Search results for ""Author Howard E McCurdy""
Johns Hopkins University Press Space and the American Imagination
Book SynopsisFully revised and updated since its original publication in 1997, Space and the American Imagination includes a reworked introduction and conclusion and new chapters on robotics and space commerce.Trade ReviewA very useful study for those interested in fictions about space travel and exploration. Science Fiction Studies An interesting work for all space fans. ChoiceTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Imagination1. The Vision2. Making Space Flight Seem Real3. The Cold War4. Apollo: The Aura of Competence5. Mysteries of Life6. The Extraterrestrial Frontier7. Stations in Space8. Spacecraft9. Robots10. Space Commerce11. Back on EarthConclusion: Imagination and CultureNotesIndex
£33.86
Georgetown University Press Revisiting Waldo's Administrative State:
Book SynopsisThe prevailing notion that the best government is achieved through principles of management and business practices is hardly new - it echoes the early twentieth-century "gospel of efficiency" challenged by Dwight Waldo in 1948 in his path-breaking book, "The Administrative State". Asking, "Efficiency for what?", Waldo warned that public administrative efficiency must be backed by a framework of consciously held democratic values. "Revisiting Waldo's Administrative State" brings together a group of distinguished authors who critically explore public administration's big ideas and issues and question whether contemporary efforts to "reinvent government", promote privatization, and develop new public management approaches constitute a coherent political theory capable of meeting the complex challenges of governing in a democracy. Taking Waldo's book as a starting point, the authors revisit and update his key concepts and consider their applicability for today. The book follows Waldo's conceptual structure, first probing the material and ideological background of modern public administration, problems of political philosophy, and finally particular challenges inherent in contemporary administrative reform. It concludes with a look ahead to "wicked" policy problems - such as terrorism, global warming, and ecological threats - whose scope is so global and complex that they will defy any existing administrative structures and values. Calling for a return to conscious consideration of democratic accountability, fairness, justice, and transparency in government, the book's conclusion assesses the future direction of public administrative thought. This book can stand alone as a commentary on reconciling democratic values and governance today or as a companion when reading Waldo's classic volume.Trade ReviewThe book's major strength lies in its application of public administration theories to tomorrow's social problems that we, as a planetary society, have not widely discussed ... [it] advances Waldo's work into the twenty-first century and serves as an excellent graduate text in public administration theory or as a supplement in an introductory course. Political Studies ReviewTable of Contents1. Introduction: Dwight Waldo's The Administrative State David H. Rosenbloom and Howard E. McCurdy 2. The Material Background Donald F. Kettl 3. The Cultural and Ideological Background Howard E. McCurdy 4. The Criteria of Action Norma M. Riccucci 5. Who Should Rule? Patricia W. Ingraham 6. The Separation of Powers David H. Rosenbloom 7. The Thinning of Administrative Institutions Larry D. Terry 8. Competition for Human Capital John Cadigan 9. Business and Government Barbara S. Romzek 10. Institutional Values and the Future Administrative State Robert F. Durant 11. Conclusion: Additional Notes on the Present Tendencies Howard E. McCurdy and David H. Rosenbloom Contributors Index
£84.00
Johns Hopkins University Press Robots in Space
Book SynopsisRather than asking us to suspend disbelief, Robots in Space demands that we accept facts as they evolve.Trade ReviewEntertaining reading. Commercial Dispatch Excellent, eye-opening, horizon-broadening reading! Highly recommended. Choice Noted space historians... breathe new life into the subject by examining its history as well as its possible future. They call for a new vision of human spaceflight-a 'transhuman' program that takes into account current trends in robotics, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and other fields that are rapidly changing the nature of both humans and machines. Air and Space Magazine This short volume manages to capture the history of U.S. space flight, to explain the underpinnings of U.S. space policy and to plot out the possibilities for our future in space in a style that most anyone can enjoy. -- Andrew McMichael Park City Daily News A timely and thought-provoking read, no matter what side of the humans vs. robots debate one is on. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in where our species is ultimately headed in space. Liftoff Should interest any intelligent reader with an interest in the history and future of space exploration, whatever technology is applied. Its mix of historical background and social context, entirely due to the authors' long experience, takes the reader well beyond the usual issues of technical challenge and budget limitations, while numerous selected quotations accentuate the human element. -- Mark Williamson Space Times An examination of the history of the various arguments for sending humans and machines into space, and their relative merits. It is an authoritative, detailed look at how these arguments evolved and what the future of humans and robots in space might hold. -- Jeff Foust Space Review A remarkably well-written and lucid book... about the ongoing debate within the American civil space agency between proponents of human spaceflight and those who advocate robotic or 'unmanned' spaceflight. -- Capt Bryce G. Poole, USAF Air and Space Power JournalTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: A False Dichotomy1. The Human/ Robot Debate2. Human Spaceflight in Popular Culture3. Promoting the Human Dimension4. Robotic Spaceflight in Popular Culture5. The New Space Race6. Interstellar Flight and the Human Future in Space7. Homo sapiens, Transhumanism, and the Postbiological Universe8. An Alternative Paradigm?Appendix: Inaequate WordsNotesIndex
£22.50
University of Illinois Press Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This well-written and well-documented book provides a good overview on the development of space policies during the past decades. As a concise history of manned spaceflight it is useful for everyone interested in this intriguing web of politics, the presidency, and space policy." -- Andreas Reichstein, The Journal of American HistoryTable of ContentsThe reluctant racer, Dwight D. Eisenhower and United States space policy / Da Callahan and Fred I. Greenstein -- Kennedy and the decision to go to the moo Michael Beschloss -- Johnson, Project Apollo, and the politics of space prog planning / Robert Dallek -- The presidency, Congress, and the deceleration o the U.S. space program in the 1970s / Joan Hoff -- Politics not science, the U.S. space program in the Reagan and Bush years / Lyn Ragsdale -- Presidenti leadership and international aspects of the space program / Robert Ferrell - National leadership and presidential power / John M. Logsdon.
£17.99
