Adrift: Charting Our Course Back to a Great Nation - Hardcover

Harris, William C.; Beschloss, Steven C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1616144033 ISBN 13: 9781616144036

Verlag: Prometheus Books, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

This timely book not only diagnoses the critical systemic weaknesses plaguing America, but also lays out a workable blueprint for tackling the critical challenges we face today. With the intent of spurring a constructive national dialogue, the authors examine how:

-We Americans can be jolted out of our complacency and motivated to bold action and common purpose.
-Government can work in concert with industry to foster innovation and pursue critical goals.
-We can elevate the quality of our educational system to meet new challenges.
-We must encourage the best and the brightest immigrants from around the world to participate in the nation’s future.
-Individual cities and states are showing the way forward based on local initiatives.

This book is more than a compelling narrative and a candid look at our current malaise. It is an inspiring call to action on how we as a nation can once again attain our full potential and thrive.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

William C. Harris (Phoenix, AZ) is the president and CEO of Science Foundation Arizona. He is the former founding Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, president and executive director of the Columbia University Biosphere 2 Center in Arizona, and the head of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate of the National Science Foundation, among other executive, research, and academic positions.

Steven Beschloss (Scottsdale, AZ) is an award-winning journalist who has written about business, economics, urban affairs, and international affairs for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Parade Magazine, and many other media outlets. Chosen Journalist of the Year in Virginia and honored for his writing by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his seven-part series in the Virginian Pilot examining boom and bust in the southern United States.

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ADRIFT

CHARTING OUR COURSE BACK TO A GREAT NATIONBy WILLIAM C. HARRIS STEVEN C. BESCHLOSS

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2011 William C. Harris and Steven C. Beschloss
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-61614-403-6

Contents

Foreword Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico..............................................................7Preface: Why We've Written This Book.........................................................................11Chapter 1: Are Americans Still Capable of Bold Action and Common Purpose?....................................21Chapter 2: Is It Too Late to Restore American Ambition?......................................................33Chapter 3: What's So Bad about Good Government?..............................................................41Chapter 4: Have We Lost Contact with Our Democracy?..........................................................53Chapter 5: Can America Prosper in the Twenty-First Century without Classroom Excellence?.....................69Chapter 6: Don't We Want the Best and Brightest to Come and Stay?............................................79Chapter 7: What Can America Learn from Ireland?..............................................................97Chapter 8: Do We Still Care about Jobs and Making Things?....................................................111Chapter 9: Have We Lost Our Edge for Innovation?.............................................................133Chapter 10: Will Our States Be Part of the Solution?.........................................................151Chapter 11: Can Our Cities Show the Way Forward?.............................................................169Chapter 12: Are We Ready for Leadership That Represents the Best of Us?......................................189Acknowledgments..............................................................................................205Notes........................................................................................................209Bibliography.................................................................................................237Index........................................................................................................241

Chapter One

Are Americans Still Capable of Bold Action and Common Purpose?

It was a tiny speck in the black night sky, 560 miles from Earth and traveling at a speed of 18,000 miles an hour. Sputnik 1, a shiny aluminum sphere about twice the size of a basketball and weighing just 184 pounds, rocketed into space on October 4, 1957. Launched by the Soviets, the silver satellite with four radio antennae ushered in the Space Age with a simple message: beep, beep, beep.

That radio transmission was a sound heard round the world, triggering a combination of admiration, confusion, and fear from Americans. Circling the globe every ninety-six minutes, Sputnik provided a vivid symbol of the Soviet Union's capacity for scientific and technological superiority. Millions of Americans, dazzled by this stunning human achievement, gathered at night to try and catch a glimpse of Sputnik traveling overhead. Many, beset by darker concerns about the Soviets' intentions, worried that this was more than a satellite to study space—this was a Cold War demonstration of an intercontinental missile capable of transporting atomic bombs, the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

The startling success of Sputnik 1, followed by the launch of Sputnik 2 a month later with the dog Laika on board, was a serious blow to American prestige and morale. It was a wake-up call for Americans who had grown complacent in their presumption of dominance. It was a shock to the system, representing a kind of "technological Pearl Harbor," as David Halberstam put it, and a worldwide boon to Soviet propaganda hailing communism as the more advanced system. Yet even though Sputnik wrought havoc with American pride, it also presented the United States with a rare gift, a singular moment for reflection and action—to focus its collective mind, question what it had accomplished and where it was failing, and think boldly about the future. With the calm leadership of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sputnik spurred a fresh emphasis on basic research and the importance of science and math education to the nation's success, even its very survival.

At first this was more about action than reflection. In its terrible haste to respond, the United States prepped the Vanguard rocket for a December 6 launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Yet seven seconds after its engines were ignited that Friday morning, the rocket exploded in flames. A fantastic failure that further shook the nation's confidence, Vanguard was dubbed in the media "Kaputnik" and "Stayputnik" and "Flopnik." Lyndon Johnson, then the Senate Majority Leader, described his reaction to this new blow to American morale: "I shrink a little inside of me when the United States announces a great event—and it blows up in our face. Why don't they perfect the satellite and announce it after it is in the sky?"

Less than two months later, though, the United States celebrated the achievement of German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, by then a US citizen and working for the US Army. On January 31, 1958, his Explorer 1 lifted off from Cape Canaveral and became the first US rocket to orbit Earth. The space race with the Russians was officially on.

In the following months, President Eisenhower responded to the growing fear of Soviet domination and the fresh doubt about the quality and focus of American schooling. He named James R. Killian, the president of MIT, as his first special assistant for science and technology. He stressed the importance of education to the nation's security by proposing the creation of the National Defense Education Act to encourage students to pursue degrees in science and technology; Congressional backing of the program led to dramatically increased funding for scientific research and the teaching of science, math, and foreign languages. The civilian-led National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) was formed in July 1958. And the National Science Foundation substantially expanded its funding for new curricula and textbooks as well as scholarships for potential scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.

Suddenly, science education was not only cutting edge—it was at the center of American life. The existential threat posed by the Soviets had focused the nation's collective mind. As we have learned all too well in the post-9/11 world, fear is a powerful motivator.

Yet as deeply felt as the Cold War fears were in the late 1950s, early 1960s, and even decades later, the Sputnik era elicits a remarkable sense of nostalgia, above and beyond the typical gaze at bygone times. It's easy to see why: The children of Sputnik benefited from a strong sense of common purpose and community. They had a clearly defined enemy and an obvious reason for pulling together to achieve shared goals. At their most acute, Americans felt that the nation's existence was at stake. But so too was its pride and identity as a world leader. America's technological prestige and self-confidence had been seriously dented by the Soviets' success; Americans had something to prove.

Something to prove. How far the nation has drifted from that mind-set.

In the coming pages, we will explore the dangerous rise of complacency, the decline of ambition, the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Prometheus Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1616144033
• ISBN 13: 9781616144036
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 258
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV, GPSR Europäische Union; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande