Maureen's review
Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War by Michael J. Neufeld
I’m reviewing Michael Neufeld’s biography of Wernher von Braun for The Common Review, and reading this book, I’m struck by how flabbergasting it is to discover what others find interesting and the questions I have that they don’t even begin to answer. Neufeld is an academic mucky-muck at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (to whatever degree that designation still stands — the Smithsonian has turned away from its academic potential to a great degree in the last twenty years). And, oh my good sweet Jesus, that man loves his rocket technology. I probably shouldn’t write this in such a public place where God and the world (and my editor) can find it, but I found myself skipping past dozens of pages of technical minutiae.
And oh my holy shit could this author use some more exposure to twentieth-century German historiography. The degree to which von Braun is given the benefit of the doubt about whether he was aware of the use of slave labor at Dora-Mittelwerk i...more
And oh my holy shit could this author use some more exposure to twentieth-century German historiography. The degree to which von Braun is given the benefit of the doubt about whether he was aware of the use of slave labor at Dora-Mittelwerk i...more
