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'World War II changed many things and not the least among them was the relationship of science to the military. Readers interested in this important historic transformation will find Jim Baggott's engaging history replete with drama and insight.' Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. 'This is a very good book. I particularly like the way Baggott has been able to weave the science, 'grand-scale' politics and espionage together into one compelling narrative.' Mark Walker, author of German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power.
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Rich in personality, action, confrontation and deception, "Atomic" is the first fully realized popular account of the race between Nazi Germany, Britain, America and the Soviet Union to build atomic weapons. These were weapons that ended the Second World War and framed the early Cold War between the superpowers. The book draws on declassified material such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archives. Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a monumental book that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to 'Joe-1', the first Soviet atomic bomb test in August 1949. It includes dramatic episodes such as the sabotage of the Vemork heavy water plant by Norwegian commandos and the infamous meeting between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, the subject of Michael Frayn's stage play Copenhagen. Baggott also tells of how Allied scientists were directly involved in the hunt for their German counterparts in war-torn Europe following D-Day; and, brings to light the reactions of captured German scientists on hearing of the Allied success at Hiroshima. Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? To what extent did the Soviet atomic programme rely on intelligence gathered by spies such as Klaus Fuchs, Theodore Hall, David Greenglass and the Rosenbergs? Did the Allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb programme? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? The book answers these and many other questions. Atomic is an epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding; a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This was a very good read. I got to page two hundred without realising and was put out to reach the end of the book.
I found some of the explanation of the science lacking. True, the author had to find the right balance of scientific detail but there were gaps. He mentions the separation of uranium isotopes by gaseous diffusion and explains the process, for example, but does not explain how it can be applied to an element that is a dense metal with a boiling point of over 4000 degrees Celsius. Quibbles, perhaps, but enough to nag away.
However, the real sand in the vaseline was the history, which is very much written from the perspective of the victor, perhaps with an eye to the US market. French research, for example, seems to end with the fall of France in May 1940. The epilogue takes us up to the Cuban missile crisis of 1963 but ignores the French research that led to their first nuclear test in 1960. Several pages are taken with an oblique justification of the use of the atomic bombs on Japan - including a contribution from one of his relatives - but only four lines (yes, four lines!) on the bombing of Nagasaki. No mention of Hiroshima being designated a World Heritage Site because of the bombing. The Nazi scientists are bumbling revisionists. The Soviets have spies everywhere. The Western Allies have no agents on the ground but work everything out through inspired inference and deduction. And so on...
A great read, definitely, but not good history.
I found some of the explanation of the science lacking. True, the author had to find the right balance of scientific detail but there were gaps. He mentions the separation of uranium isotopes by gaseous diffusion and explains the process, for example, but does not explain how it can be applied to an element that is a dense metal with a boiling point of over 4000 degrees Celsius. Quibbles, perhaps, but enough to nag away.
However, the real sand in the vaseline was the history, which is very much written from the perspective of the victor, perhaps with an eye to the US market. French research, for example, seems to end with the fall of France in May 1940. The epilogue takes us up to the Cuban missile crisis of 1963 but ignores the French research that led to their first nuclear test in 1960. Several pages are taken with an oblique justification of the use of the atomic bombs on Japan - including a contribution from one of his relatives - but only four lines (yes, four lines!) on the bombing of Nagasaki. No mention of Hiroshima being designated a World Heritage Site because of the bombing. The Nazi scientists are bumbling revisionists. The Soviets have spies everywhere. The Western Allies have no agents on the ground but work everything out through inspired inference and deduction. And so on...
A great read, definitely, but not good history.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Jim Baggott has achieved something very impressive in this excellent book. I'll freely admit that I'm no scholar of the history surrounding the development of nuclear weapons but I've always taken an interest in the subject - both in my physical sciences education and wider curiosity. What Baggott has done is tell the tale in a way that gripped me from start to finish. That's over five hundred pages of information-dense text and dozens of interweaved lives. Yet it comes across as consistent, dramatic, amusing and tragic in the tradition of the best story-tellers; scholarly and referenced in the tradition of the best lay science writers; and viewed from a framework of hindsight that sets out to explore the motivations of the men and women involved rather than push an agenda.
The science behind the nuclear fission and fusion is kept to a discrete minimum in this book but there are plenty of other resources that would permit you to delve further if you felt under-informed. What you'll have difficulty finding is a book which is so successful in examining the linked tales of countless individuals across the globe who participated in the development of the atomic technologies, and the murky paths of espionage that penetrated the highest levels of secrecy.
Not once did I find myself bogged down or wishing to skip ahead. Baggott hands out a revelation or anecdote on almost every page. For the specialists, much of this may be `old news' but I'd be astonished if there's anyone who could read this without learning something new about this fascinating, high-pressure history. The book covers a vast breadth of terrain from the humble beginnings of nuclear science to the patient and determined efforts of the cryptanalysts to the politics and strategy of the world leaders of the day. It is sometimes hard to keep so many names in context but there are helpful appendices that contain timeline, references and notes to keep you from going adrift.
I'm not qualified to question the detail but there remain a few threads that I'd have liked to have seen developed further. On reflection, what I'd really enjoy is for Baggott to pick these up in the next instalment! Notable in its absence is the story of the fledgling science & engineering of rocketry that was pioneered in Nazi Germany and seeded the space-race on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The intrinsic links between weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them doesn't really play a part in Baggott's tale. Despite the main text ending shortly after the Soviet Joe-1 test, the epilogue deals with the further development of the megaton bombs in the US and USSR. In this time frame, I really felt the space race was worthy of mention. Still, you have to draw the line somewhere and I can't consider this a criticism of the book as it kept the scope manageable.
I'm not a huge fan of the star rating system as there's no such thing as a perfect book - but I have no hesitation in rating this one a 5* because whether or not you agree with his conclusions, it'll be worth the effort to read how Baggott reached them.
The science behind the nuclear fission and fusion is kept to a discrete minimum in this book but there are plenty of other resources that would permit you to delve further if you felt under-informed. What you'll have difficulty finding is a book which is so successful in examining the linked tales of countless individuals across the globe who participated in the development of the atomic technologies, and the murky paths of espionage that penetrated the highest levels of secrecy.
Not once did I find myself bogged down or wishing to skip ahead. Baggott hands out a revelation or anecdote on almost every page. For the specialists, much of this may be `old news' but I'd be astonished if there's anyone who could read this without learning something new about this fascinating, high-pressure history. The book covers a vast breadth of terrain from the humble beginnings of nuclear science to the patient and determined efforts of the cryptanalysts to the politics and strategy of the world leaders of the day. It is sometimes hard to keep so many names in context but there are helpful appendices that contain timeline, references and notes to keep you from going adrift.
I'm not qualified to question the detail but there remain a few threads that I'd have liked to have seen developed further. On reflection, what I'd really enjoy is for Baggott to pick these up in the next instalment! Notable in its absence is the story of the fledgling science & engineering of rocketry that was pioneered in Nazi Germany and seeded the space-race on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The intrinsic links between weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them doesn't really play a part in Baggott's tale. Despite the main text ending shortly after the Soviet Joe-1 test, the epilogue deals with the further development of the megaton bombs in the US and USSR. In this time frame, I really felt the space race was worthy of mention. Still, you have to draw the line somewhere and I can't consider this a criticism of the book as it kept the scope manageable.
I'm not a huge fan of the star rating system as there's no such thing as a perfect book - but I have no hesitation in rating this one a 5* because whether or not you agree with his conclusions, it'll be worth the effort to read how Baggott reached them.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an outstanding one volume popular history of events that lay at the heart of the dark 20th century. The development of nuclear theory, the race to beat the Third Reich to the fission bomb, the Manhattan project, and the espionage that gave the Soviets the bomb and the world the Cold War, are treated under the covers of a single book, and with real clarity and an accessible style. The theory of fission is described with the same fluency as a commando raid.
If you're like me, then your knowledge of the topic comes from the BBC series Oppenheimer, the film Shadowmakers, or the play Copenhagen, you will place these in context with this fine book. Whatever happens, you can't fail but learn a great deal about an epic story from an accomplished writer.
If you're like me, then your knowledge of the topic comes from the BBC series Oppenheimer, the film Shadowmakers, or the play Copenhagen, you will place these in context with this fine book. Whatever happens, you can't fail but learn a great deal about an epic story from an accomplished writer.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good story telling, brilliant detail of the people, but poor on the...
This is a comparative account of the progress of various nations towards creating an effective nuclear-energy releasing bomb. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. Brian R. Dougal
Rattling good read - but some inexplicable omissions
This book, charting the history of the development of nuclear weapons, is a rattling good read with some memorable phrases. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr Swallow
A Masterly Summary
Jim Baggott's "Atomic:" is a superb summary and updating of the history of the origin and development of nuclear weapons. Read more
Published 13 months ago by paulrollo
Excellent!
Fantastic book with a perfect balance of Science and History. There are some really fascinating chapters - especially the military operation in Norway, which had me completely... Read more
Published 14 months ago by StepanTimofeevich
A really good read
The book charts the development of the atomic bomb and the characters who played the key role in its development. Read more
Published 16 months ago by king oswald
Quite dull
I really couldn't get into this book - it's dull. The subject matter is very interesting, but the story isn't told in a very accessible or inspiring way. Read more
Published 19 months ago by SAP
One of the best books on the subject for the layman
Probably like many of the potential readers of this book, this isn't the first one I've read over the decades, but this is the 'least' scientific, the one that is more about... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Keith Appleyard
Great atomic history book for the historically ignorant
I'm not a history buff at all and it was one of the few subjects I was begging to give up at school as soon as I could, but this was written in a way that I didn't need to know the... Read more
Published 22 months ago by JonathanNg
The nuclear arms race as a thriller
Most people have opinions about the world's first atomic war. Was it really necessary to atom-bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Did the Nazis really have a credible A-bomb programme? Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by Nigel Seel
early atom bomb
I lived through this period, and this account is a reliable version of the development and use of the bomb. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2010 by David
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