The Space Barons

The historic quest to rekindle the human exploration and colonization of space led by two rivals and their vast fortunes, egos, and visions of space as the next entrepreneurial frontier The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half-century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons-most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen-are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel, and send humans even further than NASA has gone. These entrepreneurs have founded some of the biggest brands in the world-Amazon, Microsoft, Virgin, Tesla, PayPal-and upended industry after industry. Now they are pursuing the biggest disruption of all: space. Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of risk and high adventure, the birth of a new Space Age, fueled by some of the world's richest men as they struggle to end governments' monopoly on the cosmos. The Space Barons is also a story of rivalry-hard-charging startups warring with established contractors, and the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.

This “smart analysis of the New Space sector” goes inside the rapid rise and dramatic rivalry of private space companies SpaceX and Blue Origin (The New York Times Book Review). For the outsize personalities staking their fortunes on spaceships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity—or the key to humanity’s survival. Rocket Billionaires shines a light on Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos as they attempt to make history, reinvent the space economy, and feed their own egos. Beyond these two towering figures, Tim Fernholz introduces a supporting cast of equally fascinating entrepreneurs, from the irrepressible British mogul Richard Branson to the satellite internet visionary Greg Wyler. Fernholz’s fly‑on‑the‑wall reporting captures an industry in the midst of disruption. While NASA seeks to preserve its ambitious space program, traditional aerospace firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin scramble to adapt to new competitors, lobbyists tussle over public funds, and lawmakers try to prevent this new space race from sparking global conflict. It’s a high‑stakes marathon that Fernholz recounts with expert analysis and revealing detail. Featured on NPR and PBS’s SciTech Now, and in Fast Company, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal

Elon Musk, visionary behind SpaceX and CEO of both the electric car company Tesla and the social media platform Twitter, is constantly generating headlines. But how did he get there? This riveting and beautifully designed YA biography shows how a once-bullied school boy became a figure the New York Times described as "arguably the most important and successful entrepreneur in the world." Online banking, reusable rockets, electric sports cars, improved solar power, colonizing Mars—Elon Musk is full of unique, daring, and highly-publicized ideas that he believes will help save the world. But behind his legendary drive and the mind-blowing headlines seen on CNN, Forbes, or The Wall Street Journal is the story of a bullied and beaten school boy who, through creativity and determination, decided to rewrite his narrative and find groundbreaking ways to make the world a better place. With the sense of fun and style that he has become so well-known for, of course. From hosting raves to pay for college to rewriting the rules on space travel, Elon Musk has always gone his own way, to either the dismay or admiration of the general public. And now, award-winning investigative journalist Anna Crowley Redding takes readers on a well-researched trip through Elon's life and accomplishments.

A powerful, enraging, tear-jerking reminder of how so few Americans have sacrificed so much during the so-called' war on terror'. the best kind of war book. - Alex Kershaw, author of The Bedford Boys and Escape from the Deep "Through the voices and experiences of five very diverse members of the Virginia National Guard, As You Were gives the great majority of Americans who have not been sent to war a sense of the experiences of our citizen-soldiers and the family, employment, and health problems they face reentering American society after experiencing combat." - David R. Segal, Drector, Center for Research on Military Organization, University of Maryland "A sad, stirring, sometimes maddening story. Christian Davenport writes not so much about combat, but rather the home front--the struggles of the families left behind while their providers go off to war and of the solders themselves as they stagger back to a civilian world that declines to reward, or even betrays, their sacrifice." - Fred Kaplan, "War Stories" columist, Slate; author of Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power

The idea of studying peace - over studying war, genocide and political violence and then inferring about peace - has gained traction recently, but how should it be studied? The Peace Continuum reviews the literature and offers three alternative ways in which peace could be conceptualized and studied.

The rules of the game don’t apply off the field in this first Barons novel. New York Barons tight end Gavin Brawley is suspended from the team and on house arrest after a video of him brawling goes viral. Gavin already has a reputation as a jerk with a temper on and off the field—which doesn’t help him once he finds himself on the wrong side of the law. And while he’s been successful professionally, he’s never been lucky when it comes to love. Noah Monroe is a recent college grad looking for a job—any job—to pay off his mounting student debt. Working as Gavin’s personal assistant/babysitter seems like easy money. But Noah isn’t prepared for the electrifying tension between him and the football player. He’s not sure if he’d rather argue with Gavin or tackle him to the floor. But both men know the score, and neither is sure what will happen once Gavin's timeout is over…

Curator and space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum delivers a brilliantly nuanced biography of controversial space pioneer Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathers of the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source of consistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whose intelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld's biography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritative portrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailing how he was a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.

WINNER OF THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE "Krasznahorkai’s masterpiece" (The Millions); "Apocalyptic, visionary, and mad" (Publishers Weekly); "One of the supreme achievements of contemporary literature" (Paris Review); "Obsessive and visionary" (The New Yorker); "Genius" (The Baffler) At last, the capstone to Krasznahorkai’s four-part masterwork Set in contemporary times, Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming tells the story of a Prince Myshkin–like figure, Baron Béla Wenckheim, who returns at the end of his life to his provincial Hungarian hometown. Having escaped from his many casino debts in Buenos Aires, where he was living in exile, he longs to be reunited with his high-school sweetheart Marika. Confusions abound, and what follows is an endless storm of gossip, con men, and local politicians, vividly evoking the small town’s alternately drab and absurd existence. All along, the Professor—a world-famous natural scientist who studies mosses and inhabits a bizarre Zen-like shack in a desolate area outside of town—offers long rants and disquisitions on his attempts to immunize himself from thought. Spectacular actions are staged as death and the abyss loom over the unsuspecting townfolk.