Pulitzer Prize General Non Fiction Winner
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes
Summary
A definitive narrative history of the Manhattan Project that traces the science of nuclear fission from early 20th-century physics laboratories to the test at Trinity and the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Rhodes profiles the émigré physicists, military planners, and engineers who built the weapon, while explaining the underlying physics in lucid prose. The book is widely regarded as the standard popular account of how humanity acquired the bomb.
”
Historical Context & Significance
Rhodes managed to make the physics of nuclear fission understandable while maintaining the pacing of a high-stakes thriller.