This book compares the cultural politics of the U.S. space and Antarctic programs during the Cold War. It analyzes how culturally salient terms, especially the nationalist motif of the frontier, were used to garner public support for these strategic initiatives and, more generally, United States internationalism during this period.
"Frontiers for the American Century is a sophisticated, nuanced, and welcome study of the cultural politics of the U.S. space and Antarctic programs. ... the book is a fascinating study of the complex and changing motif of the American frontier in the context of outer space and Antarctic exploration. ... Spiller thus gives welcome fine structure to one of the overarching frameworks of the Space Age ... ." (Steven J. Dick, Isis, Vol. 108 (1), March, 2017)