An investigation of the roots of the first moon landing forty years ago, "Dark Side of the Moon" reaches back to the reactionary modernism of the Third Reich, using the life of Wernher von Braun as its narrative path through the crumbling of Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazi regime. Von Braun, an 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 transformation from developer of the V-2 ballistic missile for Hitler to an American celebrity, as the supposed genius behind the golden years of the US space programme in the 1950s and 1960s, raises questions about the culture of the Cold War, the shared values of technology in totalitarian and democratic societies, and the imperatives of material progress.
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[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
About the Author
Wayne Biddle won a Pulitzer Prize for his The New York Times reporting on the Star WarsA" anti-missile project. He has written three nonfiction books and is a member of the writing seminars faculty at the Johns Hopkins University.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By G. B. Dennis
Format:Hardcover
Despite one famous Britsh comentator stating in print that he believes Wernher Von Braun's assurances that he was unaware of slave labour being used in the V2 prgram, this book confirms my long held suspicions that all was not good in Von Braunn's background. He joined the Nazi party before WW2 broke out, not in 1940 as he stated. Not only was he in the SS, he was of relatively high rank (Major). He must at the least have "known" what was going on - he was a very senior manager in the Peenemunde project from it's start until the Nazi capitulation. Von Braun's title of "Professor" was granted by Hitler himself. One French former inmate of the Dora concentration camp is also quoted in the book of being brutally assaulted by Von Braun personally. An innocent bystander he certainly was not. His claim that he was "really only interested in space travel" is exposed as a sham, and given the number of people driven forcibly to death building the V2, it is a monstrous sham.
The book also shows how after the war the US Government turned a very blind eye to the Nazi activities of Von Braun and his boss, General Walter Dornberger. And not just the US government; at least one British learned institution honoured Von Braun in the early 1950s. The book makes clear how Von Brauns charisma, flare for self promotion and showmanship allowed him to exploit not only Hitler and Himmler but also three US Presidents.
Having said that, I found the book difficult to read for one overpowering reason, that is that the footnotes, instead of being more conevntionally simply referring to sources, are in numerous instances whole tracts of texts, often stretching to half a page. A lot of this should be in the main text which would both make the main text more readable and the footnotes easier to use.
I also found the book's sub-title somewhat misleading: "Wernher Von Brown, the Third Reich, and the Space Race". The first two topics are covered in detail but I felt that the third topic was not dealt with nearly as well. Although the book makes clear the US government turned a blind eye, it doesn't make clear that the whole of Operation Paperclip (the project to import the German scientists to the US) was based on flagrant disregard of US immigration law. It also fails to identify the individuals responsible for this (it certainly can't have been just one person), and those reponsible for the continued disinformation in the 1950s and 1960s, although a couple of the photo captions hint at this.
Despite these criticisms, I value this book, and most of what you need to know is there provided you are prepared to dig for it.
Gordon B Dennis
The book also shows how after the war the US Government turned a very blind eye to the Nazi activities of Von Braun and his boss, General Walter Dornberger. And not just the US government; at least one British learned institution honoured Von Braun in the early 1950s. The book makes clear how Von Brauns charisma, flare for self promotion and showmanship allowed him to exploit not only Hitler and Himmler but also three US Presidents.
Having said that, I found the book difficult to read for one overpowering reason, that is that the footnotes, instead of being more conevntionally simply referring to sources, are in numerous instances whole tracts of texts, often stretching to half a page. A lot of this should be in the main text which would both make the main text more readable and the footnotes easier to use.
I also found the book's sub-title somewhat misleading: "Wernher Von Brown, the Third Reich, and the Space Race". The first two topics are covered in detail but I felt that the third topic was not dealt with nearly as well. Although the book makes clear the US government turned a blind eye, it doesn't make clear that the whole of Operation Paperclip (the project to import the German scientists to the US) was based on flagrant disregard of US immigration law. It also fails to identify the individuals responsible for this (it certainly can't have been just one person), and those reponsible for the continued disinformation in the 1950s and 1960s, although a couple of the photo captions hint at this.
Despite these criticisms, I value this book, and most of what you need to know is there provided you are prepared to dig for it.
Gordon B Dennis
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2.8 out of 5 stars
11 reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
More History Than Biography
15 Oct 2009
By G. Poirier
- Published on Amazon.com
Format: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.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Elusive German space puzzle
22 Jan 2010
By wogan
- Published on Amazon.com
Format: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.
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.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, But Inconclusive in Von Braun's Case
21 Oct 2009
By OtherWorlds&Wisdom
- Published on Amazon.com
Format: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?
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?
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2.8 out of 5 stars
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