Laika\u2019s Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\nTrinity University Press<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nHardcover, 978-1-5953-4862-3 (also available as an e-book)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n256 pgs., $24.95<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nOctober 30, 2018<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
To appreciate Laika\u2019s Window<\/em>, you have to understand what it really is. For a space geek\u2014and I have been one my whole life\u2014the initial expectation is a largely historical, linear, and chronological narrative tracing the desperate embryonic stage of the Cold War Space Race between the Russians and the Americans. Laika\u2019s Window<\/em> is so much more, although the details in Caswell\u2019s work provide at least that. Let me explain.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
This book is a rich bricolage of fact and metanarrative, an unlikely but deft mashup of Jim Lovell\u2019s daring Apollo Thirteen<\/em> and Robert Bly\u2019s heavily allegorical Iron John<\/em>. The details of Laika\u2019s life as a stray on the cold Moscow streets, then her selection, training, and eventual spaceflight, is related in the laconic astronaut-speak worthy of NASA\u2019s Mission Control; simultaneously, Caswell steps back and offers a broader perspective that questions our very humanity: Laika, and mankind\u2019s largely offhand regard for her service and unwitting ultimate sacrifice, is truly a window through which Caswell shows readers a broader and equally significant view. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Through Laika\u2019s space-capsule window, we speculate not only about the wonders of space flight that were her dying glimpse of existence but about the more mundane Earthly concerns of politics, scientific research, and the attendant overlay of sociopolitical and ideological competition that fueled the space race in the first place: what price, in terms of lives and treasure\u2014human and animal\u2014can we justify? What really mattered in the race: science or ideology? Was or is that ever worth the price?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Caswell delivers the space-geek goods, the physical deets of late-1950s rocket science in general, and the arcane history of animals in early space flight in particular. But what endures after reading the book is the plangent, lyrical, and careful regard Caswell has not only for the dog, but also for the introspection and reflection about the timeless struggle to balance science and ethics, progress and principles, the promise of the future and the obligations of our innate humanity. Lives always hang in the balance, and there is always a price to be paid.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\u201cThe dog is an extension of the human animal,\u201d Caswell tells us, and later, \u201cWe cast a dog out beyond us to scout.\u201d Yet Laika\u2019s window is as much a mirror of humankind as it is a portal to the stars, and Caswell doesn\u2019t let the reader off the hook with a simplistic and unknowing dog\u2019s final view of the world. Rather, through this beautiful, thoughtful exploration of the \u201cMuttnick\u201d refugee from Moscow\u2019s cold streets and her journey to the edge of space, we\u2019re offered an opportunity to take the measure of our own humanity<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Laika\u2019s Window<\/em> is a journey well worth taking, and a rewarding read.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The unforgettable story of Laika the Soviet space dog, the Cold War, and the Space Race between the United States…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[869,813,830,838,812],"class_list":["post-1461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-kurtcaswell","tag-lone-star-literary-life","tag-lonestarliterarycom","tag-review","tag-texas-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}