Frontiers for the American Century

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction: Polar Stars and Stellar Stripes

   • James Spiller

   Pages 1-19

3. Rising to the Sputnik Challenge

   • James Spiller

   Pages 21-64

4. The Space and Antarctic Frontiers

   • James Spiller

   Pages 65-112

5. Antarctica and the Greening of America

   • James Spiller

   Pages 113-156

6. The Grip of the Space Frontier

   • James Spiller

   Pages 157-202

7. Conclusion: The End of American Frontier Nationality?

   • James Spiller

   Pages 203-209

8. Back Matter

   Pages 211-269

   PDF

This book compares the cultural politics of the U.S. space and Antarctic programs during the Cold War. It analyzes how culturally salient terms, especially the nationalist motif of the frontier, were used to garner public support for these strategic initiatives and, more generally, United States internationalism during this period.

• America
• Cold War
• nationalism
• politics
• space
• stars
• USA

“Frontiers for the American Century is a sophisticated, nuanced, and welcome study of the cultural politics of the U.S. space and Antarctic programs. … the book is a fascinating study of the complex and changing motif of the American frontier in the context of outer space and Antarctic exploration. … Spiller thus gives welcome fine structure to one of the overarching frameworks of the Space Age … .” (Steven J. Dick, Isis, Vol. 108 (1), March, 2017)

James Spiller is Professor of History and Dean of the Graduate School at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, USA.

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