Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race

This book does an excellent and enlightening job of portraying the social and political environment out of which von Braun emerged, and placing his meteoric career in both Hitler's Germany and the US into far more understandable context that any previously published work that I have encountered. von Braun's split personality and identities is well worth study, but unknown to the general public, partly because of his effectiveness in re-inventing himself to suit dramatically changed and changing socio-political circumstances. None of this gainsays his acknowledged effectiveness in leading extraordinary rocket developments, from the first extra-atomospheric ballistic missle (the V-2) through the Saturn V lunar rocket, the greatest rocket achievement of all time to date. A chapter in my book,REFLECTIONS ON FAME and Some Famous Men, written before DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, includes much of the remarkable, while morally puzzling, aspects of von Braun's careers as a darling of both Hitler and the US Congress.

very good book on a subject i was happy to see someone finally shedding light on, i have no doubt wernher von braun when exactly what the reich was doing as evidenced by several facts none more obvious than him personally requesting jewish labor to build his rockets. He was obviously a man with a dream but no conscience the same may be said for the americans who smuggled him out and washed him clean of his sins allowing him to live out his life with respect and dignity, SHAME ON THEM! the book is a very good fast read of a interesting subject a story that needs to be told

In short, this book is not what I expected. All told, it contains about 240 pages. If we disregard the preliminary pages (Table of Contents, etc.), the brief introduction, the index, the bibliography and the many pages of notes, we are left with 152 pages of main text. At least the first third of this comprises mainly of historical information on Germany during the first half of the twentieth century, as well as some von Braun family history. Wernher von Braun is briefly mentioned here and there, but the mention of events in his life becomes gradually more frequent as the book progresses beyond the first third. The development of rocketry technology is also superficially touched upon routinely, but becomes a bit more prominent in the later parts of the book. The last couple of chapters contain the most information on Wernher von Braun's life and accomplishments. Evidence for von Braun's "darker side" is suggested only in a few paragraphs where the building of rockets in Nazi Germany using slave labour is discussed. The writing style is rather formal, quite authoritative, but at times a bit awkward. This book would likely appeal more to serious history buffs interested in Germany during the first half of the twentieth century than to those interested in Wernher von Braun's life or a detailed history of rocketry.