They’re Building A Bomb

I’ve read a lot about the Manhattan Project, Soviet spying during the era, and on Allied successes and failures in derailing Germany’s atomic bomb project.

But I have yet to read a book like Steven Sheinkin’s “Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.”

In this compact book, Sheinkin pulls a lot of stuff together, including some things I had not been aware of, and tells a tale worthy of the best spy novels. For anyone looking for an introductory book to the battle for the bomb, look no further.

Yes, Sheinkin’s book lacks a lot of the technical aspects of most of the other books written on the subject, but that’s beside the point – his audience is clearly different, his aims more focused on telling a complex tale as succinctly as possible. It’s a fantastic book to hand any curious individual of any age wanting to get a taste for Manhattan Project literature.

He shows considerable skill in focusing in on the critical events, knowing how to provide just enough knowledge to keep the story going without bogging it down in technicalities, nor leaving any of the principal events out. Such concise packaging is enviable, especially in the era where it’s felt leaving anything out is a sin.

And his writing style portrays the same tension filmmakers have used on the same subject:



Any student of the Manhattan project ought to have this book on the shelf, if only to help someone else pique an interest in the topic.