Von Braun

By Michael J. Neufeld,

Book cover of Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War

Book description

Curator 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.…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Von Braun as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

As someone who loves biographies, I can think of few better books than this thorough and readable biography of the colorful and controversial figure who was a leading figure in World War II, the Cold War, and the race to the Moon, Wernher von Braun.

His amazing life saw him working with the likes of Adolf Hitler, Walt Disney, and President John F. Kennedy and took him from the depths of the Nazi war machine to the heights of celebrity in America.

From Christopher's list on the exploration of space.

In the 1910s little Werner von Braun dreamed of going to the Moon. In this remarkable biography, we read how his life-long, singular ambition led him to become the Nazi’s head rocket builder—and then the NASA engineer who created the Saturn V rockets that carried Americans to the Moon.

From Jacob's list on how science won World War Two.

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