Thread of the Silkworm.

CHANG, Iris.

$475.00

Item Number: 125008

New York: Basic Books, 1995.

First edition of the definitive biography of Tsien Hsue-Shen, the pioneer of the American space age. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed and dated by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Wei-ling Dai, Best wishes and happy Chinese New Year! Iris Chang 2-17-96.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich.

Thread of the Silkworm tells the story of one of the most monumental blunders the United States committed during its era of McCarthyism. It is the biography of Dr.Tsien Hsue-shen, a pioneer of the American space age who was mysteriously accused of being a Communist and deported to China, where he became-to America's continuing chagrin-the father of the Chinese missile program.