britain is reawakened. An inward-looking nation becomes
painfully aware of a hostile outside world. Some call for an immediate military
response. Others seek scapegoats. But this isn’t 11 September 2001; it’s 4
October 1957.
Unlike the recent attack on America, no one died when Sputnik was launched.…
