The Man Who Ran the Moon: James Webb, JFK and the Secret History of Project Apollo by: Piers Bizony
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6 reviews
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Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
Release date: 5th July, 2007
Media: Paperback
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Rating: 
- Apollo from a different angle to the usual books
Given that there has been a plethora of books recently about the Apollo program, 2009 having been the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11, this is a refreshing book in that it comes at the subject from the angle of managing the whole enterprise. There are plenty of good books about 'what' happened in man's quest for the moon, two really good books about the 'how'/engineering* of Apollo, so it is interesting to read something about James E. Webb and the early management of NASA/Apollo. Space fans will enjoy this book, but it may be a bit esoteric for the casual reader, although it is certainly written in a light and easy to follow style.
* Could I be so bold as to recommend 2 books that are certainly worth a read by space fans:
'Apollo: Race to the Moon' by Charles Murray & Catherine Bly Cox is a magnificent volume covering the engineering characters and achievements of Mercury/Gemini/Apollo.
'How Apollo Flew to the Moon' by W. David Woods is a stunning and absorbing read about the mechanics of actually getting an Apollo mission to the moon and back. One of my favourites!
Rating: - The legacy of courage
Piers Bizony has crafted a wonderful testament to the man who focussed the courage, played the politics and extracted the budgets for one of the greatest undertakings humankind has ever attempted. The book winds itself from the chrome plated, winged fender optimism of the early 50's through the crisis ridden late 60's, the triumph of Apollo 11 and leads to the current age. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: - What a project, and what a manager.
James Webb handled project apollo. The parallels between this and the Manhattan Project (managed by Leslie Groves) are staggering. Piers Bizony handles events like a thriller {just like in ATOM, his other 'big project book'), and although the reader knows the ending before beginning, the circumstances of the project are revealed in a coherent and exciting manner.
It was easy to look back on Project Apollo after it finished and say "what a waste of money", (it only cost $12 per American per year for 10 years, so it was cheap entertainment), but in 1967/68 and even 69, the Russians threatened to beat the Americans to their goal. Similarly, it is easy to look back on the Mahattan Project and make moral judgements, but in 1942,43 and 44, Nazi Germany was the big threat; the Los Alamos test bomb was exploded AFTER VE day. The Moon landing occurred marginally after the Russian competition expired. (Jay Barbree, Howard Benedict, Deke Slayton and Alan Shepard's Moon-Shot is an excellent parallel to The Man Who Ran the Moon). Andrew Smith's Moondust is an essential read as well.
True life is often stanger than fiction; James Webb's life was remarkable, and this book does justice to a great man.Moonshot: Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon
Rating: - Politics and Space. Bliss.
I guess you have to be slightly weird to enjoy a book about the politics of space.
This book has enough leavening anecdote to make it digestible.
Very interesting book and filled in a lot of previously puzzling gaps for me. Especially the award of contracts. I could never understand why North American won Apollo when Mc Donnall had done such a superb job on Gemini.
Could the Apollo 1 tragedy have been averted? This book gives you the facts (and some truly horrific pictures) to understand and evaluate the train of events.
If you are a space fanatic and want to know how the various factions worked together to achieve a common goal this is a very good book.
Rating: 
- A revealing story
Very good book; revealing, convincing and well written. It has corrected my earlier belief that the moon-landing project was driven top-down by the Kennedy administration. This book reveals the complex politics involved and it was fortuitous that NASA had Webb to handle the complex political wheeling and dealing to get the project off the ground.
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