Challenger By Adam Higginbotham

No book that I’ve reviewed in the past ten years has disturbed me quite like this one. I cried for McAuliffe and her fellow crew members, whose innocent ideals of space exploration were so cruelly exploited. Higginbotham tells this tragic story with superb dramatic instinct – we know what’s going to happen, but feel the suspense nonetheless
The Times – Gerard DeGroot

Superb . . . authoritative and immediate – scrupulous history which has the ripping compulsion of the best reporting
Daily Telegraph – Alex Diggins

A fascinating and superbly researched account of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger soon after take off. A masterly blend of human drama, science and political infighting
Observer

Definitive . . . a gripping an nuanced story of serial failure . . . we know how this awful story ends: but Higginbotham builds suspense in contrasting knowledge with ignorance; in showing how men and women tried to do their best for the grand dream of space flight and were too often thwarted
New Statesman – Erica Wagner

A masterly example of how meticulous research and adherence to factual detail can build a narrative of almost unbearable suspense. At the same time, with the outcome known from the beginning, the story has the implacable power of tragic inevitability
Geoff Dyer

Gripping and memorable, a definitive account of an American tragedy
Ed Caesar

Deep research, gripping writing and a chilling story. This is an incredible book
Tim Harford, author of How To Make The World Add Up

In Higginbotham’s deft hands, the human element – sometimes heroic, sometimes cloaked in doublespeak and bluster – shines through the many technical aspects of this story, a constant reminder that every decision was made by people weighing risks versus expediency, their minds distorted by power, money, politics and yes-men. It’s a universal story that transcends time, from Napoleon’s decision to attack Russia to the recent Boeing 737 Max debacle
New York Times – Rachel Slade

Both riveting and illuminating
Times Literary Supplement – Roger D. Launius

Higginbotham has written the definitive account of the tragedy, revealing both the history of the space shuttle programme and the stories of the people who lost their lives
Daily Mail, Best Science Books of 2024 – Nick Rennison

There was the world before the Challenger disaster, and the world after . . . Higginbotham’s superb narrative history relates the events around that cold January morning in 1986, and the lives, from stifled whistleblowers to doomed astronauts, drawn into their orbit
Daily Telegraph – The 75 hottest books of 2024

Enthralling . . . Adam Higginbotham's excellent book is a sobering warning of the dangers of what he calls “mankind's overconfidence in his own ingenuity”
Literary Review – Andrew Crumey

Challenger will take you to the stars and break your heart at the same time. History may not be the actions of a few ‘Great Men’ but, as Adam Higginbotham relates in gripping detail, it can certainly be shaped by the terrible decisions of a few individuals. Everyone should read this book
Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Fire

Challenger is a remarkable book. It manages to be a whodunit that stretches hundreds of pages, a heart-pounding thriller even though readers already know the ending . . . Our faith in the systems that run our world is really faith in our fellow man-a chilling reality to remember
Atlantic – Emma Sarappo

No tragedy is more indelible than the space shuttle Challenger disaster . . . a superb diagnosis of one of NASA’s darkest moments . . . the narrative comes to life in a fresh telling fueled by meticulous detail and exacting prose. While familiar, the story is rendered dreamlike so that readers can’t help but hope, as it unfolds page by page, that somehow the outcome this time will be different
Washington Post – Christian Davenport