Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
Avid Reader Press, 2024

About the book
On January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds into flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven people on board, including New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. The full story of what happened, and why, has never been told until now. It’s a compelling tale of ambition and ingenuity undermined by political cynicism and cost-cutting in the interests of burnishing national prestige; of hubris and heroism; and of an investigation driven by leakers and whistleblowers determined to bring the truth to light.

About the author
Adam Higginbotham has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Wired, GQ, and Smithsonian. He is the author of Midnight in Chernobyl, which won the William E. Colby Award and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Higginbotham will be in conversation with Bill Newcott at the event.

Bill Newcott is an award-winning travel writer and film critic for the Saturday Evening Post. In a career spanning six decades, he spent 10 years on the staff of National Geographic magazine, as Space Science editor and Expeditions editor. He is a major contributor to Delaware Beach Life.  

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2024 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. Our Keynote event is presented by Sally Mott Freeman and John K. Freeman, and our Closing event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to: the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Additional thanks to our community partners: CAMP Rehoboth, Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center,  Historic Lewes Farmers Market, Lewes Historical Society, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach Film Society, Seaside Jewish Community, and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).