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Author Kapell, Matthew, author.

Title Exploring the next frontier : Vietnam, NASA, Star Trek and utopia in 1960s and 70s American myth and history / Matthew Wilhelm Kapell
Published New York, NY : Routledge, 2016

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Description 1 online resource (x, 226 pages)
Series Routledge advances in American history ; 4
Routledge advances in American history ; 4.
Contents Introduction: 1969 and an American Mythos -- Paradigms Lost and Paradigms Regained : A Mythography of the Lost Frontier -- Vietnam, The Forever War, and the Shattering of American Myth -- Technological Triumph, Mythological Miasma : NASA, the Moon, and Transforming Mythos into Logos -- The Rejection of Paradise : Star Trek and the Final Frontier -- The High Frontier of Gerard K. O'Neill : An Endless Frontier Utopia in Orbit -- Conclusion: A Continuing Mythic Significance
Summary "The 1960s and early 70s saw the evolution of Frontier Myths even as scholars were renouncing the interpretive value of myths themselves. Works like Joe Haldeman's The Forever War exemplified that rejection using his experiences during the Vietnam War to illustrate the problematic consequences of simple mythic idealism. Simultaneously, Americans were playing with expanded and revised versions of familiar Frontier Myths, though in a contemporary context, through NASA's lunar missions, Star Trek, and Gerard K. O'Neill's High Frontier. This book examines the reasons behind the exclusion of Frontier Myths to the periphery of scholarly discourse, and endeavors to build a new model for understanding their enduring significance. This model connects NASA's failed attempts to recycle earlier myths, wholesale, to Star Trek's revision of those myths and rejection of the idea of a frontier paradise, to O'Neill's desire to realize such a paradise in Earth's orbit. This new synthesis defies the negative connotations of Frontier Myths during the 1960s and 70s and attempts to resuscitate them for relevance in the modern academic context"--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed
Subject O'Neill, Gerard K. High frontier
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- History -- 20th century
SUBJECT United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration fast
Star trek (Television program) http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80040317
Star trek (Television program) fast
Subject Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- Philosophy
Myth -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Frontier thesis.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Influence
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- General.
Frontier thesis
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Myth -- Political aspects
SUBJECT United States -- Territorial expansion -- Philosophy
United States -- History -- 1961-1969. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140305
United States -- History -- 1969- http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140306
Subject United States
Genre/Form Electronic books
History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2016001642
ISBN 9781317281436
1317281438
9781315641911
1315641917
1138188573
9781138188570
9781317281429
131728142X
9781317281443
1317281446