Sand, Snow, and Stardust : How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments / Gretchen Heefner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heefner, Gretchen, Author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 p.) : 52 halftones

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2025.

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2025]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

A vivid tour of US military efforts to understand, survive, and command harsh environments worldwide—and beyond. Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country’s status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America’s planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Gretchen Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

FIGURES AND MAPS

CAST OF CHARACTERS

INTRODUCTION: INTO THE EXTREMES

I. SAND

PRELUDE

1 THE SMALLEST OF DETAILS

2 MUD, RAIN, FROST, AND WIND

3 THE CACTUS CULT

4 THE DESERT ROOM

5 EXTREME WISH LISTS

6 ENGINEERING DESERTS

7 ANALOG DESERTS

II. SNOW

Prelude

8 TOP OF THE WORLD

9 ARCTICA

10 PITUFFIK

11 FIELDWORK

12 LIMITS

13 SECRETS OF THE ICE

III. STARDUST

14 DESERTS IN SPACE

15 MOONDUST

16 ANALOG EARTH

CONCLUSION: EVERYDAY EXTREMES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

NOTES

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Mar 2025)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780226831602

OCLC:

1506098145