Synopses & Reviews
Bombs are as old as hatred itself. But it was the twentieth century(one hundred years of incredible scientific progress and terrible war) that brought forth the Big One, the Bomb, humanity's most powerful and destructive invention. In The Bomb: A Life Gerard DeGroot tells the story of this once unimaginable weapon that, at least since 8:16 a.m. on August 6, 1945, has haunted our dreams and threatened our existence. The Bomb has killed hundreds of thousands outright, condemned many more to lingering deaths, and made vast tracts of land unfit for life. For decades it dominated the psyches of millions, becoming a touchstone of popular culture, celebrated or decried in mass political movements, films, songs, and books. DeGroot traces the life of the Bomb from its birth in turn-of-the-century physics labs of Europe to a childhood in the New Mexico desert of the 1940s, from adolescence and early adulthood in Nagasaki and Bikini, Australia and Kazakhstan to maturity in test sites and missile silos around the globe. His book portrays the Bomb's short but significant existence in all its scope, providing us with a portrait of the times and the people, from Oppenheimer to Sakharov, Stalin to Reagan, whose legacy still shapes our world.
Review
"...Our post-Sept. 11 country should find The Bomb's story enlightening. Gerard J.
DeGroot has done more than write the best single-volume history of the bomb's
early life in the original nuclear family. He has also narrated themes that run
through this generation and perhaps the next. As characters move across the
page, one sees that the dangers these men created and confronted resemble the
current dramas of terrorism, proliferation and military intervention. DeGroot
tells his story fairly and fluently."
George Perkovich, Sunday, March 20, 2005, Washington Post
Synopsis
The Bomb has killed hundreds of thousands outright, condemned many more tolingering deaths, and made vast tracts of land unfit for life. For decades it dominated thepsyches of millions, becoming a touchstone of popular culture, celebrated or decried in masspolitical movements, films, songs, and books. DeGroot traces the life of the Bomb from its birthin turn-of-the-century physics labs of Europe to a childhood in the New Mexico desert of the1940s, from adolescence and early adulthood in Nagasaki and Bikini, Australia and Kazakhstan tomaturity in test sites and missile silos around the globe.
About the Author
Gerard J. DeGrootis Professor of Modern History at <>the University of St. Andrewsin Scotland. His many books include The First World Warand A Noble Cause?: America and the Vietnam War.