German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During the Civil Rights Era (2015)
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.
...MoreReview Jason Krupar (2016) Review of "German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During the Civil Rights Era". Journal of Southern History (pp. 982-984).
Review Mark Walker (2018) Review of "German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During the Civil Rights Era". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 663-664).
Review Martin Collins (July 2016) Review of "German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During the Civil Rights Era". Technology and Culture (pp. 691-692).
Review Jack Glazier (2016) Review of "German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During the Civil Rights Era". Journal of American History (pp. 264-265).
Similar Citations
Book
Neufeld, Michael J.;
(2007)
Von Braun: Dreamer of space, engineer of war
Book
Biddle, Wayne;
(2009)
Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race
Book
Béon, Yves;
Neufeld, Michael J.;
(1997)
Planet Dora: A memoir of the Holocaust and the birth of the space age
Book
Weyer, Johannes;
(2000)
Wernher von Braun
Book
Marchis, Vittorio;
Maris, Etta;
Scheifes, Ansfried;
(2010)
Von Braun: de nazi-raketbouwer die de Amerikanen naar de maan bracht
Book
Anke Ortlepp;
(2017)
Jim Crow terminals: the desegregation of American airports
Book
Traci Parker;
(2019)
Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights from the 1930s to the 1980s
Book
Geier, Max G.;
(2015)
The Color of Night: Race, Railroaders, and Murder in the Wartime West
Thesis
Anthony Quinzales, Jr Hazard;
(2008)
Postwar Anti-Racism: The United States, UNESCO and “Race,” 1945–1968
Chapter
Neufeld, M. J.;
(2012)
“Smash the Myth of the Fascist Rocket Baron”: East German Attacks on Wernher von Braun in the 1960s
Book
Catherine L. Newell;
(2019)
Destined for the Stars: Faith, the Future, and America’s Final Frontier
Thesis
William Marino;
(2018)
Outer Space in a Western Place: How Environmental Perceptions of the American West Shaped the Space Race
Thesis
Shuko Tamao;
(2020)
Memories of Asylums: A Narrative Examination of Postwar State Hospital Experiences
Article
C. P. Sonett;
(1994)
Romancing the Solar System
Book
Matthew H. Hersch;
(2023)
Dark Star: A New History of the Space Shuttle
Book
John M. Logsdon;
(2018)
Ronald Reagan and the Space Frontier
Article
James Bingaman;
Wyatt Dawson;
Paul R. Brewer;
Ashley Paintsil;
(November 2022)
Media use and US Attitudes Toward Government and Private Space Exploration
Book
David N. Spires;
(2021)
Assured Access: A History of the United States Air Force Space Launch Enterprise, 1945-2020
Book
John Anderson;
(2014)
X-15: The World's Fastest Rocket Plane and the Pilots Who Ushered in the Space Age
Book
Frank H. Winter;
John H. Wyld;
Frederick I. Ordway;
John Sheesta;
Philippe Cosyn;
(2015)
Pioneering American Rocketry: The Reaction Motors, Inc. (RMI) Story, 1941-1972 Vol. 44 in the AAS History Series
Be the first to comment!