Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of WarCurator and space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum delivers a brilliantly nuanced biography of controversial space pioneer Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathers of the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source of consistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whose intelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld's biography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritative portrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailing how he was a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life. |
Contents
The Wheel of Progress to 1925 | 7 |
Sonny Boy 192532 | 21 |
The Black Sedan 193234 | 49 |
How Much Do You Want? 193537 | 74 |
His Indisputable Genius 193739 | 89 |
Future Dreams 193942 | 115 |
A Pretty Hellish Environment 194244 | 135 |
A Young Man of Very Germanic Appearance | 167 |
I Aim at the Stars 195860 | 333 |
Before This Decade Is Out 196063 | 354 |
Youre an Optimist but Then So Am I | 391 |
A Pretty Emotional Moment 196769 | 414 |
For Him a World Was Falling Apart | 434 |
The Heavens Declare the Glory of | 458 |
A Faustian Shadow | 473 |
Notes | 479 |