The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses and Historians. (Hardcover)

by Cynthia C. Kelly (Editor), Richard Rhodes (Introduction)
Key Phrases: secret cities, uranium committee, welding glass, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. More than 60 years since WWII was ended by two atomic detonations, the Manhattan Project that made them possible still carries iconic weight, both as an incredible achievement of science and engineering and as the opening salvo in the nuclear arms race. This collection of essays, including excerpts from 45 books and almost twice as many articles, is more than worthy of its subject. The basic science behind the project is detailed in a number of lively accounts by scientists who worked on it; they also recount the lighter side of the experience, including the characters they worked alongside and the camaraderie among them. In-depth analysis of policy and ethical issues take on the justification for Truman's decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki (with fine examples from both sides of the argument) and the still-urgent need for global arms control (as argued in a 2007 Wall Street Journal article by Henry Kissinger et al). With a comprehensive reach (going as far back as 1934 to find a charming story on Oppenheimer, "The Absentminded Professor"), Kelly, president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation and an experienced editor (Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project) does a masterful job covering all aspects of the world-changing enterprise and its legacy.
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Review
"I was enthralled by these vivid and compelling accounts of personalities and events at Los Alamos and elsewhere that produced the Bomb, ended a World War, and transformed our lives forever."–Bruce Babbitt, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (September 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579127479
• ISBN-13: 978-1579127473
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #417,385 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great documentary on the making of the a-bomb and its aftermath, March 25, 2008

By	Michael R. Chernick "statman31147" (Holland PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a babyboomer, born in 1947 after World War II was over. But my father had worked at Aberdeen Proving Ground during World War II and entered the nuclear filed after the war becoming a reactor theorist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. So the Manhattan Project and many of the physcists associated with it along woth the post-war movement for peaceful development of nuclear energy became a natural part of my life. This book tells the story about how men like Einstein, Szilard, Bohr the British scientists and British intelligence made discoveries about nuclear energy and the potential for nuclear chain reactions to recognize the potential for the development of a superbomb by the Nazis. After Einstein's letter to Rossevelt, cooperation between the US and Britian and the birth of the Manhattan Project began shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The plants at Hanford and Oak Ridge and the research lab at Los Alamos became the key sites for the project. The book shows how the leadership of Groves and Oppenheimer lead to the rapid development of the bomb over a two year period and as the Nazi were defeated how the goal shifted from the urgency of beating the Germans to the development of a bomb to question of whether to use it on Japan to put a quicker end to the war in Japan.

The book tells the story of the lives of the key figures during this time with Oppenheimer and Groves playing the biggest role. But it also relates many facts and opinions out through the highly classified writings and documents of the period that are now public information.

We learn about security, espionage, difficult decisions and controversy. A lot of interesting discussion is presented about the varying views of Truman's decision to drop the bomb on Japan. Was it really to shorten the war and save lives of the allied forces or might it have been intended to cut the war short before a Soviet invasion.

The post-war desire to control nuclear weapons and to harness the power for peaceful purposes is cover in the last two chapters of the book. It includes Eisenhower's "atoms for peace" speech to the United Nations and goes on to present interesting writings about disarmament and the post-cold war threat from small nations like Pakistan and North Korea. The writings of Gorbachev about the meetings with Reagan in Iceland was very enlightening and interesting.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Have" for Manhattan Project Buffs, November 5, 2007

By	B James "Wizard of Knox Vegas" (Oak Ridge, TN) - See all my reviews

The Manhattan Project is a wonderful compendium of personal accounts and anecdotes not readily available otherwise. The accounts come from people in all walks of Manhattan Project life. If you are a Manhattan Project buff, as I am, you'll be fascinated by the personal glimpses into the lives of military and civilian participants, their spouses and friends--and not just the famous scientists and military leaders. I have only one caveat: if your interest in the Manhattan Project is new, or you are not already familiar with the historical and scientific details of the Project, this book is not a good place to start--read Richard Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb." This book is a collage of little insights into the personal lives of the Project's participants; it is not a detailed, chronological military or scientific history. However, for those steeped in the Manhattan Project, it is a treasure.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important historical document that is a delightful story of unforgetable personalities ,, November 26, 2007

By	Theodore Rockwell - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of the things we want history books to do for us is to give us insight into a world now gone. As we look back on puzzles solved, technologies developed, hardware built--it's hard to recreate the mood when all these challenges lay ahead, and the future was far from certain. How did the people involved view the strange new technology they were creating? This book brings us in their own words, their hopes, their doubts, their fears, their triumphs.

This is not a new approach. Many history books are collections of documents wherein key players describe events or ponder their significance. But Cindy Kelly brings creativity and a deep knowledge of the history and its players, to combine little-known letters and papers with current interviews and brief contemporary notes, to give variety, sparkle and intimacy to this very human story of vast and earth-shaking developments that require our understanding in order to deal intelligently with current events.

We watch, fascinated, as these scientists and engineers work to change the world, while the new world they are creating inexorably changes them.

This book is a unique, factual historical document and, at the same time, a delightfully personal story. A perfect Christmas present.