Destined for the Stars

"""Newell . . . engages deeply with the academic study of religion and science, but her book is written in a way that is accessible to both academic and general readers. She makes serious historical claims that contribute to the discipline, but she also patiently guides those who do not know much about the history of religion, science, and the space race."" --Reading Religion ""Destined for the Starsis well conceived, splendidly narrated, and cleverly argued. It makes a genuine contribution to both the history of science and technology and American religious history, with rare potential to change one of the shibboleths of American popular and scholarly history--that America embarked on space exploration to beat the Soviet Union to the moon."" --James Hudnut-Beumler, Vanderbilt University ""Newell exposes and explains the origins of the language of 'divine destiny'--which imbues much of the modern talk of visiting other planets today. Newell has produced a forceful, original view of the American quest for the 'final frontier.'"" --Publishers Weekly ""Newell's prose is clean, conveying great detail and wide-ranging discursions without muddying the core narrative or stumbling into literary cul-de-sacs . . . a casual amateur will be able to take away as much from its novel argument as will a seasoned historian of either space exploration or postwar America."" --Quest ""The true value of this book is . . . in its ability to synthesize a vast amount of information while adding fascinating details about Bonestell and von Braun to establish a kind of hybrid lineage of thinking about space, rooted in science, religion, and exceptionalism."" --Isis ""This is a stunning book about faith in a glorious future, nostalgia for a heroic past, and an ever-present quest to become a multiplanetary species. Catherine Newell reveals that support for human space exploration is often about a 'higher purpose'; it inspires faith, worship, reverence, alternative futures, and a quest for secular immortality. A fascinating contribution to the history of spaceflight."" --Roger Launius, former chief historian of NASA ""Catherine Newell's book is full of lively writing and refreshing analysis. Destined for the Stars will likely delight fans of popular culture in the early space age."" --Journal for the History of Astronomy"