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Author
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Topic: "Mr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun" by Bob Ward
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 12300
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted February 11, 2004 08:48 PM
   
Received from Boggs SpaceBooks: quote:
We are delighted to announce a new book from Smithsonian Institution Press which will be out this June. It is a new biography of Wernher von Braun by the former editor of the Huntsville (Alabama) Times, Bob Ward. Bob covered the space program for the Times from the early days and had a long term personal relationship with von Braun. It's been our pleasure to count Bob as a friend and we have been treated to early drafts of this enlightening and definitive biography. It is personal, insightful and fascinating.Bob has graciously agreed to sign copies of his new book and we will ship these in June when the book is released. It is hardbound, a whopping 400 pages in length and includes 50 B&W photographs. The list price is currently set at $30.00 and we believe that will not change. You can preorder this by replying to us with that request or by ordering it from our home page.
From the publisher: quote:
From Nazi party member to the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (and the brains behind the United States' moon landing), Wernher von Braun continues to be a compelling and controversial figure in American history. He was the guiding light for American space flight, creating the breakthrough technologies of the Mercury and Apollo programs, yet his association with the Nazi party during World War II has overshadowed his accomplishments. Bob Ward devoted more than ten years of research and conducted 150 interviews with von Braun's colleagues to complete this behind-the-scenes biography, and he looks into the stories, heroics, and contradictions to paint a full portrait of an enigmatic man. 50 b/w photographs.
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MrSpace86
Member Posts: 614
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted February 11, 2004 11:12 PM
He stole my name. Is that copyright infringement?-Rodrigo IP: Logged |
Richard
unregistered
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posted February 12, 2004 08:47 AM
This sounds like a great book! Especially with the recent threads pointing to the controversy of von Braun. Maybe this will clear up some of those questions.IP: Logged |
TrueNorth
Member Posts: 151
From: Bathurst, NB, Canada
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted February 12, 2004 12:00 PM
"...and the brains behind the United States' moon landing..."Just wait 'till Chris Kraft sees that! John IP: Logged |
eurospace
Member Posts: 1743
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted February 13, 2004 02:10 AM
quote:
Originally posted by TrueNorth:
Just wait 'till Chris Kraft sees that!
Another Kraft book to put things right? ;-)------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies IP: Logged |
ALAIN
Member Posts: 355
From: GENT, Belgium
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted February 13, 2004 04:38 AM
Another great book on the life of Dr Wernher von Braun is: "Wernher von Braun - Crusader for Space, An Illustrated Memoir".(The real story, full of photos, written by Ernst Stuhlinger and Frederick Ordway. Are those writers still alive? If so does anyone have a contact for them?) IP: Logged |
Richard
unregistered
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posted February 13, 2004 11:14 AM
Yes, they are still alive. In fact, I am going to try to find time to go by Stuhlinger's house this weekend if I get the chance.IP: Logged |
Philip
Member Posts: 3326
From: Brussels, BELGIUM
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted February 15, 2004 06:01 AM
That's amazing news Richard... certainly a "Holy Grail" book is the 1962:From Peenemünde to Outer Space: Commemorating the fiftieth birthday of Wernher von Braun March 23, 1962, edited by Ernst Stuhlinger, Frederick I. Ordway III, Jerry C. McCall, George C. Bucher (George C. Marshall Space Flight Center – Huntsville ALABAMA - NASA). Which I understood was only given to people attending Dr von Braun's 50th birthday party where Bart Slattery of MSFC gave the introduction speech. The book was huge and had 853 pages with over 40 papers on space flight. From this large original NASA-released volume a shorter book of 400 pages was published commercially "Astronautical Engineering and Science: From Peenemünde to Planetary Space" in 1963... Does anyone has contacts for Ordway and/or Stuhlinger?
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Richard
unregistered
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posted February 15, 2004 07:35 PM
I was wondering why you needed the contact? IP: Logged |
eurospace
Member Posts: 1743
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted February 16, 2004 01:00 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
Does anyone has contacts for Ordway and/or Stuhlinger?
Stuhlinger's address is to be found in my address lists.------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies IP: Logged |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 12300
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted June 01, 2004 10:14 PM
From Boggs SpaceBooks June 1 Catalog: quote:
The Smithsonian Press publication of Bob Ward’s excellent biography of Mr. Space has been cancelled. Mr. Ward is looking for another publisher and we believe he will find one. We will let you know when copies signed by Bob are available.
Interestingly, before it was dropped by the SI Press, an advanced galley was reviewed by the American Library Association's Booklist: quote:
The Nazis recruited him, then jailed him. America lionized him--just before locking him out of the defining hierarchy for his profession. The puzzling contrarieties in the life of Wernher von Braun come into sharp focus in this balanced and much-needed biography of a brilliant but often maligned rocket maker.
As soon as news of "Mr. Space" being released (under a new publisher) is available, it will be posted to collectSPACE. IP: Logged |
Hawkman
Member Posts: 381
From: Union, New Jersey
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted June 02, 2004 05:33 PM
Any chance that this is some 'politically correct' move on the part of the Smithsonian? They tried it with the Enola Gay until the vets raised hell, and rightly so.IP: Logged |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted June 06, 2004 01:54 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Hawkman:
Any chance that this is some 'politically correct' move on the part of the Smithsonian?
I have no good inside information on this, but I suspect that it is probably due to one or two things (or a combination of them). It may be because the book is not that good. SI Press does a peer review of its manuscripts and it is possible that the book was rejected for that reason. Also, several months back somebody told me that SI Press was backing away from doing space books. The Press has undergone some turbulent management in the past few years. Keep in mind that aviation and space is only a small part of what SI Press actually does. They also print art books and catalogs and things like that. quote:
They tried it with the Enola Gay until the vets raised hell, and rightly so.
You don't really understand what happened there very well. It was a complicated situation, but not simply a case of political correctness run amok. One of the big problems was that people were going nuts about a draft script for an exhibit, not a final exhibit. Drafts always get changed. And the "vets" largely consisted of the Air Force Association, which became crusaders about the subject and blew it all out of proportion. The Air and Space Museum did not handle itself well in that case. They really handled the PR aspect poorly. But it was not simply a case of a bunch of anti-military lefties dumping on American values.IP: Logged |
Hawkman
Member Posts: 381
From: Union, New Jersey
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted June 08, 2004 07:52 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Dwayne Day:
You don't really understand what happened there very well. It was a complicated situation, but not simply a case of political correctness run amok.
Well then let me stand corrected!  Gene IP: Logged |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted October 16, 2004 03:49 PM
Smithsonian To Overhaul Its Unprofitable Book Division: Unit Will Publish Fewer Scholarly Works and Enlist Corporate Partners
By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 16, 2004; Page C01 quote:
The Smithsonian Institution is dismantling Smithsonian Books, a widely respected publishing division of the museum and research complex that dates back 156 years.Driven by a net loss of $2 million in the last decade, officials say, the move will result in publishing fewer scholarly books and in the enlistment of corporate partners to make the Smithsonian brand more profitable. Critics worry that overhauling the book unit will disrupt an essential part of James Smithson's mandate for the institution -- "the increase and diffusion of knowledge."
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