Customer Reviews

Blood and Water: Sabotaging Hitler's Bomb

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4 star:		(6)
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This is a part of history that certainly needs telling, and B&W fills the bill. Written in a non-academic style it tells the story of how the allies crippled Germany's heavy water supply in Norway. It is a fascinating tale of a few heroes who risked, and sometimes gave, their lives to prevent Germany from developing the atomic bomb. Some interesting facts are also given regarding the development of a nuclear weapon. If German scientists had just developed a slightly different mind set they wouldn't have needed the heavy water, and could have built a bomb without it. Good rendering of a small but very important story of World War II.

As one of Mr. Kurzman's Norwegian sources for his research on this subject, I must say he has managed to put the heavy-water sabotage mission into a global perspective. We've seen far too many books on this and other Norwegian WW2 missions just dealing with the operation itself. About time a foreigner wrote about this, looking at international relations and history, while at the same time doing a great job on the local perspective. Well done Mr. Kurzman!

Though history has shown that the Nazis were not nearly as close to developing the bomb as was then believed, it does not diminish the impact of this edge of your chair thriller! THe allies, both British and Americans, attempt a series of missions to blow up the German heavy water plant (heavy water is used to make nuclear reactors, a key element in building a nuclear bomb) that was located in Norweigan territory. British glider pilots are unsuccessful and captured and tortured by the Nazis, a second attempt is successful in bombing the plant but does not do enough damage. THe book chronicles these and other espionage efforts to destroy the plant and does so in a quick style that will keep you reading til finished. THis book would make an excellent action/adventure WWII thriller type movie and I hope someone buys the rights to it. AS many of you know, the author, Dan Kurzman has made a career of documenting WWII stories. He's a good storyteller, though not quite as good a writer. If you enjoy this book, then try his story of the sinking of the Indianapolis, the ship that carried parts of the Atomic bomb and saw a large number of its crewman get eaten by sharks. The book demonstrates that there are enough true to life thrillers out there, so why bother with fiction when you can read a thriller and learn something about history at the same time!

This was a good book on the race between the U.S., Britain and Germany to build the first atomic bomb. I read this book as part of my research for a paper and found myself reading it more for enjoyment. A small team of Norwegians was sent into their own country to sabatoge a factory that was producing heavy water, a key ingredient in the atomic research. The tale of their close encounters with death and mission failure was not only griping, but showed the importance of their mission's success.

Most are familiar that there was an ongoing race to build an atomic bomb during world war 2. You'll get chills when you read how close the race really was. The book is well written and is a real page-turner. The book is intriguing and is unembellished enough to remind you this is nonfiction. These are real heros and real missions. I recommend this book and I am going to read more of Kurzman's work

Tells the story of what some courageous norwegians did to keep heavy water and the bomb out of Hitler's hands during the occupation of Norway.

This book was fabulous. The way he writes is intriguing and captivating. Although it is a historical piece, it is written as a novel. Highly educative and mind opening. He tells the story behind what most people think went on.

A lot of names and facts in the beginning to explain the importance of the mission, but it sooner turns in to a real page turner. What a marvelous story this is!

Kurzman presents best case I have ever seen on details of importance of heavy water, methods of production, rate of production/levels of enrichment of heavy water, etc. Beauiful explanation/rationale of necessity of blocking Nazi access to heavy water. Text needed a "physics editor" to correct technical errors which mar an otherwise excellant tale of history. Brilliant writing...real page turner. Engaging discription of personalities and character of Norwegians, their battle against tyranny, love of life, country and great out-doors. Even more engaging than tale of sinking of the Indianapolis ... no easy task, but accomplished gracefully. For the layman, history of ear;y bomb-physics is not often presented in so clearly and informative a manner.