{"product_id":"our-germans-project-paperclip-and-the-national-security-state-paperback","title":"Our Germans: Project Paperclip and the National Security State - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBrian E. Crim\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gripping history of one of the United States' most controversial Cold War intelligence operations.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProject Paperclip brought hundreds of German scientists and engineers, including aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, to the United States in the first decade after World War II. More than the freighters full of equipment or the documents recovered from caves and hastily abandoned warehouses, the German brains who designed and built the V-2 rocket and other \"wonder weapons\" for the Third Reich proved invaluable to America's emerging military-industrial complex. Whether they remained under military employment, transitioned to civilian agencies like NASA, or sought more lucrative careers with corporations flush with government contracts, German specialists recruited into the Paperclip program assumed enormously influential positions within the labyrinthine national security state. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on recently declassified documents from intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the FBI, and the State Department, Brian E. Crim's \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e examines the process of integrating German scientists into a national security state dominated by the armed services and defense industries. Crim explains how the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency enticed targeted scientists, whitewashed the records of Nazis and war criminals, and deceived government agencies about the content of security investigations. Exploring the vicious bureaucratic rivalries that erupted over the wisdom, efficacy, and morality of pursuing Paperclip, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how some Paperclip proponents and scientists influenced the perception of the rival Soviet threat by volunteering inflated estimates of Russian intentions and technical capabilities. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs it describes the project's embattled legacy, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e reflects on the myriad ways that Paperclip has been remembered in culture and national memory. As this engaging book demonstrates, whether characterized as an expedient Cold War program born from military necessity or a dishonorable episode, the project ultimately reflects American ambivalence about the military-industrial complex and the viability of an \"ends justifies the means\" solution to external threats.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProject Paperclip brought hundreds of German scientists and engineers, including aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, to the United States in the first decade after World War II. More than the freighters full of equipment or the documents recovered from caves and hastily abandoned warehouses, the German brains who designed and built the V-2 rocket and other wonder weapons for the Third Reich proved invaluable to America's emerging military-industrial complex. Whether they remained under military employment, transitioned to civilian agencies like NASA, or sought more lucrative careers with corporations flush with government contracts, German specialists recruited into the Paperclip program assumed enormously influential positions within the labyrinthine national security state. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on recently declassified documents from intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the FBI, and the State Department, Brian Crim's \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e examines the process of integrating German scientists into a national security state dominated by the armed services and defense industries. Crim explains how the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency enticed targeted scientists, whitewashed the records of Nazis and war criminals, and deceived government agencies about the content of security investigations. Exploring the vicious bureaucratic rivalries that erupted over the wisdom, efficacy, and morality of pursuing Paperclip, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how some Paperclip proponents and scientists influenced the perception of the rival Soviet threat by volunteering inflated estimates of Russian intentions and technical capabilities. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs it describes the project's embattled legacy, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e reflects on the myriad ways that Paperclip has been remembered in culture and national memory. As this engaging book demonstrates, whether characterized as an expedient Cold War program born from military necessity or a dishonorable episode, the project ultimately reflects American ambivalence about the military-industrial complex and the viability of an ends justifies the means solution to external threats.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough participant vignettes, historian Crim provides insight into early Cold War decision-making in this well-documented, microhistorical, dissertation-like expose of Project Paperclip. Highly recommended.--\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA very fine account concerning the internal dynamics of the Paperclip program, providing a more nuanced evaluation than has hitherto been available.--\u003ci\u003eH-Net Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt a time when drones, cyberweapons, and other high technology continue to substitute for coherent foreign policy, Crim's book is a sober reminder of the moral hazards of a technocratic national security state.--\u003ci\u003eJournal of American History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat distinguishes \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e is its emphasis on the role of the specialists in the emerging national security state of the early Cold War, where Project Paperclip 'exacerbated the growing rift between the State Department and an ascendant national security bureaucracy' (99). But most importantly, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e is a much-needed update and expansion of Clarence Lasby's 1971 \u003ci\u003eProject Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War\u003c\/i\u003e.--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e--Michael S. Goodman, author of \u003ci\u003eSpying on the Nuclear Bear: Anglo-American Intelligence and the Soviet Bomb\u003c\/i\u003e \"International Institute for Strategic Studies\"\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProject Paperclip brought hundreds of German scientists and engineers, including aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, to the United States in the first decade after World War II. More than the freighters full of equipment or the documents recovered from caves and hastily abandoned warehouses, the German brains who designed and built the V-2 rocket and other \"wonder weapons\" for the Third Reich proved invaluable to America's emerging military-industrial complex. Whether they remained under military employment, transitioned to civilian agencies like NASA, or sought more lucrative careers with corporations flush with government contracts, German specialists recruited into the Paperclip program assumed enormously influential positions within the labyrinthine national security state. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on recently declassified documents from intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the FBI, and the State Department, Brian Crim's \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e examines the process of integrating German scientists into a national security state dominated by the armed services and defense industries. Crim explains how the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency enticed targeted scientists, whitewashed the records of Nazis and war criminals, and deceived government agencies about the content of security investigations. Exploring the vicious bureaucratic rivalries that erupted over the wisdom, efficacy, and morality of pursuing Paperclip, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how some Paperclip proponents and scientists influenced the perception of the rival Soviet threat by volunteering inflated estimates of Russian intentions and technical capabilities. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs it describes the project's embattled legacy, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e reflects on the myriad ways that Paperclip has been remembered in culture and national memory. As this engaging book demonstrates, whether characterized as an expedient Cold War program born from military necessity or a dishonorable episode, the project ultimately reflects American ambivalence about the military-industrial complex and the viability of an \"ends justifies the means\" solution to external threats.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Through participant vignettes, historian Crim provides insight into early Cold War decision-making in this well-documented, microhistorical, dissertation-like expose of Project Paperclip. Highly recommended.\"--\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A very fine account concerning the internal dynamics of the Paperclip program, providing a more nuanced evaluation than has hitherto been available.\"--\u003ci\u003eH-Net Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"At a time when drones, cyberweapons, and other high technology continue to substitute for coherent foreign policy, Crim's book is a sober reminder of the moral hazards of a technocratic national security state.\"--\u003ci\u003eJournal of American History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What distinguishes \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e is its emphasis on the role of the specialists in the emerging national security state of the early Cold War, where Project Paperclip 'exacerbated the growing rift between the State Department and an ascendant national security bureaucracy' (99). But most importantly, \u003ci\u003eOur Germans\u003c\/i\u003e is a much-needed update and expansion of Clarence Lasby's 1971 \u003ci\u003eProject Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War\u003c\/i\u003e.\"--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrian E. Crim \u003c\/b\u003eis a professor of history at the University of Lynchburg. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eAntisemitism in the German Military Community and the Jewish Response, 1914-1938\u003c\/i\u003e and the editor of \u003ci\u003eClass of '31: A German-Jewish Émigré's Journey across Defeated Germany\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 264\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.7 x 8.9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 18, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42164456554631,"sku":"9781421438184","price":39.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/3cf79e6ff442243ac2df37ac170ca04e.webp?v=1733305895","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/our-germans-project-paperclip-and-the-national-security-state-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}