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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Bomb from 20,000 Feet, April 16, 2005
This review is from: The Bomb: A Life (Hardcover)
"The Bomb: A Life" is a highly readable history of nuclear weapons, from the Manhattan Project through the end of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear terrorism. I picked the book up on a whim and soon found that DeGroot's style kept me turning the pages.
DeGroot's book is a fairly high level overview of the development of the atomic bomb and its even more horrific successor, the hydrogen bomb. It also explores the challenges of integrating these earthshaking weapons into military and political doctrine, with a special emphasis on the formative period of the 1950s and early sixties.
But "The Bomb" is more than just a military or geopolitical history. Degroot gives equal time to domestic developments provoked by the Bomb, such as disarmament movements, the grim fate of "downwinders," and artifacts of bomb-driven cultural history like Bert the Turtle, "Dr. Stangelove," Doomtown, "The Day After," and the Doomsday Clock. In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of the book is its description of the interplay between nuclear weapons and society--how the bomb changed culture, and how culture responded by changing the bomb.
DeGroot is an equal opportunity critic, and he muses about both the excesses of nuclear warriors and the quixotic struggles of those who pressed for disarmament. In the end, he demurs--"a final verdict on the Bomb is impossible."
If you are looking for a readable overview of the development and cultural impact of nuclear weapons, "The Bomb: A Life" is a good and sobering place to start.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Useful but flawed, May 20, 2005
This review is from: The Bomb: A Life (Hardcover)
This capsule history is a mix of material derived from official histories interespersed with personal recollection. The author covers an enormous span of material with reasonable succces. New to American readers are the insights into the developmentof the British bomb. An otherwise readable account is marred by numerous mistakes which detract from the credibility of the rest of the book.
The book is a nice one-time read.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Living With The Bomb, December 26, 2005
This review is from: The Bomb: A Life (Hardcover)
This is the story of how a scientific discovery that holds the promise of unlimited benefits was exploited to provide the threat of unlimited destruction.
Gerard DeGroot describes the American World War II development efforts and examines the perceived threat of a German weapon that was the principle concern. He covers the Manhattan project and the contributors, Szilard, Groves, Oppenheimer, and the rest. DeGroot describes Werner Heisenberg's efforts to put together a bomb project, "For the rest of his life he was tormented by a need to prove that he had taken a moral stand against the Bomb, and an equally consuming need to prove that he could build one." The discussion is more about the motivations of the scientists and decision makers rather than technical detail. The book's examination of Soviet reactions to the American efforts starts with questions on how much to tell Stalin and what dropping the bomb will mean for post-war confrontations.
DeGroot explains the evolution from fission to fusion weapons, Edward Teller's desire for control, and Soviet reactions as the cold war settles over the second half of the century. He discusses the early tests in the Pacific, Siberia, and Nevada Test Site along with the tragic consequences to inhabitants. He points out the advantages the Soviet's had in spying, gaining information from the very beginning, particularly from Klaus Fuchs, while giving little away.
The author looks at social and cultural effects, in terms of movies, civil defense programs and even Miss Atomic Bomb contests in Las Vegas. Political topics include the "missile gap" and the various treaty initiatives. DeGroot includes coverage of anti-nuclear sentiment such as when "protestors at the Women's Peace Camp expressed their displeasure . . . by hanging soiled sanitary napkins and tampons on the perimeter fence of the American missile base."
Some errors in details are annoying. For example: the U.S. Air Force became an independent service in 1947, not 1946; Sandia laboratory was set up for research and development not for "mass manufacture" on Kirtland Air Force Base, not "Kirkland Air Force Base".
DeGroot cites the Brooking's Institute 1998 audit of the American nuclear weapons costs of $5.8 trillion and states that the Soviet nuclear effort "had virtually bankrupted" the USSR. This work gives us starting point for thinking about the costs of the cold war for all participants and what might have played out had the Bomb never been created.
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