German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past during the Civil Rights Era

German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past during the Civil Rights Era

by Monique Laney
German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past during the Civil Rights Era

German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past during the Civil Rights Era

by Monique Laney

Hardcover

$38.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Temporarily Out of Stock Online
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

This thought-provoking study by historian Monique Laney focuses on the U.S. government–assisted integration of German rocket specialists and their families into a small southern community soon after World War II. In 1950, Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket experts relocated to Huntsville, Alabama, a town that would celebrate the team, despite their essential role in the recent Nazi war effort, for their contributions to the U.S. Army missile program and later to NASA’s space program. Based on oral histories, provided by members of the African American and Jewish communities, and  by the rocketeers’ families, co-workers, friends, and neighbors, Laney’s book demonstrates how the histories of German Nazism and Jim Crow in the American South intertwine in narratives about the past. This is a critical reassessment of a singular time that links the Cold War, the Space Race, and the Civil Rights era while addressing important issues of transnational science and technology, and asking Americans to consider their country’s own history of racism when reflecting on the Nazi past.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300198034
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 06/23/2015
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 9.40(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Monique Laney is assistant professor of history at Auburn University. She lives in Auburn, AL.
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews