A unique look at a pivotal event in the United States， MERCURY RISING， by Jeff Shesol， looks at the men and the politics of John Glenn's historic first American space orbit on February 20th， 1962。 Rather than considering this monumental accomplishment from a scientific and mechanical point of view， Shesol looks at the people and the climate first and the technical part second。 That being said， Shesol thoroughly describes the technical aspects of space flight， the ships used， and everything else A unique look at a pivotal event in the United States， MERCURY RISING， by Jeff Shesol， looks at the men and the politics of John Glenn's historic first American space orbit on February 20th， 1962。 Rather than considering this monumental accomplishment from a scientific and mechanical point of view， Shesol looks at the people and the climate first and the technical part second。 That being said， Shesol thoroughly describes the technical aspects of space flight， the ships used， and everything else that comes with space travel and covers those topics in ways that unscientific minds can understand。 The focus of the book is mostly on Glenn， Kennedy， and the space race itself。 I enjoyed reading about all of the politics along with Glenn's personal journey， but there are times in the book that just felt a little redundant。 The delays before Glenn's launch to space generated frustration throughout the country， from politicians， to reporters， to Glenn， and even the general public。 The book spend a lot of time taking the reader through each delay and it felt like I was reading the same few pages over and over again for a while。 At the end though， when Shesol walks the reader through that amazing voyage， he expertly and efficiently describes everything， from the ship， to Glenn's perceptions and feelings， to everyone on earth's reactions to such an astounding flight。 For someone who was not around in 1962， I feel like I can better appreciate everything that led up to that first flight and how it impacted the world now that I have read this book。 Thank you to W。 W。 Norton & Company， Jeff Shesol， and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review！ 。。。more