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

Wayne Biddle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2009

A stunning investigation of the roots of the first moon landing forty years ago. This illuminating story of the dawn of the space age reaches back to the reactionary modernism of the Third Reich, using the life of "rocket scientist" Wernher von Braun as its narrative path through the crumbling of Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazi regime. Von Braun, a blinkered opportunist who could apply only tunnel vision to his meteoric career, stands as an archetype of myriad twentieth century technologists who thrived under regimes of military secrecy and unlimited money. His seamless transformation from developer of the deadly V-2 ballistic missile for Hitler to an American celebrity as the supposed genius behind the golden years of the U.S. space program in the 1950s and 1960s raises haunting questions about the culture of the Cold War, the shared values of technology in totalitarian and democratic societies, and the imperatives of material progress.

A New York Times Book Review "Editor's Choice"

12 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Biddle, a former New York Times reporter with a Pulitzer Prize to his credit, intertwines the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany with scientist Wernher von Braun and his role in the creation of Germany's deadly V-1 and V-2 rockets, and his postwar apotheosis as a leader of the United States space program. Biddle's primary purpose is to debunk the view—created at least in part, Biddle believes, by von Braun himself—that he was merely a pawn in the Nazi regime whose work on the V-2 weaponry was secondary in his own mind to his goal of building rockets to send humankind into space. While much of von Braun's role in the Nazi Party is shrouded in darkness, the facts and circumstantial inferences that Biddle finds convincingly contradict von Braun's self-exoneration regarding his wartime work. Biddle offers damning evidence—including testimony by slave laborers that puts von Braun inside the V-2 factory and well aware of, and participating in, the brutal treatment of the workers. Biddle also criticizes the U.S. space program for its embrace of von Braun despite his documented membership in Hitler's SS corps. 12 illus. (Sept.)
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Review

"fascinating to read Wayne Biddle's deconstruction of [von Braun's] aura of acceptability. . . . any rose-tinted spectacles worn these past six decades will likely slip." --New Scientist

"In a highly charged revisionist book, Biddle fiercely questions the virtuous myth that was built up to protect von Braun, but also the morality behind his rehabilitation." --The Times (London)

"a passionate book that raises important moral questions" --New York Times Book Review (an Editor's Choice selection)

"adds compelling detail to [von Braun's] dark past" --Providence Sunday Journal (Reviewers' Best Reads of 2009)

"all the dirty linen comes out in this fascinating, highly readable book" --Baltimore Jewish Times

[Biddle] assembles facts, omissions, or inconsistencies in von Braun’s postwar accounts of the V-2 that cast doubt on von Braun’s minimization of his knowledge about the concentration camp where the missile was constructed....A stern, prosecutorial portrait of the famous German American rocketeer. (Gilbert Taylor - Booklist )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (September 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393059103
• ISBN-13: 978-0393059106
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wayne Biddle was born in Baltimore and educated at Cornell University, where he was an undergraduate in the school of electrical engineering and a graduate student in the English department's master of fine arts program. He has been a contributing editor at Harper's magazine, a reporter for The New York Times (where he won a Pulitzer prize for writing about the "Star Wars" anti-missile system), and a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Technical University in Berlin. He has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the American Medical Writers Association, the National Press Club, and the Newspaper Guild of New York. He lives on a farm in rural Maryland.

An interview with the author on Canadian Broadcasting radio about his book, Dark Side of the Moon, may be accessed at:
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2009/12/19/holiday-book-show-polar-obsession-poseidons-steed-dark-side-of-the-moon/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More History Than Biography, October 15, 2009

By 

G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race (Hardcover)

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.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, But Inconclusive in Von Braun's Case, October 20, 2009

By 

OtherWorlds&Wisdom (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race (Hardcover)

Having recently read the excellent biography Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, I wondered how much more this book would add. The questions about Von Braun are: How much did Von Braun know about what was going on in Nazi Germany and how much was he a part of it?

The first question is easy, obviously he to some extent knew what the Nazis were doing. The second, and the one this book focuses on, is the harder question to answer. Von Braun was always evasive, at times contradictory, and reluctant to talk about pre-1945.

The reasons may be: 1. He wanted to forget the horrors of the war, 2. He was ashamed that he couldn't or didn't change things at the time, or 3. He was more part of the Reich than he admitted. If #3 is true, perhaps he changed, and perhaps he didn't. He left virtually nothing to answer these questions. Ultimately, Biddle's book doesn't contain any smoking guns, and most of the circumstantial evidence is already known, but it does cause doubt.

Taken as a whole, Biddle's argument seems to point to Von Braun hiding things. But which of the three reasons were behind his evasiveness? Was it really #3? We may never know. However, our acceptance of thousands of Nazis, and the blackout of their pasts (some of which were problems), is a troubling part of our history. How did we choose which Nazis to prosecute and which to protect?

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Elusive German space puzzle, January 22, 2010

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race (Hardcover)

Wayne Biddle attempts to solve some of the lingering questions concerning Wernher von Braun's work during WWII. `Dark side of the Moon' is short, in that there are less than 152 pages written about von Braun. There are almost 70 pages of notes and an index which even includes indexed notes. With so much information and Biddle's statement in the introduction that there is new information since von Braun's death and time elapsed after the war and the opening of especially East Germany, one would think that you would find some of that new information in his work. It seems to be sadly lacking. Biddle bases most of his premise that von Braun was not the innocent rocket scientist in his work at Peenemunde; most of the accusations concern von Braun's knowledge of the use of slave labor. All of this has been brought up before, including the photograph of von Braun in an SS uniform.
Who knows for sure what happened or what is in the heart of a man? What is certain is that von Braun used both the German and US government to satisfy his desire to build rockets, but that is not news either. The Americans wanted to believe his innocence in WWII atrocities and Biddle claims this has been covered up; but seems to present no new evidence. What he does write are many snide comments and innuendos such as commenting on von Braun's arm cast, when he was captured, saying it resembled the `party salute'; he states Redstone Arsenal was well on its' way to resembling Peenemunde and then states Cape Canaveral shows a remarkable resemblance as well.
Biddle dismisses von Braun's arrest during the war as a lucky break...`no one has been inclined to shed light on the story`s factual basis or historical context', even stating the recollections of Albert Speer might not believed concerning this episode where von Braun claimed pressure to join the SS.
I found this book to be sadly lacking any new information and much of what is written becomes contradictory.