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

This thought-provoking study by historian Monique Laney focuses on the U.S. government'Äìassisted 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...