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The Author

Jeffrey Manber is a recognized pioneer in the commercialization of new frontiers, including that of space exploration. He has served in the United States government, worked with Russian and American space organizations and companies, raised capital for cutting-edge technical ventures and assisted in the privatization of key Russian space assets.

As an author and writer, he has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Space News and general media magazines. Currently, he is writing a blog for McGraw-Hill’s Aviation Week.com.

Selling Peace is his second book.

Manber has written how:

“I think it is because I grew up in New York City that I have always had a fascination with the lives of colorful and complex characters. It seems a big city has room for all sorts of paradoxical figures.

My books introduce the reader to two such characters. My first book, “Lincoln’s Wrath”, is the true story of a bigoted, but passionate defender of the first amendment, named John Hogsdon. This small town newspaper publisher loved his country, loved his community but hated the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. In a forgotten moment in our history, Hogsdon took Lincoln and the United States to court to seek the right to continue publishing.

My second book “Selling Peace” is my memoir on the time I’ve spent working to bring about a more commercial space program. I am probably the only American to ever represent the Russian space program. The book recounts what I saw along the way, from the first steps with the Reagan administration to pushing through the flight of space tourist Dennis Tito over the objections of NASA.

A key figure in my story is one Yuri Semenov, a stubborn, difficult Russian space leader who, nonetheless, embraced American style management and was key to helping keep alive not only his manned space program but ours as well. The memoir details what it was like working with Hollywood space entrepreneurs like film director James Cameron, reality television producer Mark Burnett, space tourist Dennis Tito and seeks to understand why we all had to make the trek to Russia to realize our space dreams.”

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