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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes

The Making of the Atomic Bomb Cover

About This Book

ISBN13: 9780684813783
ISBN10: 0684813785
All Product Details

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Here for the first time, in rich, human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan.

Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly — or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity there was a span of hardly more than twenty-five years. What began as merely an interesting speculative problem in physics grew into the Manhattan Project, and then into the Bomb with frightening rapidity, while scientists known only to their peers — Szilard, Teller, Oppenheimer, Bohr, Meitner, Fermi, Lawrence, and yon Neumann — stepped from their ivory towers into the limelight.

Richard Rhodes takes us on that journey step by step, minute by minute, and gives us the definitive story of man's most awesome discovery and invention. The Making of the Atomic Bomb has been compared in its sweep and importance to William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It is at once a narrative tour de force and a document as powerful as its subject.

Review:

Tracy KidderThe comprehensive history of the Bomb — and also a work of literature.

Review:

Carl Sagan

A stirring intellectual adventure...clear, fast-paced, and indispensable.

Review:

San Francisco ChronicleA monumental and enthralling history...Alive and vibrant in the book are all the scientists...and each human being stands vividly revealed as a man of science, of conscience, of doubts or of hubris.

Review:

Carl SaganA stirring intellectual adventure...clear, fast-paced, and indispensable.

Synopsis:

The author recounts the story of how the atomic bomb was developed, from the discovery at the turn of century of the vast energy locked inside the atom, to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan during the Second World War.

Synopsis:

A gripping, authoritative account of the men, women, science, drama and intrigue behind the single most important event of the century: the discovery of nuclear energy and construction of the atomic bomb. 32 pages of black-and-white photographs.

Synopsis:

Here for the first time, in rich, human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan.

Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly — or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity there was a span of hardly more than twenty-five years. What began as merely an interesting speculative problem in physics grew into the Manhattan Project, and then into the Bomb with frightening rapidity, while scientists known only to their peers — Szilard, Teller, Oppenheimer, Bohr, Meitner, Fermi, Lawrence, and yon Neumann — stepped from their ivory towers into the limelight.

Richard Rhodes takes us on that journey step by step, minute by minute, and gives us the definitive story of man's most awesome discovery and invention. The Making of the Atomic Bomb has been compared in its sweep and importance to William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It is at once a narrative tour de force and a document as powerful as its subject.

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About the Author

Richard Rhodes is a widely published author. His articles have appeared in numerous national magazines. He graduated from Yale University and has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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Table of Contents

Contents

Part One: Profound and Necessary Truth
1. Moonshine
2. Atoms and Void
3. Tvi
4. The Long Grave Already Dug
5. Men from Mars
6. Machines
7. Exodus
8. Stirring and Digging
9. An Extensive Burst

Part Two: A Peculiar Sovereignty
10. Neutrons
11. Cross Sections
12. A Communication from Britain
13. The New World
14. Physics and Desert Country
15. Different Animals
16. Revelations
17. The Evils of This Time

Part Three: Life and Death
18. Trinity
19. Tongues of Fire
Epilogue

Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Alfred, August 18, 2007 (view all comments by Alfred)
This may be my favorite non-fiction book. Rhodes manages to intelligibly communicate the development of physics in the 20th century that made the bomb possible, which is no mean feat, but he also describes the the ins and outs of the race to build the bomb.

Beyond the technical aspects, Rhodes is very strong on the state of political argument about the use of extreme force, whether it be fire bombing or atomic bombing. He describes the political environment that prevented the attempts to internationalize the bomb and the beginnings of the nuclear age.

This is a very long book, but it reads remarkably easily for such a complex topic.
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blandamer, October 11, 2006 (view all comments by blandamer)
Rhodes is/was very good on the details of the Manhattan Project, but for a very personal view of the daily trials and tribulations of life at Los Alamos, read 109 East Palace,by Jennet Conant (2005). For a closer view of the scientists themselves, read Pandora's Keepers, by Brian Vandemark (2003). For a heart-breaking story of the fundamental process, nuclear fission, read Lise Meitner - A Life in Physics, by Ruth Sime (1996), a riveting story of how Meitner was deprived of sharing the Nobel Prize with her two 'assistants', Hahn and Strassman - she was a woman and she was Jewish.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780684813783
Author:
Rhodes, Richard
Publisher:
Simon and Schuster
Location:
New York
Subject:
Military Science
Subject:
History
Subject:
Military - Nuclear Warfare
Subject:
Modern - 20th Century/Nuclear Age
Subject:
Atomic bomb
Subject:
Bombe atomique
Subject:
General History
Copyright:
1995
Edition Description:
B102
Series Volume:
no. 23
Publication Date:
August 1995
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
928
Dimensions:
9.21x6.11x1.69 in. 2.49 lbs.
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