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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Bomb: A Lifeby Gerard J. DeGroot
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Bombs are as old as hatred itself. But it was the twentieth century(one hundred years of incredible scientific progress and terrible war) that brought forth the Big One, the Bomb, humanity's most powerful and destructive invention. In The Bomb: A Life Gerard DeGroot tells the story of this once unimaginable weapon that, at least since 8:16 a.m. on August 6, 1945, has haunted our dreams and threatened our existence. The Bomb has killed hundreds of thousands outright, condemned many more to lingering deaths, and made vast tracts of land unfit for life. For decades it dominated the psyches of millions, becoming a touchstone of popular culture, celebrated or decried in mass political movements, films, songs, and books. DeGroot traces the life of the Bomb from its birth in turn-of-the-century physics labs of Europe to a childhood in the New Mexico desert of the 1940s, from adolescence and early adulthood in Nagasaki and Bikini, Australia and Kazakhstan to maturity in test sites and missile silos around the globe. His book portrays the Bomb's short but significant existence in all its scope, providing us with a portrait of the times and the people, from Oppenheimer to Sakharov, Stalin to Reagan, whose legacy still shapes our world. Review:The Bombchronicles nuclear weapons from their conception in the 1930s through the end of the century, focusing mainly on the decisions made from 1940 to 1962 to develop and use devices of unimaginable destruction and become ironically reliant on them for maintaining peace. Was it the Soviets or the Americans who pushed thecrazy escalation in megatons and warheads? The answer isn't so simple as I once thought. I count this among the best history books I've read. DeGroot's effort clarifies a bewildering and, in retrospect, insane time. Review:"...Our post-Sept. 11 country should find The Bomb's story enlightening. Gerard J.
DeGroot has done more than write the best single-volume history of the bomb's
early life in the original nuclear family. He has also narrated themes that run
through this generation and perhaps the next. As characters move across the
page, one sees that the dangers these men created and confronted resemble the
current dramas of terrorism, proliferation and military intervention. DeGroot
tells his story fairly and fluently."
George Perkovich, Sunday, March 20, 2005, Washington Post Review:This fascinating account charts [the Bomb's] short but devastating rise from theoretical possibility to malevolent ubiquity. From the febrile atmosphere of the physics labs to the Cuban missile crisis and beyond, this portrait of man's most Promethean invention is consistently gripping. Review:This is a succinct, lucid and reliable survey which begins with Ernest Rutherford who, in 1910, postulated that atoms had nuclei, and concludes with the impact of the 9/11 attacks on theories of thermonuclear deterrence and pre-emption...This is a surprisingly evenhanded, fair, and judicious account which develops a number of significant themes...The Bomb: A Lifeis a beautifully written synthesis...It deserves to be widely read. Review:This fascinating account charts [the Bomb's] short but devastating risefrom theoretical possibility to malevolent ubiquity. From the febrile atmosphere of the physicslabs to the Cuban missile crisis and beyond, this portrait of man's most Promethean invention isconsistently gripping. Review:Gerard DeGroot's history of the weapon that transformed the world after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 looks at its scientific development, the devastating consequences of its use and the strange ways it burrowed into popular imagination. Review:DeGroot's remorselessly even-handed study of his subject leaves little room for complacency. It is scant satisfaction to those of us of a certain age to learn that the Cuban Missile Crisis really was that bad. IfKennedy had listened to Curtis LeMay and his Pentagon colleagues, Cuba would have been the trigger for an all-out nuclear attack on the Soviet Union...Kennedy took other advice, Kruschev withdrew, and all we Bomb Age teenagers survivedto buy another Beatles record. But it was close. And, as we realised by the end of this excellent book, it still is. Review:DeGroot makes full use of newly available material from Russia, and thegripping story of the invention and building of the bomb, spiced with wartime strategicmanoeuvring, scientific intrigues and espionage, has never been better told. Review:Gerard DeGroot's superb 'biography' of mankind's most terrible weapons does something that has rarely, if ever, been attempted. Bringing together the scientific, political, cultural and historical threads, he looksat the Manhattan Project and its rivals in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia; and he widens the net to take in the efforts of Britain, France and other members--official or not--of the nuclear club. Ranging from atomic physics to rock 'n'roll, the result is a book that is pacey, readable and enormously wide-ranging...This is a book that really makes you think, as well as being hugely entertaining. I have read many books about different aspects of this enormous subject,but none that brings the diverse pieces together so well, in such an absorbing and truly masterly way. Review:Nuclear weapons haunted life throughout the second half of the 20th century, playing an integral role in the Cold War. DeGroot here draws on many sources to produce an easy-to-read account of that anxious time. Though primarily a work of political, military, and diplomatic history, this book also offers sections on how (mostly Western) society adapted to the threat of possibly quick, massive destruction. Details about the bomb's early development and first use are well known, but it is interesting to learn what was happening in other countries as they responded by trying to build a bomb or at least adapt their thinking. What is horrifying is the widespread self-delusion or lack of understanding regarding the bomb's destructive potential among both governments and civilians. Review:Our post-Sept. 11 country should find The Bomb's story enlightening. Gerard J. DeGroot has done more than write the best single-volume history of the bomb's early life in the original nuclear family: the United States, the Soviet Union, and their British, French, and Chinese offspring. He has also narrated themes that run through this generation and perhaps the next. As characters move across the page--Oppenheimer, Teller, Sakharov, Truman, Churchill, Stalin, de Gaulle, Mao, LeMay, Reagan and Gorbachev--one sees that the dangers these men created and confronted resemble the current dramas of terrorism, proliferation and military intervention...The most troubling part of the nuclear story is the way leaders rationalize their willingness to use doomsday weapons--and to blur the just-war distinction between legitimate military targets and innocent civilians...DeGroot tells his story fairly and fluently. Review:This year brings the 60th anniversary of those two terrifying days in August 1945 when we learned to love and hate the atomic bomb. To mark the milestone, there's no better read than The Bomb: A Life, a wry biography of the weapon that made humankind think about the end of the world. University of St. Andrews history professor Gerard DeGroot reveals everything you ever wanted to know about nuclear weapons, including things you were too terrified to ask. And he has fun doing it...The beauty of DeGroot's work is his knack for the telling detail. In his effort to portray the nuclear arms race as a crazed competition that didn't have to be in 1945 but couldn't be avoided 10 years later, he doesn't let the documentary evidence stifle the story. Review:Gerard DeGroot's superb 'biography' of mankind's most terrible weapons doessomething that has rarely, if ever, been attempted. Bringing together the scientific, political,cultural and historical threads, he looks at the Manhattan Project and its rivals in NaziGermany and Soviet Russia; and he widens the net to take in the efforts of Britain, France andother members--official or not--of the nuclear club. Ranging from atomic physics to rock 'n'roll, the result is a book that is pacey, readable and enormously wide-ranging...This is a bookthat really makes you think, as well as being hugely entertaining. I have read many books aboutdifferent aspects of this enormous subject, but none that brings the diverse pieces together sowell, in such an absorbing and truly masterly way. Review:I have been waiting most of my professional teaching life for a book like The Bomb: A Life. It is a masterpiece. Review:Gerard DeGroot has written a lively and thought-provoking history of the nuclear bomb. It is, inevitably, a dark and scary book, but it is not without moments of grisly comedy. Review:Did we ever learn to love the bomb? Perhaps not, this opinionated and lively history shows...A splendid distillation of nuclear history, and just the thing for students of the modern age. Review:This very balanced history of nuclear weaponry, a straightforward chronology, should be required reading at every college and university, to promote some national introspection. Review:DeGroot's explanation of how the world got itself into a blackly surreal situation where there were perhaps 15 minutes between business as usual, and countless miles of burning rubble populated by millions of charred corpses is one of the best to appear so far. The book covers both the science of the bomb as well as its politics, and how the semi-rationality of escalation took on a life of its own...This is one of the most insightful books on the subject ever written--an effortlessly readable but quite terrifying modern classic. Synopsis:The Bomb has killed hundreds of thousands outright, condemned many more tolingering deaths, and made vast tracts of land unfit for life. For decades it dominated thepsyches of millions, becoming a touchstone of popular culture, celebrated or decried in masspolitical movements, films, songs, and books. DeGroot traces the life of the Bomb from its birthin turn-of-the-century physics labs of Europe to a childhood in the New Mexico desert of the1940s, from adolescence and early adulthood in Nagasaki and Bikini, Australia and Kazakhstan tomaturity in test sites and missile silos around the globe. About the AuthorGerard J. DeGrootis Professor of Modern History at <>the University of St. Andrewsin Scotland. His many books include The First World Warand A Noble Cause?: America and the Vietnam War. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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