It tells the story of Tsien Hsue-Shen, a leading aerodynamist who worked with Theodore von Karman and is associated with the Jet Propulsion Lab, was deported amidst the Red Scare, and subsequently became a chief progenitor of the Chinese space program.

The book tells a story of Tsien Hsue-Shen, a Chinese scientist who left China in 1935 and studied under Theodor von Karman in Caltech, was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Lab, and became one of the leading aerodynamists in the United States.

Heidi Benson of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that "It was well-reviewed, though it never sold in great numbers.

"[3] Eliot A. Cohen noted that the book "reveals the price a scientist may pay for vanity when immersed in a political world he understands less than he thinks".

[4] Tianyu Fang of the Foreign Policy called the book "perhaps the most comprehensive account of Tsien's life".