I think this is a really important topic, but the book has issues.

First, it squicks me out that the main author is white and I can't find any information on the second author, and neither of them put their pictures in the back of the book so I had to go digging. (No one but a white person would include photos of Werner von Braun captioned as "Nazi Werner von Braun" then continue to reference what an important figure he is in nearly every chapter.)

Second, this book reads like an academic paper without a thesis. It's a jumble of stories of whoever they could get interviews with or access to, and none of it is cohesive. It feels like the authors wanted to tell this story, didn't know how, and threw this book together anyway.

Thirdly, it's not even really about NASA. It's mostly about the racism in the South, specifically Alabama.

I also found it troublesome how often this book puts a halo on black people who were willing to step away from their dreams in the face of segregation. I understand I'm writing this from a place of modern and white privilege, but I wish the authors had done something other than say "look at how polite these black people were and they still achieved things," because it feels like they are denouncing necessary work that has been done and is being done to fight racism.