Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America

The "remarkable" story of America's secret post-WWII science programs (The Boston Globe), from the New York Times bestselling author of Area 51.

In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States.

Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery. They were also directly responsible for major advances in rocketry, medical treatments, and the U.S. space program. Was Operation Paperclip a moral outrage, or did it help America win the Cold War?

Drawing on exclusive interviews with dozens of Paperclip family members, colleagues, and interrogators, and with access to German archival documents (including previously unseen papers made available by direct descendants of the Third Reich's ranking members), files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and dossiers discovered in government archives and at Harvard University, Annie Jacobsen follows more than a dozen German scientists through their postwar lives and into a startling, complex, nefarious, and jealously guarded government secret of the twentieth century.

In this definitive, controversial look at one of America's most strategic, and disturbing, government programs, Jacobsen shows just how dark government can get in the name of national security.

"Harrowing...How Dr. Strangelove came to America and thrived, told in graphic detail." --Kirkus Reviews

Author: Annie Jacobsen
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Published: 02/11/2014
Pages: 592
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.30lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.60w x 1.60d
ISBN: 9780316221047


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 09/01/2013 pg. 87
Publishers Weekly 12/09/2013
Booklist 01/01/2014 pg. 38
Library Journal 02/01/2014 pg. 83
Choice 08/01/2014
New York Times Book Review 02/08/2015 pg. 28
Library Journal 09/01/2013

About the Author
Annie Jacobsen is the author of the national bestsellers Area 51, Operation Paperclip, and Surprise, Kill, Vanish, the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Pentagon's Brain, and Phenomena. She was a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.