This is probably one of the most thorough histories of the atomic bomb (and only the atomic bomb, because of course Rhodes wrote a second book on the Hydrogen bomb), and it was wonderful.

This book starts in the early 1900s with scientists discovering the atos torulym and moves through the discoveries and the key people that drove these efforts. Rhodes describes the science in such a clear way and brings each scientist to life. Part 1 ends right around the end of World War 1, and has one of the best written chapters on the needless destruction of war to wrap it up.

The second part of the book picks up, focusing on the American project and how massive the government effort was to truly bring this weapon to fruition. Rhodes ends the entire book just quoting witnesses of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, reminding readers what exactly the government did.

The first half was stronger than the second (I just love hearing about the scientists, their dramas, their snappy insults, and their ways of proving their theories correct). Rhodes does such a good job of giving you certain scientists to carry you through the massive amount of story without throwing you too much in the deep end (there is still a lot of names, alas).

I can't emphasize how worth it this brick of a book is and how I might just reread it in several years.