Building and Sending Interstellar Probes

Man has dreamed of travelling to the stars for as long as he knew that those points of light in the sky were stars like the Sun.
Now, in the 21st century there are actual studies and plans to send interstellar space probes to the nearest stars. Probably to Alpha Centauri which is only 4.3 light years away.
What is the history of plans to get to the nearest star? And what are the plans today to make these ideas a reality?
In this book we explore the history of the scientific effort to send “St...