I am a babyboomer, born in 1947 after World War II was over. But my father had worked at Aberdeen Proving Ground during World War II and entered the nuclear filed after the war becoming a reactor theorist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. So the Manhattan Project and many of the physcists associated with it along woth the post-war movement for peaceful development of nuclear energy became a natural part of my life. This book tells the story about how men like Einstein, Szilard, Bohr the British scientists and British intelligence made discoveries about nuclear energy and the potential for nuclear chain reactions to recognize the potential for the development of a superbomb by the Nazis. After Einstein's letter to Rossevelt, cooperation between the US and Britian and the birth of the Manhattan Project began shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The plants at Hanford and Oak Ridge and the research lab at Los Alamos became the key sites for the project. The book shows how the leadership of Groves and Oppenheimer lead to the rapid development of the bomb over a two year period and as the Nazi were defeated how the goal shifted from the urgency of beating the Germans to the development of a bomb to question of whether to use it on Japan to put a quicker end to the war in Japan.

The book tells the story of the lives of the key figures during this time with Oppenheimer and Groves playing the biggest role. But it also relates many facts and opinions out through the highly classified writings and documents of the period that are now public information.

We learn about security, espionage, difficult decisions and controversy. A lot of interesting discussion is presented about the varying views of Truman's decision to drop the bomb on Japan. Was it really to shorten the war and save lives of the allied forces or might it have been intended to cut the war short before a Soviet invasion.

The post-war desire to control nuclear weapons and to harness the power for peaceful purposes is cover in the last two chapters of the book. It includes Eisenhower's "atoms for peace" speech to the United Nations and goes on to present interesting writings about disarmament and the post-cold war threat from small nations like Pakistan and North Korea. The writings of Gorbachev about the meetings with Reagan in Iceland was very enlightening and interesting.

It is just amazing how much declassified material is available to the public at large. The Manhattan Project is an excellent compilation of previously published material and interview with the many scientists who participated in the development of the A Bomb. While book is full of excepts from other books on the subject, it is put together in such a way as to provide a quick read on the subject. Many of the documents contain technical information that I had not previously been aware of. That we, as America, could develop such a complex infrastructure to extract U235 and Plutonium is truly amazing.

A perfect way to become familiar with that famous enterprise which changed the world. In just about two years the Manhattan Project, starting with the basic knowledge about nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium, managed to produce the atomic bombs that ended World War II. The effort was gigantic, involving several hundred thousand people and billions of dollars, conducted in absolute secrecy, at the height American involvement in the war effort. This book uses short abstracts from many sources to describe the Manhattan Project's origins, its activities at centers throughout the country, the dropping of the bombs on Japan, and the impact that atomic energy has had on the world even to this day. A highly recommended source for all things related to the Manhattan Project.

One of the things we want history books to do for us is to give us insight into a world now gone. As we look back on puzzles solved, technologies developed, hardware built--it's hard to recreate the mood when all these challenges lay ahead, and the future was far from certain. How did the people involved view the strange new technology they were creating? This book brings us in their own words, their hopes, their doubts, their fears, their triumphs.

This is not a new approach. Many history books are collections of documents wherein key players describe events or ponder their significance. But Cindy Kelly brings creativity and a deep knowledge of the history and its players, to combine little-known letters and papers with current interviews and brief contemporary notes, to give variety, sparkle and intimacy to this very human story of vast and earth-shaking developments that require our understanding in order to deal intelligently with current events.

We watch, fascinated, as these scientists and engineers work to change the world, while the new world they are creating inexorably changes them.

This book is a unique, factual historical document and, at the same time, a delightfully personal story. A perfect Christmas present.

Not being a scientist, I did not see why anyone would want to preserve the history of such a terrible weapon. But each selected excerpt was intelligible and elucidating, moving the story forward in a chronolical sequence. I was captivated by it from the start and enjoyed various individual perspectives contained in each segment. The race to build these weapons continues and this book helped my understanding of how The Manhattan Project led up to today's headlines.

As a participant at the Trinity test, I find the "The Manhattan Project" is a fascinating read. It is a collection of short pithy statements of interest concerning the Project and it's history from a wide variety of involved sources including political and scientific leaders as well as military officers involved. It also has contributions from a few gifted writers who have reseached to subject.

The Manhattan Project is a wonderful compendium of personal accounts and anecdotes not readily available otherwise. The accounts come from people in all walks of Manhattan Project life. If you are a Manhattan Project buff, as I am, you'll be fascinated by the personal glimpses into the lives of military and civilian participants, their spouses and friends--and not just the famous scientists and military leaders. I have only one caveat: if your interest in the Manhattan Project is new, or you are not already familiar with the historical and scientific details of the Project, this book is not a good place to start--read Richard Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb." This book is a collage of little insights into the personal lives of the Project's participants; it is not a detailed, chronological military or scientific history. However, for those steeped in the Manhattan Project, it is a treasure.