Sale!

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

Amazon.com Price:  $31.79 (as of 06/05/2019 11:30 PST- Details)

Categories: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Description

This thought-provoking study by historian Monique Laney makes a speciality of 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, regardless of their very important role in the latest Nazi war effort, for their contributions to the U.S. Army missile program and later to NASA’s space program. In keeping with 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 can be a critical reassessment of a singular time that links the Cold War, the Space Race, and the Civil Rights era at the same time as addressing necessary issues of transnational science and technology, and asking Americans to imagine their country’s own history of racism when reflecting at the Nazi past.

Related products

Home » Shop » Books » Subjects » Arts and Photography » History and Criticism » History » Americas » United States » State and Local » German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past during the Civil Rights Era

Recent Products