Alfred A. Knopf
Von Braun; dreamer of space, engineer of war.
To some he will be forever linked with nazism and death camp labor. To others he was a dedicated scientist going wherever his work took him, regardless of who signed his paycheck. Neufield (space history, Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum) makes no excuses for his subject's associations, whether in Germany or the US. Instead, he works at a much higher level, giving full due to the subtleties and complexities that made up von Braun's character. Neufeld is careful to explain von Braun's contexts from birth onward, his motivations for attaining success in science, the circumstances in which he found himself both before and during the war, the reasons he was willing to work for the US, his early failures and later successes, and his eventual status as the leading aerospace scientist in the country, despite the whispers ever sounding behind his back. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
