The Loony

Back in 1961, at the height of the Cold War and with the USSR firmly leading the Space Race, President John F. Kennedy vowed to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. It was an audacious promise, one that echoes through US history as one of the most ambitious proposals ever set forth by a president. And, in 1969, history teaches, two Americans softly landed on the moon's Sea of Tranquility. But what if we faked the whole thing? What if the greatest scientific achievement of the 20th century was dramatized on sound stages safely on earth for a navely patriotic nation unaccustomed to special effects? It would be the greatest charade in history. One that would be kept so secret, knowledge of the truth could have deadly consequences. The Loony is a book in which history is a Cheshire cat, conspiracy theories fly, and the quagmire of one man's psychosis illuminates a uniquely American obsession with the gray matter of truth.