{"product_id":"9781786637352","title":"Space Forces : A Critical History of Life in Outer Space by Fred Scharmen","description":"Many societies have imagined going to live in space. What they want to do once they get up there - whether conquering the unknown, establishing space \"colonies,\"  privatising the moon's resources - reveals more than expected. In this  fascinating radical history of space exploration, Fred Scharmen shows  that often science and fiction have combined in the imagined dreams of  life in outer space, but these visions have real implications for life back on earth.   For the Russian Cosmists of the 1890s space was a place to pursue human perfection away from the Earth. For others, such as Wernher Von Braun, it was an engineering task that combined, in the Space Race, the Cold War, and during World War II, with destructive  geopolitics. Arthur C Clark in his speculative books offered an  alternative vision of wonder that is indifferent to human interaction.  Meanwhile NASA planned and managed the space station like an earthbound  corporation. Today, the market has arrived into outer space and exploration is the plaything of superrich technology billionaires, who plan to privatise the mineral wealth for themselves. Are other worlds really possible?Bringing  these figures and ideas together reveals a completely different story  of our relationship with outer space, as well as the dangers of our  current direction of extractive capitalism and colonisation.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305791730037,"sku":"9781786637352","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781786637352.jpg?v=1762798492","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9781786637352","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}