Synopses & Reviews
"Brilliant Rocket Scientist Killed in Explosion!" screamed the front-page headline of the Los Angeles Times on June 18, 1952. John Parsons, a maverick rocketeer whose work had helped transform the rocket from a derided sci-fi plotline into a reality, was at first mourned as a tragically young victim of mishandled chemicals. But as reporters dug deeper a shocking story emerged: Parsons had been performing occult rites and summoning spirits as a follower of Aleister Crowley, and he was promptly written off as an embarrassment to science.
George Pendle tells Parsons's extraordinary life story for the first time. Fueled from childhood by dreams of space flight, Parsons was a crucial innovator during rocketry's birth. But his visionary imagination also led him into the occult community thriving in 1930s Los Angeles, and when fantasy's pull became stronger than reality, he lost both his work and his wife. Parsons was just emerging from his personal underworld when he died at age thirty-seven. In Strange Angel, Pendle recovers a fascinating life and explores the unruly consequences of genius.
Review
"A fascinating glimpse, a story that would make a compelling work of fiction if it weren't so astonishingly true."
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"A fascinating glimpse, a story that would make a compelling work of fiction if it werent so astonishingly true."(Publishers Weekly)
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"This is your book if you want to start reading up on the space age. Highly recommended."
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"[A] rambunctiously funny, deliriously weird, and incredibly true story of a space-science pioneer turned lustful witch."
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"An engaging treatment of a time when the modern world moved at the same speed as crazed mania."
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"Pendle weaves a fascinating yarn. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy it."
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"Elegantly written. Pendle, with his graceful, measured prose, skilfully steers us through the quagmire of Parson's personal life."
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"Strange Angel could be a hybrid sired by Gravity's Rainbow out of Foucault's Pendulum. Explosively fascinating."
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"A spellbinding story of a man with eccentricities that went well beyond a fascination with rocketry."
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"A riveting tale of rocketry, the occult, and boom-and-bust 1920s and 1930s Los Angeles."
Review
This amazing book is set in a more brightly coloured universe than most scientific lives are.
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PRAISE FOR
STRANGE ANGEL"Pendle weaves a fascinating yarn . . . he deftly and seemingly effortlessly leads his readers through the technical aspects of Parsons' work. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy it." - The Seattle Times
"Pasadena's famous Craftsman mansions disgorge their ghosts in this rambunctiously funny, deliriously weird, and incredibly true story of a space-science pioneer turned lustful witch."
- Mike Davis, author of City of Quatrz
"As a history of space travel, Strange Angel is a cornerstone. This is your book if you want to start reading up on the space age. Highly recommended."- Ray Bradbury
Synopsis
ROCKET SCIENTIST KILLED IN PASADENA EXPLOSION screamed the headline of the Los Angeles Times. John Parsons, a maverick rocketeer who helped transform the rocket from a derided sci-fi plotline into a reality, was at first mourned as a scientific prodigy. But reporters soon uncovered a more shocking story: Parsons had been a devotee of black magic.
George Pendle re-creates the world of John Parsons in this dazzling portrait of prewar superstition, cold war paranoia, and futuristic possibility. Fueled by childhood dreams of space flight, Parsons was a leader of the motley band of enthusiastic young men who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a cornerstone of the American space program. But Parsons's wild imagination also led him into the occult- for if he could make rocketry a reality, why not magic?
With a cast of characters including Howard Hughes,
L. Ron Hubbard, and Robert Heinlein, Strange Angel explores the unruly consequences of genius.
About the Author
GEORGE PENDLE writes about science, art, and culture for the Times (London), the Sunday Times, and the Financial Times, among other publications. He lives in New York City.
Table of Contents
Prologue 1
1 Paradise 21
2 Moon Child 35
3 Erudition 67
4 The Suicide Squad 93
5 Fraternity 117
6 The Mass 132
7 Brave New World 154
8 Zenith 175
9 Degrees of Freedom 202
10 A New Dawn 227
11 Rock Bottom 252
12 Into the Abyss 280
EPILOGUE 300
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 309
NOTES 311
INDEX 335