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The Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs. By Stephen B. Johnson. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8018-6898-X. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. Essay on sources. Index. Pp. xvii, 290. $41.50.
Why review this book in a military history journal? As explained by Stephen B. Johnson of the University of North Dakota, "the secret of Apollo"-systems management-was primarily invented by the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and chiefly in the IGBM program. Far from being a single systematic management theory, however, systems management actually evolved as a "melange of techniques" (p. 17) during the Gold War by four social groups inside and outside the Air Force: military officers, scientists, engineers, and professional managers.
Johnson's relatively short, well-written book is really a series of case studies,...