LEADER 00000pam  2200493 i 4500 
003    DLC 
005    20180912140429.0 
008    180523s2018    nyu           000 0aeng   
010      2018025068 
020    9780399564543 (hardcover) 
040    DLC|beng|erda|cDLC|dDLC|dGCmBT|dUtOrBLW 
042    pcc 
043    n-usp--|an-us-ca|an-us--- 
092    BIO|bPIPER 
100 1  Piper, Karen Lynnea,|d1965-|eauthor. 
245 12 A girl's guide to missiles :|bgrowing up in America's 
       secret desert /|cKaren Piper. 
246 30 Growing up in America's secret desert 
264  1 New York, New York :|bViking,|c[2018] 
300    x, 322 pages ;|c24 cm 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 
338    volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 
520    "A poignant, surreal, and fearlessly honest look at 
       growing up on one of the most secretive weapons 
       installations on earth, by a young woman who came of age 
       with missiles. The China Lake missile range is located in 
       a huge stretch of the Mojave Desert, about the size of the
       state of Delaware. It was created during the Second World 
       War, and has always been shrouded in secrecy. But people 
       who make missiles and other weapons are regular working 
       people, with domestic routines and everyday dilemmas, and 
       four of them were Karen Piper's parents, her sister, and--
       when she needed summer jobs--herself. Her dad designed the
       Sidewinder, which was ultimately used catastrophically in 
       Vietnam. When her mom got tired of being a stay-at-home 
       mom, she went to work on the Tomahawk. Once, when a 
       missile nose needed to be taken offsite for final testing,
       her mother loaded it into the trunk of the family car, and
       set off down a Los Angeles freeway. Traffic was heavy, and
       so she stopped off at the mall, leaving the missile in the
       parking lot. Piper sketches in the belief systems--from 
       Amway's get-rich schemes to propaganda in The Rocketeer to
       evangelism, along with fears of a Lemurian takeover and 
       Charles Manson--that governed their lives. Her memoir is 
       also a search for the truth of the past and what really 
       brought her parents to China Lake with two young daughters,
       a story that reaches back to her father's World War II 
       flights with contraband across Europe. Finally, it 
       recounts the crossroads moment in a young woman's life 
       when she finally found a way out of a culture of secrets 
       and fear, and out of the desert."--Provided by publisher. 
600 10 Piper, Karen Lynnea,|d1965- 
600 10 Piper, Earl Marwin,|d1922-2005. 
600 10 Piper, Mary Dahlstrom. 
610 10 United States.|bOffice of Strategic Services|vBiography. 
610 20 Naval Ordnance Test Station (China Lake, Calif.)
       |xEmployees|vBiography. 
650  0 Guided missiles|zUnited States|xHistory|vAnecdotes
       |vBiography. 
650  0 Young women|zWest (U.S.)|vBiography. 
650  0 Cold War|vBiography. 
650 10 Electronic technicians|zUnited States|vBiography. 
651  0 California, Southern|xSocial life and customs|y20th 
       century|vBiography.