Reddit mentions of ...the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age

...the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age by Walter Mcdougall is a solid work on spaceflight and how it came to be, but it's prett heavy if you don't know much about the subject.

Also, Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space by James Clay Moltz can be used as a primer on Space exploration and policy. It is more focused on the 21st century use of space, but he explains very well how the beginning of the space age still affects the way space is being used today.

My third suggestion is a more basic and simple approach, Space Exploratiom for Dummies will take you through a quick history of each space program.

Read on!

If you're interested in the general history of early America (through the Civil War), I'm a huge fan of Walter McDougall's work. Freedom Just Around the Corner documents the colonial era and the different cultural and historical trends that shaped the formation of the country. Throes of Democracy is the second volume, which describes the politics of the Civil War Era. They are my personal favorite books of American history.

He also has a book on America's foreign policy called Promised Land, Crusader State which explores some of the cultural and political forces that have driven American foreign policy for the last 200 years.

All three are fascinating depictions of American culture and politics.
At the moment, I'm in the middle of reading one of his earlier books, ...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in history.