Iām an emeritus professor of modern American diplomatic history at the University of California, having previously taught at Oberlin, Caltech, and Yale. Iāve also been chairman of the Division of Space History at the Smithsonianās National Air & Space Museum, where I was the Curator of Military Space. Iāve been fascinatedāand concernedāabout nuclear weapons and nuclear war since I was 12, when I saw the movie On the Beach.Ā Then, as now, nuclear weapons and the (currently-increasing) danger of nuclear war are the most important things on the planet.Ā Ā
I wrote
Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller
Even after almost forty years, Rhodesās book is still the most detailed, accurate, and readable account of how the atomic bomb came to be.Ā
The authorās description of the moment Leo Szilard realized the weapon was possible still brings me to tears. Nobody has done this history better.Ā Ā
With a brand new introduction from the author, this is the complete story of how the bomb was developed. It is told in rich, human, political, and scientific detail, 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 Manhattanā¦
Although this book is something of a rival to my own and borrows heavily from my bookābut with attributionāit is deserving of the Pulitzer Prize it received for its sympathetic portrayal of its main character.
The primary author, Marty Sherwin, was my dissertation advisor; he and I argued for many years, until his death, over the truth about Oppenheimer. Although I yield to no one in my response and admiration for Marty, my book is right.Ā Ā
Physicist and polymath, 'father of the atom bomb' J. Robert Oppenheimer was the most famous scientist of his generation. Already a notable young physicist before WWII, during the race to split the atom, 'Oppie' galvanized an extraordinary team of international scientists while keeping the FBI at bay. As the man who more than any other inaugurated the atomic age, he became one of the iconic figures of the last century, the embodiment of his own observation that 'physicists have known sin'.
Years later, haunted by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer became a staunch opponent of plans to develop the hydrogen bomb.ā¦
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to runā¦
Priscilla was an inveterate Oppie scholar, and an amazing journalist/historian. She was the first female wire service reporter in Moscow during the Cold War and probably the only person in history to interviewāand get to knowāboth Lee Harvey Oswald and President John Kennedy.
A historian colleague believes that she was a CIA spy. I doubt that. But, if Priscilla had been a spy, she was a damn fine one.
The true story of the government conspiracy to bring down J. Robert Oppenheimer, America's most famous scientist.
On April 12, 1954, the nation was astonished to learn that J. Robert Oppenheimer was facing charges of violating national security. Could the director of the Manhattan Project, the visionary who led the effort to build the atom bomb, really be a traitor? In this riveting book, bestselling author Priscilla J. McMillan draws on newly declassified U.S. government documents and materials from Russia, as well as in-depth interviews, to expose for the first time the conspiracy that destroyed one of America's most illustriousā¦
Most readers interested in the story of the atomic bomb donāt realize that the weapon was primarily an engineering project, not a scientific one.Ā (Why it was called the Manhattan Engineer District).Ā
The man who built the bomb was really Groves, not Oppenheimer, who only helped design it. Norrisās book is fascinating for portraying Groves as a human being, not just a chubby general. Readers will recognize that Matt Damon was actually a pretty good choice to play Groves in the movie āOppenheimer.ā
COLONEL LESLIE R. GROVES was a career officer in the Army Corps of Engineers, fresh from overseeing hundreds of military construction projects, including the Pentagon, when he was given the job in September 1942 of building the atomic bomb. In this full-scale biography Norris places Groves at the center of the amazing Manhattan Project story. Norris contributes much in the way of new information and vital insights to our understanding of how the bomb got built and how the decision was made to drop it on a large population center. Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb,ā¦
A corrupt kingdom. A rising darkness. Can a broken warrior save a world?
Mithranar is a country divided by ignorance and magic. Oppressed by their winged folk rulers, humans struggle to eke out an existence. Their only help comes from the mysterious Shadowhawk, a criminal who has evaded all attemptsā¦
As it turns out, the Germans never got close to building an atomic bombālargely because of some major mistakes at the outset (one of them made by their top nuclear chemist because of a crisis in his love life). Powers, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, created some controversy because of his portrayal of the man who didnāt build the German bomb. That controversy continues.Ā
I once had to physically separate the author from his critics and threaten to remove disruptive protesters from the audience when I moderated a session on the history of the German bomb at the Smithsonian.Ā Ā
One of the last secrets of World War II is why the Germans failed to build an atomic bomb. Germany was the birthplace of modern physics it possessed the raw materials and the industrial base and it commanded key intellectual resources. What happened?In Heisenberg's War , Thomas Powers tells of the interplay between science and espionage, morality and military necessity, and paranoia and cool logic that marked the German bomb program and the Allied response to it. On the basis of dozens of interviews and years of intensive research, Powers concludes that Werner Heisenberg, who was the leading figure inā¦
How did scienceāand its practitionersāenlist in the service of the state during the Second World War and become a slave to its patron during the Cold War? The story of these three men, builders of the bombs, is fundamentally about loyaltyāto country, to science, and to each otherāand about the wrenching choices that had to be made when these allegiances came into conflict.
Gregg Herken gives us the behind-the-scenes account based upon a decade of research, interviews, and newly released Freedom of Information Act and Russian documents. The ebook version has also been updated with new information on Oppenheimer in 2023. This book is a vital slice of American history told authoritativelyāand grippinglyāfor the first time.
A corrupt kingdom. A rising darkness. Can a broken warrior save a world?
Mithranar is a country divided by ignorance and magic. Oppressed by their winged folk rulers, humans struggle to eke out an existence. Their only help comes from the mysterious Shadowhawk, a criminal who has evaded all attemptsā¦
Looking for clean romantic suspense with spiritual undertones?
Look no further than the Acts of Valor series by Rebecca Hartt. With thousands of reviews and 4.7-5.0 stars per book, this 6-book series is a must-read for readers searching for memorable, well-told stories by an award-winning author.
