The Making of the Atomic Bomb

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Summary: Thorough Exposition of a Crucial Moment in Human History
Review: This Pulitzer prize-winning volume is not merely a thorough exposition of a crucial moment in human history -- it is also an excellent survey of the state and development of theoretical physics in the first half of the twentieth century.

The book is widely acknowledged by historians and physicists alike to be the authoritative description of the intrigue, decision-making, politicking and science that culminated in the creation of the atomic weapons that ended the second world war. To that endorsement I can only add that it is well and engagingly written. Indeed, I read it in the context of a reading group whose members represented widely different educational and professional backgrounds, and to all appearances it held everyone's rapt attention and interest equally.

Adding to his work's value as history is the skillful manner in which Rhodes poses the question of the ethics of using the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- not by framing the question in terms of his own but, far more appropriately, by the journalistic device of relating the events, the decisions that were made, and the commentary of the witnesses and principals, and permitting the reader to frame the questions for him- or herself.

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Summary: Terrific History
Review: This is THE comprehensive history of atomic physics and the making of the atmoic bomb. Rhodes begins his project in the formative years of the atomic age and follows the development of the science through the dropping of the bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the conclusion of World War II. Throughtout this period, however, he also explores the politics, culture, and personalities that surrounded the project and made it possible. The book alone is a top notch historical examination of the era, but it is also scientific enough that it could qualify as a supplementary text for a physics course. Rhodes is a terrific author and makes the very complicated scientifc details clear even to the most ignorant reader, but more importantly he is able to help the reader understand the moral and political crises all of the scientists and military personnel had with the Manhattan Project. It is an unbelievably ambitious book, but is very easy to read and understand. I would recommend this to anyone interested in atomic physics, the history or the bomb, world politics, or who just wants to read an interesting non-fiction book on a very important topic.

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Summary: Masterpiece of Thoroughness
Review: This book is so good that words fall short. Suffice it to say that this is one of the most well-researched, thorough, well-written, insightful and wise histories of a phenomenon ever produced. It is an epic story with tragic overtones, populated with a cast of characters as diverse and rich as a Russian novel. It is the WHOLE story of the development of the atomic bomb -- historical, scientific, political. The lengthy description of the physical processes instigated by the explosion of the first A-bomb in history in New Mexico is like a brilliant prose poem. The chapter called "Tongues of Fire," which concerns the fate of the Japanese upon whom the bombs were dropped, is one of the most nightmarish and horrifying things I've ever read, and I literally had to fend off tears. If you're interested in the subject, you simply must read this book.

I only have one tiny, tiny criticism to offer, which is almost not worth mentioning, though I'll mention it anyway. Though Rhodes' assessment of Robert Oppenheimer's character and qualifications is exemplary, the book left me slightly unclear over exactly why he was chosen to head the Manhattan Project. In other words, I would have liked more material about the decision-making processes that went on behind the scenes which ultimately lead to his appointment.

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Summary: The Bomb and the Bombmakers
Review: When I was an undergraduate in physics at Harvard, a professor once told us that this book should be required reading for all budding physicists. Having read the book now, I agree absolutely. The individuals involved in the distinguished beginnings of 20th century physics and their stories are as engrossing as the consequences mortifying. I am a reader who believes in the counterfactual argument that the bomb prevented a horrific invasion of Japan. However, the idea of one smallish weapon killing tens of thousands (millions, if you count later bombs) must continue to terrify us and all of humanity forever. During the war, events were as terrifying as the bombmakers could imagine. At Los Alamos, the physicists were working for one purpose -- to get the bomb before Germany. That they were mostly Jews makes the quest that much more sobering. This is an account of events with a complicated reality, a very troubling legacy and a cast of truly fascinating individuals. Rhodes has done a service by telling us this story so elegantly.

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Summary: A meaningful book for our time. A worthy history.
Review: Richard Rhodes has written an excellent history in this book. Most striking is the accessibility of the science underlying the story. The life stories of the people behind the science, the influential events of their times, the wide and varied background to these aspects of the story are all well dealt with by the author. His prose style is clear and simple. The books structure is good despite it's great length. The detail is well handled and a joy to history buffs. Above all the consequences of the atom bomb and the meaning for humanity makes this book a must read for our times. As nuclear weapons come into the hands of more and more nations so the deeper meaning for the future whether hope or folly needs to be elicited. This book starts this process.

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Summary: Vade mecum to the modern age
Review: For me, the most dramatic - and scariest - part of the whole book is probably on p. 275: "Enrico Fermi...was standing at his panoramic office window high in the physics tower [of Columbia University] looking down the gray winter length of Manhattan Island, its streets alive as always with vendors and taxis and crowds. He cupped his hands as if he were holding a ball. 'A little bomb like that,' he said simply, for once not lightly mocking, 'and it would all disappear.'"

This was one day in the winter of 1938/1939, probably in Jan or Feb of 1939. Fermi was of course referring to the atomic warhead yet to be invented. Fermi's estimates of the size of the fissile material required to produce such a devastating effect remain as true today in this post-911 age as then.

I entirely agree with Rhodes that the key personality in the whole saga was not Einstein or Oppenheimer or even Fermi but Niels Bohr, who was the godfather to modern nuclear physics, who was the guiding spirit if not a working technician at Los Alamos, and whose complementarity principle, originally devised to explain quantum mechanics, became applicable to the dilemma of the bomb itself. Rhodes's emphasis on Bohr's complementarity both surprises and impresses me.

If I'm allowed one criticism, it would be that a timeline of the major developments is missing.

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Summary: The Joy of Discovery
Review: This book made me feel like I really could understand the intricacies of atomic power. Rhodes manages to throw into his well-written narrative the history of the Hungarian scientists who fled Nazi Germany, the personal stories of men like Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi, and the genesis and eventual success of the Manhattan Project. The atomic bomb was truly a massive, detailed undertaking, and this book brings that story to life clearly and entertainingly. For instance, one fascinating aspect of this story is that the keys to releasing nuclear energy were discovered through chemists, not physicists, despite Einstein's relativity. If you really want to know what the government was and is up to in Rocky Flats, read this book.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this story was the way Rhodes captures the excitement of the scientists--from Ernest Rutherford to Leo Szilard to Niehls Bohr--as they learned, piece by piece, how to release nuclear energy. Then, once the Trinity test occurs, and then the bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, the entire tone of the book changes. It's almost as if the wind goes out of the scientists' (and the writer's) sails. Having built up this excitement, the men of the Manhattan Project take a look at what they have done and are suddenly horrified. I found this reaction simultaneously understandable and ridiculous. They were, after all, making a WEAPON, why were they so surprised when it worked so well?

This might serve as a cautionary tale. After all, as we know, nuclear weapons did not go away after World War II. The tremendous momentum built up at Los Alamos did not cease. Indeed, once fission power had been proven, Edward Teller and his team got approval to go ahead with development of fusion power, more specifically, hydrogen bombs.

The good part of this book is, you can read it without needing a degree in chemistry or physics, just a genuine interest in the subject. "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" rightly won the Pulitzer Prize. It tells a remarkable tale about a neglected chapter of our world's (so far) worst war. Unfortunately, you can also see the seeds for the next war within it.

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Summary: Birth of the Atomic Age
Review: With all the official praise this book has received, there isn't a compelling reason to add another note. I agree with all the 5 star reviewers, but am puzzled by the fact that anyone with enough brains to write a review could fault this opus magnum. It is a treat to have the history of science in the 20th century written gracefully and with style.
Here is an opportunity to understand the power of quantitative ideas fused to leading intellect.I am a physician specializing in the care of cancer patients with radiation, so the physics, chemistry, and math was familiar. But don't be put off by the need to pause when reading; it is the best explanation of the topic I've ever read. Recently I loaned the book to a 98 year old physicist who was a contemporary of many of the players. He loved the book, and so will you!! All time top 10.

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Summary: Great, understated genius
Review: Few reviewers have discounted the seminal importance of this comprehensive history of the A-Bomb. Having just finished it, I can state that it is both a brilliant, detailed history of the history of the atomic bomb and a revelation on the nature of how atomic weapons have changed the world. It makes one question the entire history of America's involvement in the creation and use of weapons that have such destructive force. Indeed, when we put our most enormous scientific, engineering, and industrial talents to the task on the construction of a weapon of essentially unlimited destructive power it makes one wonder what truly great things this country is capable of aside from its war-making enterprise. This book answers what is possible--or, I would argue, at least poses the proper questions about the validity of the existence of atomic weaponry and their use upon Japan.

The narratives of the victims of the Hiroshima bomb is especially gripping and horrifying. It makes one pray that they will never survive such horror and madness and makes one question how we could have possibly decided to use such a completely savage weapon against civilians.

Rhodes has brought out the times and the people involved in the Manhattan Project with particular brilliance and insight into the personalities and pressures involved. The science is pretty heavy (for me, anyway) at times, but I think Rhodes approaches the subject as he must. You will probably feel your eyelids grow thick at the times he describes some of the physics involved--and apparently he delves into even more excruciating detail in the history of the H-Bomb--but I would rather be aware of the science than be ignorant of it for the sake of simplicity or "dumbing down" of a complex chain and history of scientific discoveries that lead up to an invention as remarkable, horrible, and powerful as an atomic bomb.

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Summary: Superb Historical Account Of Etiology of First Atomic Bomb!
Review: One of the most admirable qualities of this truly marvelous work is its ability to paint the story of the creation of the first atomic weapon on the broadest possible canvas, reaching back into the bowels of history to trace, with the fidelity of a seismographic needle, the rise of both the specific intellectuals as well as the critical scientific mass to make the work not only conceivable, but possible. This is indeed a work that one reads repeatedly, for there is so much to digest within the pages of this masterwork as to defy any easy such description. So both the cast of involved personalities is long and incredibly interesting to witness as the author develops it, but then again, so is his description of the rise of theoretical physics through the work of Albert Einstein and his colleagues within the mostly European academic orbit in the first third of the twentieth century. In that sense, it is not strictly speaking, merely a detailed exposition dealing with what happened in New Mexico under incredibly secret circumstances during World War Two, as the Manhattan Project, even though it eventually gravitates toward being exactly that.

Instead, the book opens as an exploration into the minds of some brilliantly eccentric professors and intellectuals struggling within theoretical physics on the very cutting edge of the unknown, and then stretching it in quite unsuspected and revolutionary ways. And as the critical mass of theoretical knowledge began to cluster within the fairly small community of like-minded souls, the scene changes based on world politics and the rise of fascism. It is an interesting curiosity that had Hitler been less vitriolic in his condemnation of Jews, he might have forestalled the emigration of critical players in this unfolding melodrama, and so might have altered his own destiny and that of his most important ally, Japan. For just as the kluge of intellectuals conceded that such a weapon was indeed theoretically possible and feasible, many of them began to flee to more hospitable environs, including both the USA and Britain. Without their help, it is questionable as to whether the Manhattan Project could have ever succeeded.

The author is also quite convincing in his take concerning the long-rumored notion that the Nazis were also rushing toward development of the bomb, which Rhodes believes to be unsubstantiated by the available evidence. In fact, he argues exactly the opposite, that the Nazis were neither very interested in the development of such a weapon, and did not enjoy sufficient access to the kinds of materials they would have needed to mount a serious developmental nuclear program. Yet the majority of the book focuses memorably on the events transpiring in and around Los Alamos. The program to develop a useable atomic bomb was so massive and so secret that it is hard to imagine its scope at the time. Rhodes' prose admirably supports his sometimes almost confessional style, and he writes well enough to interest us in the most prosaic description even as he is describing events and people who literally transformed the world. This book has an incredible panorama to its rather ambitious scope, which includes biographical, scientific, sociological, political, and economic elements to it. It is indeed a classic, and deserves its status as one of the best-written accounts of the events of World War Two yet published. Enjoy!