Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Cold War    3. Foreign relations    4. History - Military / War    5. International Relations - General    6. Military - Nuclear Warfare    7. Nuclear Energy    8. Political Science    9. Politics/International Relations    10. United States    11. World politics    12. American history: postwar, from c 1945 -    13. Europe    14. European history: postwar, from c 1945 -    15. Former Soviet Union, USSR (Europe)    16. History / General    17. History, World | Modern    18. International relations    19. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    20. USA    21. War & defence operations   

Editorial 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. ... Read more

Reviews (134)

Ten Stars!!!
I have little to add to the many excellent reviews of this great book, except to say that, with many mediocre books getting four and five stars, a rating of "only" five stars for a work of this magnitude is woefully inadequate. Buy it, read it, enjoy it, learn from it.

Downright Scary!
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first (and hopefully the last) cities to be nuked. In particular, the eye-witness accounts of ground-zero Hiroshima at the end of this book were probably the most horrific things I have ever read, so wrenching that I don't want to give you an example (though I thought it was important to read). Scarier still are nuclear bombs available today that are 1000 times as potent as 'Little Boy'.
One of the Best Books Ever Written
It's a work of literature, it's a work of history, it's a work of engineering; Richard Rhodes wraps everything into one superb narrative.From Rutherford's canny experiments rigged with chewing gum and string, to Ernest Lawrence lighting a cigarette off an atomic test, nothing is beyond the author's grasp.This is a work of physics in action, the business end.From the very top, Mr. Rhodes' book details the decisions made by FDR and Truman, and goes right on down the chain of command to General Groves, the powerhouse behind the Pentagon's construction who was given stewardship over a bunch offractious geeks who were attempting to unleash the power of the sun.
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Subjects:  1. Atomic bomb    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: American    5. Military - Nuclear Warfare    6. Military Science    7. Modern - 20th Century/Nuclear Age    8. Atomic & molecular physics    9. History / General    10. Nuclear weapons    11. Ordnance, weapons technology    12. Science: General Issues    13. USA    14. World history: from c 1900 -   

Editorial Review

When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, few could have anticipated its potential for devastation. Pulitzer prize-winning author John Hersey recorded the stories of Hiroshima residents shortly after the explosion and, in 1946, Read more

Reviews (184)

"The hurt ones were quiet; no one wept, much less screamed in pain..."
When the atomic bomb dropped at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was a thriving city of two hundred forty-five thousand people.By 8:20, one hundred thousand of those people were dead.Combining the broad perspective of the absolute devastation of the city with the tiniest details of six individual lives, John Hersey provides a powerful closeup of a few survivors of the atomic attack on Hiroshima, giving the carnage a human perspective.
Should be read by everyone
Hiroshima was written shortly after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Journalist John Hersey traveled to Japan to record the devastation and interviewed many of the survivors, choosing six to focus on. The book begins at the precise moment the bomb exploded, taking each person in turn, setting the scene of where they were at the time and the immediate aftermath. I can't say this book is brilliantly written. There's little style and at times it becomes just a recitation of facts. But if you can put yourself in the place of the survivors, try to see what they see, feel what they feel, you realize how important it is for you to keep reading. This book isn't about entertainment, it's about understanding what the citizens of Hiroshima went through. Seeing them not only as statistics, but real people.

Thought Provoking
This book was very well written, it contains bits and pieces of journalistic facts while using the lives of ordinary people to show the impact of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in a compassionate and perceptive voice. John Hersey uses facts and the recollections of those who survived to weave a truely remarkable tale of what happens when one decision changes the lives of many. This novel contains bits and pieces of people's lives before and after the atomic bomb had been dropped. Although the book may seem short, the time that you spend thinking about the book is actually quite long. This book is not a light and happy read, it is not some classic that becomes cliqued and quoted all too many times, but what it is is an admirable tale spun not by the author himself, but by the lives of those who managed to do the near impossible. This novel tells the story of those who managed to live. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - Japan    2. Atomic bomb    3. Blast effect    4. Bombardment, 1945    5. Hiroshima-shi    6. Hiroshima-shi (Japan)    7. History    8. History - Military / War    9. History: World    10. Japan    11. Military - Nuclear Warfare    12. Military - World War II    13. World - General    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. History / World   

Reviews (19)

A battle to read, not worth it in the end.
I was going to write a long and detailed review of this book outlining its many minor and few major flaws. However I notice with these types of books, with controversial subjects, tend to get reviews of two types: If you agree with the subject matter, it was well written. If you don't, it is poorly written.
you ought to try walking in their shoes, first
The thing the author does is pass judgment without looking at how the "bad guys" did what they did.An action officer or technical executive has very little time to make decisions.Because the subject matter of the necessary decisions comes from all points of the intellectual compass, the folks under discussion literally cannot be as informed as they would like to be on every thing they must act on.And they must act.Quickly.Excuses for inaction are never acceptable in this business.
Seeing the Pentagon from the Inside
The best aspect of this book is that it leaves you asking, "God, if she found all that in one crazy project, what else is out there?"The book is about the (Hafnium)Hf bomb and how it went from nothing to a multi-million dollar project that refused to die.
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Subjects:  1. Bombs    2. Design and construction    3. Government - U.S. Government    4. Hafnium    5. History    6. Military    7. Military - Nuclear Warfare    8. Military - United States    9. Nuclear Weapons    10. Political Freedom & Security - Intelligence    11. Political Freedom & Security - International Secur    12. Politics / Current Events    13. Weapons of mass destruction    14. Science / Experiments & Projects   

Reviews (39)

Great Book On A True Event
I have Read 3 books on this subject Project Jennfier / Spy Sub / On this book this one is the best one so far on what happened to the K-129.
A Plausible Reading
A plausible interpretation of events, with the interesting backdrop of Cold War history.Could someday be the basis for a good submarine fiction movie production.

My Opinion
This book was very informative.It was accurate.
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Subjects:  1. Biography/Autobiography    2. Conspiracy & Scandal Investigations    3. History    4. History - Military / War    5. Intelligence Agencies    6. K-129 (Submarine)    7. Military    8. Military - Intelligence/Espionage    9. Military - Naval    10. Military - Nuclear Warfare    11. Soviet Union    12. Soviet Union.    13. Submarine disasters    14. Submarine forces    15. Submarines    16. Voenno-Morskoæi Flot    17. History / Military / Nuclear Warfare   

Subjects:  1. Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud    2. International Relations - Arms Control    3. Iran    4. Military - Nuclear Warfare    5. Nuclear weapons    6. Political Freedom & Security - International Secur    7. Political Freedom & Security - Terrorism    8. Political Science    9. Politics / Current Events    10. Politics/International Relations    11. Security, International    12. International relations    13. Nuclear power & engineering    14. Political Science / Political Freedom & Security / Terrorism   

Editorial Review

In April 1943, a young physicist named Robert Serber stood up before a small group of fellow scientists in a laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and, as one attendee later recalled, began to speak in "a hazy, uncertain voice" about the project on which they would all be working. "The object," he said, "is to produce a Read more

Reviews (10)

Excellent Intro to atomic weapons
Originally composed of brief notes presented to newly arrived scientists at the Los Alamos research site, then released to the public shortly after WWII, Serber has gone back and added two types of extra material: 1) Additional physics discussion, and 2) some interesting history of personalities and WWII from the point of view of the Los Alamos scientists.
Great book on the physics of the bomb
This is a truly exciting book for people with the desire to understand bomb physics. This book consists out of the original lecture notes from a series of seminars given in 1943 to the bomb scientists at the start of the Manhattan Project. These lecture notes are clearly annotated so that a layman can understand the bomb. Although the book discusses mainly the knowledge of 1943, the clear annotations of the author comments also on the advances since 1943. Excellent!
Excellent book, it takes a bit to stick with it, but the modern day excerpts/perspectives threaded into the book give it a good historical perspective. This is a good combo to go together with Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atomic Physics    2. Atomic bomb    3. Biography    4. History    5. Los Alamos Scientific Laborato    6. Manhattan Project (U.S.)    7. Nuclear Physics    8. Nuclear Warfare    9. Physicists    10. Science    11. Science/Mathematics    12. United States    13. Atomic & molecular physics    14. History / General    15. History of science    16. History of specific subjects    17. Nuclear weapons    18. Ordnance, weapons technology   

Reviews (30)

Some insight, some disappointment
I was looking forward to reading this book on what I thought would be a keen insider's look at the Cuban missile crisis, and was somewhat disappointed.I realize that RFK was not able to complete the text, and perhaps that is reflected in it's length (100 pages of narrative).A large part of the printed material, about 1/3, is made up of supporting documents.I had hoped for more detail about the minute-to-minute events of those 13 days.The strength of the book is its undeniably interesting topic and author.There was insight to the crisis that I had not previously known, and reading it here was interesting and informative.For a mid-1900's buff, this might be one piece of a collection and its uniqueness may prove worthwhile.This is the first book I read on the Cuban missile crisis, and I am left wanting a lot more.

Thirteen Days : A Review
This is a riveting firsthand account of a period of intense confrontation between 2 superpowers that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. It is a short, intense read followed by additional material from other authors that rounds out the edges of the story. This book clearly shows how good President Kennedy was a balancing the military option with diplomacy to save us from nuclear war. It is hard to imagine how this could have beeen handled better by any other President.

On the Brink of Nuclear War
Thirteen Days recounts the days that the United States seemed to be on the brink of a nuclear war.The author Robert F. Kennedy chronicled his role in the think-tank that steared the United States out of this crisis in the book.It is a tragedy that the book was never truly completed as Kennedy intended to add a section that questioned the ethics of war and nuclear war.It is a shame that the world was robbed of the view point of his scholarly mind.
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Subjects:  1. Cuba    2. Foreign relations    3. History    4. History - U.S.    5. History: American    6. International Relations - General    7. Military - Nuclear Warfare    8. Military bases    9. Military bases, Soviet    10. Modern - 20th Century    11. Soviet Union    12. U.S. Foreign Relations    13. U.S. History - 1960s    14. United States    15. United States - 20th Century/60s    16. United States - General    17. American history    18. American history: postwar, from c 1945 -    19. International relations    20. USA    21. World history: from c 1900 -    22. c 1960 to c 1970   

Reviews (8)

How We Know
This is a detailed study of what we know about the different atomic weapons holdings and development efforts and how we obtained that knowledge.Jeffrey Richelson describes all the development efforts from war-time Germany to Iran and North Korea today.He particularly brings across the importance of the different airborne and satellite surveillance programs, showing how the need for airplane over-flights diminished as higher and higher resolution imagery became available from the KH series reconnaissance satellites.
The Definitive History of Nuclear Espionage
Dr. Jeffrey T. Richelson, arguably the most prolific and certainly the most technically correct writer about the U.S. intelligence community, has done it again. "Spying on the Bomb" describes, in Dr. Richelson's usual thorough and well-researched manner, the U.S. intelligence community's efforts to track--and influence--other nations' attempts to develop nuclear weapons.
A fascinating account on what our activities and capabilities have been in discovering the development of nuclear weapons.
Jeffrey T. Richelson chronicles the efforts the United States has made to deal with the threat of atomic and nuclear weapons from they were first conceived in the 1930s and `40s through the gathering of intelligence.You know, spying.The building of our own (the United States') nuclear arsenal is well chronicled in other books.This volume is more about the kinds of methods that were developed in the human intelligence and technical intelligence areas and the debates that have raged over the decades in interpreting the meaning of what was found out.I found the gradual growth of the intelligence bureaucracy and how each component of the CIA versus the State Department versus the Military became predictable in its interpretation of evidence of nuclear activity fascinating and distressing.It is hard to have confidence that our nation is getting a handle on the threats facing us when intelligence interpretation is more about turf wars than truly understanding what is happening in the laboratories and processing plants of our enemies.
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Subjects:  1. Espionage, American    2. General    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History - Military / War    6. International Relations - Arms Control    7. Military    8. Military - General    9. Military - Intelligence/Espionage    10. Military - Nuclear Warfare    11. Nuclear weapons    12. Nuclear weapons information    13. Research    14. United States - 20th Century    15. Espionage & secret services    16. History / General    17. USA   

Reviews (32)

Great reporting and analysis of the Iranian problems we face
Iran is in the news nowadays for very important reasons.It is ruled by a regime that is bent on creating its own atomic weapons and has the expressed intention of doing harm to us and our allies.Additionally, it is supporting the Shiite side of the struggles within Iraq and actively undermining our efforts there and the Iraqi attempts at self-rule and democracy.Iran is also supporting Syria and through them Hezbollah and their attacks on Israel and the West.
Wake up call?
This book was informative as far as explaining who some of these groups are in the middle east.But it adds to the aggravation of being told the same old fairy tales over and over again which by now have been proven not to be the truth!When are these people "in the know" going to get it?

The American hard stand against Iran is not a matter of oil, democracy, or geopolitics. It's about the security of Israel.
The book is very informative regarding the nuclear ambitions of Iran and gives horrific details about repression in this country and the multitude of crimes commited against the women and anyone who does not support the theocratic regime. Mr Corsi goes far beyond this though, accusing the Democrats that they "endorsed the mullahs" and even took money from them for the Kerry-Edwards campaign of 2004. He is very caustic against Kerry for his suggestions that the US must first gather support from its allies and use diplomatic means and sanctions against Iran, before choosing the military option, but this is exactly what the Bush administration has done so far! The author has the view that the US are in clear danger of suffering a nuclear catastrophe of terrible proportions if it allows Iran to build nuclear weapons (the vivid description of a hypothetical nuclear detonation in New York is really shocking!) but he does not hide that the US must also fight to prevent an attack on Israel, which he calls "the canary in the mine". Mr Corsi explains with honesty why Israel may decide to strike first, why it may risk wholesale destruction (the "Samson Option") in order to take out Iranian nukes and how it manipulates the US decision-making through the loby and the Evangelical church. The chapters against Kerry and the Democrats offer little to the knowledge of the Iranian crisis, and as a European, I think that describing the US Democratic party as "Left" is a little absurd, to say the least. If we believe Mr Corsi's book, Americans must be ready to fight and die for Israel because this country is a democratic bastion in the Middle East, but is this really a matter for US policy? Washington also supports dictators worldwide, like General Musaraf of Pakistan and the military junta that really rules Turkey for the last 80 years. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Foreign relations    2. International Relations - Arms Control    3. International Relations - Treaties    4. Iran    5. Military policy    6. Nuclear arms control    7. Nuclear weapons    8. Political Freedom & Security - International Secur    9. Political Freedom & Security - Terrorism    10. Political Science    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Politics/International Relations    13. United States    14. International relations   

Reviews (7)

Wonderful pictures
This book is a little pricey, but the photographs inside this coffee-table book are incredible. Not the run of the mill technical photos, some of these came from private collections, showing a slice of life in and around these plants. this book stinks
this book is the worst book i have ever seen in my entire life.

Photographic history depicted in haunting humbleness
"Picturing the Bomb" by Rachel Fermi (granddaughter of Nobel Laureate and brilliant Physicist, Enrico Fermi) and Esther Samra is a completely fascinating and often haunting photographical documentary which presents the first images of The Manhattan Project. Many of the picturesare gathered from private collections of people who were actuallyparticipating in the secrecy. The book also containsnever-before-published, de-classified military images. And, as a perfectcomplement to the photos, the accompanying text is equally compelling. Forthose who know the horror of the genie, this is a must for your collection. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atomic bomb    2. General    3. History    4. Manhattan Project (U.S.)    5. Military Science    6. Nuclear Warfare    7. Photo Essays    8. Photography    9. Pictorial works    10. United States    11. United States - 20th Century/WWII    12. Graphic design    13. Nuclear weapons    14. Photographs: collections    15. Second World War, 1939-1945    16. USA   

Subjects:  1. 1981-1989    2. 20th century    3. Communism    4. Foreign relations    5. General    6. Government - U.S. Government    7. History    8. History - U.S.    9. Military - Nuclear Warfare    10. Political Science    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Politics/International Relations    13. Presidents & Heads of State    14. Soviet Union    15. United States    16. United States - 20th Century    17. Political Science / General   

Reviews (4)

An island of intellectual autonomy in a totalitarian state
D. Holloway tells us outstandingly and very detailed the gripping story of the development of nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union. He shows us that the SU success was the result of the effort of Russian scientists with I.V. Kurchatov in a crucial role, although some data were obtained via spying (Klaus Fuchs).
An Excellent Overview of the Entire Period
Stalin and the Bomb is an excellent overview not only of the Soviet atomic project but of the entire Stalin period.Holloway discusses some of the disastorous policies Stalin pursued in the scientific arena (for example, when it came to biology) and shows how Stalin was able to control his ideological impulses when it came to a project that would net him real power. Plenty of characters, with just a few plots.
I was most interested in who had the first hydrogen bomb (the first real plan, the ideal materials, a way to make it, and a test device) and I didn't mind reading about "some radioactive indicator which is formed with the participation of fast deuterons" (p. 304) to find out.Sorting out the physics, which can be revealed to those who care to know, with a comparison of alternate paths to the same result, reveals something far more substantial than the usual plot, based on the politics of world domination, the main concern of Stalin and the author of this book.Stalin gets some sympathy for facing a stark post-war reality, based on his comparison of what World War II did to Russia and Germany, compared to the damage which the few atomic bombs which existed in his lifetime could produce, and it might be said that he acted accordingly in attempting to maintain countervailing threats whenever he was pressured.Any notion of absolute justice, or even feasible military advantage, seems to be as elusive for the superpowers (and one still exists today) as for the petty despots and warlords that often become characters in this book about how such weapons came to be.I didn't mind the revelations about certain events:a war in Korea at a critical point in this book even makes the question of when Mao ordered the Chinese divisions into Korea an interesting question to be considered.In most of these books, I like the events which influenced Sakharov most, the best.The description of the shock wave from the November 1955 test on pages 316-7 includes, "All of this triggers an irrational yet very strong emotional impact." ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - Russia & the Former Soviet Union    2. History - General History    3. History: World    4. Military Science    5. European history: Second World War    6. European history: postwar, from c 1945 -    7. Former Soviet Union, USSR (Europe)    8. Nuclear weapons    9. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    10. Second World War, 1939-1945    11. Technology / Military Science   

Reviews (1)

Pearl Harbor, part II
I found the book fascinating and probably the most interesting book I've read in a long time...maybe ever.
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Subjects:  1. Conspiracy & Scandal Investigations    2. History    3. History - Military / War    4. Intelligence Agencies    5. K-129 (Submarine)    6. Military    7. Military - Intelligence/Espionage    8. Military - Naval    9. Military - Nuclear Warfare    10. Modern - 20th Century    11. Soviet Union    12. Soviet Union.    13. Submarine disasters    14. Submarine forces    15. Submarines    16. Voenno-Morskoæi Flot    17. History / Military / Naval   

Reviews (30)

An Important Book--Unless You're an Idiot.
This book provides documentation and evidence as to the FACT that Osama bin Laden has acquired tactical nuclear weapons (the kind that could be smuggled in through unsecure borders and detonated in major cities).
If This Doesn't Scare You, Nothing Will!
Williams begins with a several page cogent statement by bin Laden summarizing why he is against America, and the actions required for him to cease. Reasons include support for Israel, and occupation on Muslim lands, but nothing about Bush's "they don't like freedom."
Sensational, But Thought Provoking
Williams' thesis is that Al Qaeda used the enormous profits of its heroin and opium operations to purchase several "suitcase" nuclear weapons from Russian criminals. The suitcase nukes, which are hard to maintain, havesupposedly been made ready for use by rogue Russian and Pakistani scientists. Worse yet, claims Williams, these weapons have already been deployed to Al Qaeda terrorist cells in several major cities in the United States, ready for an "American Hiroshima" that will kill upwards of 4 million Americans and devastate the world's economy.
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Subjects:  1. Forecasting    2. Military - Nuclear Warfare    3. Nuclear terrorism    4. Political Freedom & Security - International Secur    5. Political Freedom & Security - Terrorism    6. Political Science    7. Politics - Current Events    8. Politics / Current Events    9. Politics/International Relations    10. Qaida (Organization)    11. Terrorism    12. United States    13. Terrorism, freedom fighters, armed struggle   

Reviews (1)

Simple debate, tremendous consequences
This books puts together two colliding authors on whether the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a good idea or not.Waltz, one fo the premier figures of realpolitik, argues (brilliantly, even though I disagree with him) that proliferation is a good idea.Sagan argues there are too many organizational risks in the proliferation system.Read more

Subjects:  1. Arms race    2. Ballistic missile defenses    3. General    4. International Relations - Arms Control    5. Modern - 20th Century/Nuclear Age    6. Nuclear nonproliferation    7. Nuclear terrorism    8. Nuclear weapons    9. Political Freedom &