Witnessing humans people are operating at the convergence point of wisdom and audacity is fun, and this book celebrates that spirit. This is a book about the U.S. military dealing with extreme environments, specifically the desert, the arctic, and the moon: the eponymous sand, snow, and stardust. This is not only alliteration, but is the major challenge in each environment. The result is the U.S. military’s understanding of its need for ‘environmental intelligence’, a combined idea mixing ecology, logistics, and experience as relates to specific climates

This is a five star read for facts with a three-star organization. It has more of a point rather than a thesis, which is the untold nature of this story. The idea that the Space Race had a military component to it (as opposed to being a pursuit only of national pride or scientific accomplishment) is well-established, but this book explains how space is more of the end of a story, starting in World War II during the North African campaign. This was when strategists realized that the future of war was global (and extra-global) and would require learning how to wage war in new climates.

The clever bit of the book’s arrangement is that the participants understood the continuity of their research. The text balances character study of some of the more interesting individuals involved, directly or indirectly, with the narrative of what happened in each place, and the specific scientific research developed or used. It does not work; it roughs up the chronology in a way that leads to looking back and forth to keep it mentally organized. Each part in itself is good.

The arctic section is the standout one. Paradoxically, it represents the greatest success and the greatest failure of the three. What was built in the arctic is still around, under a different name1 and under the umbrella of the Space Force. However, the ice won. What remains is a fragment of the original plan, and the plan did not reach fruition, or did so in a limited fashion, much greater than occurred with either desert or Moon.

The arctic section is also where the saltiness of the text is allowed to reign. The book is not outright critical of the U.S. military but the author loves to spike the camera. Trash, and trashing, comes up frequently. Despite the narrative here being the development of environmental intelligence that the U.S. needed a deeper and more complex understanding of ecology in order to accomplish its goals, the underlying attitude of all of these environments being fundamentally worthless and destroyable is on display. While the astronauts wantonly blowing up the landscape is choice, the arctic is the fullest expression of this attitude. Outside of of the leftover trash including nuclear reactor runoff and a lost yet fully armed and operational nuclear warhead, in the arctic we have a series of direct displacements for the local Inuhuit.

You know, the people already living there, when the U.S. was throwing blood and treasure into solving the mystery of how to live there.

You know, the people who still live near there, despite the U.S. failing in managing to live there.

It is not imperialism all the way down, though. The U.S. was flexible about acknowledging or ignoring boundaries on the basis of what served its best interests.
Early on, the author invokes the “bridge to Mars” which sounds like the ultimate in congressional pork. And it is risible the first time you see the images. But it has stuck with me. The bridge to Mars is an infographic detailing the methodology for the U.S. exploration of Mars. Say what you will about the virtues of private space exploration, this, as is several of the other moments in this book, remains inspiring. Any modern version would be afraid to be so boring, but this does successfully represent the sort of paradox of environmental intelligence. It is understand the need to understand, but also knowing when not to care. That is cool. That is American execptionalism, not all this LARPing for the rubes

Anyway, good book; sometimes hard to follow; often amusing, and consistently informative.

My thanks to the author, Gretchen Heefner, for writing the book, and to the publisher, University of Chicago Press, for making the ARC available to me.

My thanks to both NetGalley and University of Chicago Press for an advance copy of this book that looks at the history of the American military's attempt to understand and in some cases control the numerous hostile environments that they might find themselves in from deserts, snowy glaciers, and even outer space.

Battle have been lost and won by one side understanding the environment they find themselves in over the other. The Battle of Agincourt where the British defeated the French using mud, arrows and a bit of luck. The German High Command not understanding the Russian secret weapon of "General Winter" and how ice, snow and again mud could stymie the best of plans. Since the end of the Second World War the United States has spent a lot of time, money and resources on understanding the most hostile places on the planet. Places where life is difficult to sustain, but places that are important to war efforts. From this, much knowledge has been gained, knowledge that could help us move from the deserts and ice fields of Earth, to the Moon and beyond. Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments by historian, professor and writer Gretchen Heefner is a look at the thinkers, schemers, planners, and those on the ground who dealt with dust, sand, ice, cold, and lots of entrenched thinking.

At the start of World War II, America had a problem in that years of isolation and a a uniquely American lack of understanding of the world, was having a problem on military plans. The idea of America's involvement was the invasion of North Africa, conquering the area, and striking at the soft underbelly of Europe. The only problem was the lack of understanding of what North Africa was. Thought to be a desert, the equipment, clothing and water for the troops soon became a problem. North Africa is a unique area, prone to rain, cold weather at the time, and lots of sand. Engineers began to have to deal with how to move sand, where to put sand, how to keep runways clean of sand. What clothing was best for this area. And how much water would keep men alive, and fighting. This was all new, as was the science. Lessons learned was carried over the cold war, where America began to build bases to provide striking areas for nuclear equipped planes. Again the same problems, clothing building runways, concrete in cold is different than concrete in heat. Mistakes were made, tunnels were dug, but the knowledge gained could be used in the next hostile place. The airless dust covered Moon, or even the planet Mars.

A book that was far more than I expected, and one that I enjoyed quite a bit. A mix of military, survival, ecological, and what could have been. Heefner is a very good writer, and a great researcher, filling the book with lots of plans, some that went places some that went nowhere, or many that went under the earth. We sure did like tunnels and vast habitats beneath the surface. One can see why so many of these ideas would be critical on the Moon and Mars, with the radiation and lack of air. The book moves very well and never bogs down in science, history or in the numerous appearances of mud. Heefner talks about the experts who did not fit the mold of what the army wanted, strong white males of protestant faith, not natives or even people who lived and thrived in hostile places, who were never asked for their input, causing a lot of reinventing of the wheel. Heefner has a lot of stories of life at the extremes, plane crashes leaving people trapped on the ice for weeks, ideas that might have worked that went no where. Even space ideas that were pushed to the side. A fascinating read.

A mix of science, military and history, and again what might have been. Habitats on the moon, were planned, but cast aside due to cost and loss of interest. Which makes for really good reading. Fans of history and science will enjoy this, but I think science fiction writers can get some good ideas from this too. Also the book is quite fun. This is the first that I have read by Heefner, but will have to look for more.

Thank you to Netgalley and University of Chicago Press for providing me with an ARC of Sand, Snow, and Stardust! Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. While I was very excited to read a book tackling extreme environments, particularly how they were handled in a military context, I found that the text lacked a central through line. Chapters could vary in their content, and it was sometimes difficult to see how topics were related or to follow the general flow of the argument. Additionally, the text felt dry and wasn’t particularly engaging me throughout. This book may be a better fit for military enthusiasts as well as those interested in learning more about extreme environments and the engineering used to make them habitable for the military.

Very very interesting and informative. I learned more about the U.S military’s survival and harsh weather management tactics than I ever thought I’d want to, and I’m thrilled. Definitely recommend.

This was a really interesting book! I hadn't really given much thought to environments and what that would mean and so I found this book to be really engaging. I like how the book was organized (exactly how it was named!) and the inclusion of the pictures throughout gave some interesting context to the writing. Heefner's writing itself was also really well done, and I continually found myself taking notes as I learned new things.