L.D. - Rocketry, Race, and a Colorful Journey, Lee D. Young's scintillating memoir of growing up in the segregated South and persevering to get a major rocket science career off the ground, gives Young the perfect opportunity to reflect on the painful hazards of being a black youth in smalltown Tennessee during the Great Depression and World War II. His brilliant career in rocket science takes off in a nightclub when his brother, over bourbon and gingerale, suggests he go to college to study mechanical engineering. He does - and goes on to play a major role in developing the Apollo space mission and the U.S. ICBM program. After the Watts Riots in 1965, Young shifts gears and sets out to rid Los Angeles of the oppression of African Americans. He searches abroad for freedom, eventually returning to "home sweet home with all its faults." Blessed with a creative mind that is "still at work at age eighty," L.D. gives us a fascinating look at a life of triumph over many obstacles and a steady ascent to the pinnacle of American business at a time when this was no mean feat for African Americans.