Discuss Rocket Men by Robert Kurson.

Join friends and neighbors for a lively discussion of the 2019 "Novel Idea…Read Together" selection. The book, written by best-selling author Robert Kurson, was revealed at a public unveiling on December 1 at the Downtown Bend Library. It is the third time in the program's 16-year history that a non-fiction book has been selected.

Rocket Men shares the inside story of the dangerous Apollo 8 mission. In early 1968, the Apollo program was on shaky footing. President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline to put a man on the Moon was in jeopardy, and the Soviets were threatening to pull ahead in the space race. By August 1968, with its back against the wall, NASA decided to scrap its usual methodical approach and shoot for the heavens. With just four months to prepare, the agency would send the first humans in history to the Moon. In a year of historic violence and discord—the Tet offensive, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, the Chicago DNC riots—the Apollo 8 mission was the boldest test of what America could do. With a focus on astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, and their wives and children, Rocket Men is a vivid account of the epic danger involved, and the bravery it took to leave Earth for the first time.

Kurson began his career as an attorney, graduating from Harvard Law School. His professional writing career began at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he started as a sports agate clerk and soon gained a full-time features writing job. In 2000, Esquire published "My Favorite Teacher," his first magazine story, which became a finalist for a National Magazine Award. His stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. His other books include Shadow Divers, the true story of two Americans who discover a sunken World War II German U-boat; Pirate Hunters, an account of two courageous divers and their quest to uncover the shipwrecked vessel of one of history's most infamous pirates; and Crashing Through, the story of an entrepreneur who regains his eyesight after a lifetime of blindness.

Kurson will be speaking at Bend High on Sunday, April 28th. Tickets are free but required and become available on Saturday, April 6 at www.dplfoundation.org or at any Deschutes Public Library location.

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