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The Making of the Atomic Bomb Paperback – August 1, 1995

by Richard Rhodes (Author)

746 customer reviews

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With a new Introduction by the author, the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning epic about how the atomic bomb came to be.

In rich, human, political, and scientific detail, here is the complete story of the nuclear bomb.

Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftlyor 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 merely as an interesting speculative problem in physics grew into the Manhattan Project, and then into the Bomb with frightening rapidity, while scientists known only to their peersSzilard, Teller, Oppenheimer, Bohr, Meitner, Fermi, Lawrence, and von Neumannstepped from their ivory towers into the limelight.

Richard Rhodes takes us on that journey step-by-step, minute by minute, and gives us the definitive story of mans most awesome discovery and invention. The Making of the Atomic Bomb is at once a narrative tour de force and a document as powerful as its subject.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If the first 270 pages of this book had been published separately, they would have made up a lively, insightful, beautifully written history of theoretical physics and the men and women who plumbed the mysteries of the atom. Along with the following 600 pages, they become a sweeping epic, filled with terror and pity, of the ultimate scientific quest: the development of the ultimate weapon. Rhodes is a peerless explainer of difficult concepts; he is even better at chronicling the personalities who made the discoveries that led to the Bomb. Niels Bohr dominates the first half of the book as J. Robert Oppenheimer does the second; both men were gifted philosophers of science as well as brilliant physicists. The central irony of this book, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, is that the greatest minds of the century contributed to the greatest destructive force in history.

About the Author

Richard Rhodes is a widely published author. His articles have appeared in numerous national magazines. He graduated from Yale University and has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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Product details

Paperback: 928 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (August 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0684813785
ISBN-13: 978-0684813783
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.7 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 746 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #670,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #453 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Nuclear
- #3619 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy
- #22048 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering

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Daryl Carpenter

Flawed Masterpiece

June 29, 2016

Format: Paperback

A quick note for anyone deciding which edition to buy: The "25th Anniversary Edition" removes the book's final chapter completely, which feels utterly disingenuous and revisionist to me. While Rhodes' "Dark Sun" covers the same ground as the omitted epilogue, this edition ends so abruptly I'm amazed there wasn't an advertisement for the other books in his "nuclear anthology" on the final page. The Kindle version is somewhat flawed; there are quite a few typos and dropped punctuation, and it's not always obvious when direct quotations begin and end. I'd recommend buying one of the older physical editions if you want to read this book as it was meant to be read.

"The Making of the Atomic Bomb" is a richly detailed epic, a table-shaking beast of a book that frequently sent me on evening walks to ponder and process the last few chapters I'd read. This is more than just a book about Hiroshima, Oppenheimer, and the Manhattan Project. We get an in-depth look at the early history of atomic physics, the personalities of key scientists, politicians, and military leaders, the complex political and military issues surrounding the bomb's development and use, and the historic and social events that shaped its creation. This is NOT a beach read - better put aside two weeks and plenty of undivided attention before tackling it!

I first read this book back in 2001, and I was totally enthralled by it, devouring it from cover to cover in four days. Having read it four times since then, some cracks have formed in its facade. Namely, it feels like two books grafted together - a decent one on the early history of nuclear physics, and an enthralling one on the actual making of the atomic bomb. The first 250 pages, while perhaps essential, tend to get bogged down by Rhodes' occasionally self-indulgent scene-setting (do we really need to know what shape the windows were?) and somewhat heavy philosophizing. Things pick up immensely with the actual discovery that the Uranium atom can be split, but I can see why some people give up early on. The "making of" is told with a remarkable lack of sensationalizing and sermonizing, and as horrific as the accounts of the actual bombings are, Rhodes is remarkably nonjudgmental about the bomb's use. People looking for pointed criticisms or historical revisionism will probably be disappointed; although Rhodes clearly abhors war, he seems to view Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the inevitable climax of an increasingly savage conflict against an enemy which refused to surrender. Considering how emotionally charged most books on nuclear weapons are, I actually admired Rhodes' somewhat pragmatic approach. Then again, it might leave others cold and confused.

Although it's not the flawless masterpiece I once held it as, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" is still a pretty solid tome. It's big, multi-layered, thought-provoking, darkly funny, disturbing, richly detailed, philosophical... and just a tad over-rated. The first third is somewhat rough going, and, in retrospect, could have used some careful editing. The last 500 pages, however, are among the best history writing I've ever read. If the early history of nuclear weapons and nuclear physics fascinates you, give it a shot. You just need some patience going in.

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Samuel M. Feldman

The Making of the Atomic Bomb – Richard Rhodes Title ...

October 3, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The Making of the Atomic Bomb – Richard Rhodes
Title: Scientifically Accurate – Overly Wordy
Richard Rhodes tome deserves its acclaim as the most comprehensive history of the development of the atomic bomb. As a scientist with advanced degrees in quantum physics I can attest to its scientific accuracy. Mr. Rhodes’s has a gift for explaining complex technical details to a lay audience. I found his lengthily discourse on the lives of scientists enlightening but non-scientists might find these sidebars distracting.
There is one question on the development of atomic weapons that has haunted me. What would have happened if Otto Hahn’s paper on the discovery of nuclear fission had not been published six months before the Nazi invasion of Poland? Would the major powers have invested so much talent and money on the urgent development of an atomic bomb? It is unlikely this question will ever be answered

8 people found this helpful

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The definitive tale of the most important single piece of science and history of the 20th century -- not to be missed.

November 17, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The story of the building of the atomic bomb is probably the single most important piece of science and history of the 20th century and perhaps all of human history. The atomic bomb gave humanity a weapon by which it could achieve its own destruction, something unparalleled in history. Since the test at Trinity in 1945, the entire world has lived in the shadow of annihilation by mass suicide.

Now, as nuclear proliferation becomes a greater reality than ever, the threat of superpowers destroying each other in a geopolitical contest has been replaced by the idea of ideological dictators (like North Korea) or terrorist organizations (like ISIS) destroying cities and nations, and in so doing, becoming the cause of such a world-ending world war.

But how the atomic bomb was created is a story that many people do not know, and in itself, is a rich and fascinating tale. It combines basic scientific curiosity with the terrible geopolitics of the 1930s, the horrifying tableaux of the world's ghastliest war in the 1940s, the backdrop of Nazi racism, the incredible engineering power of the United States' economy and its military establishment, the growing paranoia and fears of the burgeoning Cold War, and some of the most interesting and intriguing characters in scientific, political, and military history...familiar names like Einstein and Fermi, somewhat less familiar names like Oppenheimer, Groves, and Bohr, and people who should be better remembered, like Kistiakowsky, Feynman, and Alvarez.

The scientific and engineering struggle to create the world's first "atomic device" is told with immense writing ability, great research, and rich detail -- an entire chapter focuses on anti-Semitism and how it worked in Europe, hindering Hitler's plans to build an atomic bomb and aiding America's. Later chapters depict in detail the engineering and scientific processes to create atomic piles, nuclear reactors, and finally, "The Gadget," to its first test on July 16, 1945.

After that, the pace continues to quicken, as "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" make well-documented voyages to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, and the atomic attacks are rendered from both points of view: American and Japanese -- victory and the shortening of the war for the Americans, an unbelievable horror for the Japanese. At the end, one feels cognizant of Albert Einstein's warnings about how nuclear weaponry would lead to "general annihilation."

This is a book that will fascinate, educate, and make you aware of the ghastly reality we face: we must live together as a species or die by mutual suicide.

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