Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes ISBN: 0-684-82414-0 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 06 August, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (35 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Essential History
Comment: I just finished reading this monumental book. Although at first I was surprised that Rhodes devoted so many pages to covering Soviet espionage on the Manhattan Project and subsequent atomic bomb work, it quickly became clear that he was writing a history not just of the H-bomb, but of the Cold War, its impetus, and one of its key drivers and manifestations, the arms race.
This book is essential to understanding a critical period of world history that is no less relevant now that the Cold War is over. The picture this provides of the scientists and administrators of the weapons teams on both sides is fascinating and reveals new evidence and clearer perspectives on issues that many of us grew up thinking about, such as the trial of the Rosenbergs and the effort to tar Oppenheimer's reputation.
The only area in which I found myself seriously questioning Rhodes's conclusions (perhaps unfairly, since 7 years and some key events have transpired since he wrote them), was in the area of nuclear terrorism and its deterrence.
An engrossing read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Intriguing and terrifying tale of the ultimate weapon
Comment: I have just finished Rhodes' "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen
Bomb". Some years ago I reluctantly finished his book on the Manhattan
Project, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb". I say reluctantly because the
breadth of his scholarship was amazing and I did not want to leave when
he had finished writing. Happily he has followed up with "Dark Sun".
Rhodes weaves an engrossing account of the scientists who worked in the
last days of WWII on the atomic bomb and their internal controversy on
whether or not to pursue "the super", the hydrogen bomb. Against this
he also describes the Soviet Union's attempts to rebuild their country
while keeping pace with America. Russian scientists, though, were
threatened with the paranoia of Stalin and his henchman Lavrentia
Beria. Connecting the two continents is the espionage story of Klaus
Fuchs, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Harold Gold.
Rhodes blends the three narratives together, furnishing his own original scholarship, in a taut fashion which keeps one turning the pages. Rhodes also deals with the destruction of Robert Oppenheimer by his rival Edward Teller, whose insecurity and jealousy arguably started the destructive arms race. The most frightening aspect of this story, however, is the borderline insubordination of Gen. Curtis LeMay, commander of SAC, who urged Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy to preepmtively strike the Soviet Union.
Rhodes deftly mixes biography, history, science and social commentary in
the intriguing tale and terrifying tale of the ultimate weapon. And
it's all true. Highly recommended.
Rating: 2
Summary: Disapponting
Comment: As much a fan as I am of Richard Rhodes--the "Making of the Atomic Bomb" was an instant classic--this effort falls far short of the promise of the title.
About 350 pages in, there is not much--perhaps five or six pages--about the hydrogen bomb. Instead, Rhodes focuses upon a multitude of spies, agents and bit players in the Cold War game, to the extent that one turns the page with little anticipation.
This book should be retitled "The Socio-mechanisms and Ancillary Causes Leading to the Beginning of the Cold War" or some other such scholarly title. It is difficult to believe that the making of the hydrogen bomb can be boring, but after page 245 of this tome, you will not want to replenish your Itty-Bitty- Book Light's batteries.
I hate to say it, but this book is a down coat stuffed with pigeon feathers. Sorry, Mr. Rhodes.
 |
Title: The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes ISBN: 0684813785 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1995 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
 |
Title: The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How to Build an Atomic Bomb by Robert Serber, Richard Rhodes ISBN: 0520075765 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: March, 1992 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
 |
Title: Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project by Leslie R. Groves ISBN: 0306801892 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: December, 1983 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
 |
Title: Brotherhood of the Bomb : The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller by Gregg Herken ISBN: 080506589X Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Masters of Death : The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust by RICHARD RHODES ISBN: 0375708227 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
