Book review: Oliver Tristan Dunnett, Earth, Cosmos and Culture: Geographies of Outer Space in Britain, 1900-2020 Earth, Cosmos and Culture: Geographies of Outer Space in Britain, 1900-2020. By DunnettOliver Tristan. Abingdon: Routledge. 2021. viii + 194 pp. £41.99 paperback. ISBN 978-0-367-76240-7.

Oliver Dunnett’s Earth, Cosmos and Culture: Geographies of Outer Space in Britain, 1900-2020 is a timely, illuminating, and rare contribution to human geographic literature on the impact of outer space on human geographical imaginations. The book critically resonates with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s 2021 declaration of post-Brexit Britain as a ‘Galactic Britain’, reflecting ambitions to reposition the UK as a sovereign spacefaring nation. Earth, Cosmos and Culture shifts the discussion toward a cultural analysis of space’s role in shaping national identities, integrating historical perspectives and lived experiences