Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb

Category: Military
Author: Richard Rhodes
4.5
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Comments

by melling   2021-10-12
Have this book on my shelf waiting to be read. It’s frequently mentioned.

The author also has a book about the hydrogen bomb too:

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/0684...

by atombender   2018-08-25
Superb book, perhaps the finest non-fiction book I've had the pleasure of reading. I love the way he is able to create a narrative that goes all the way back to H. G. Wells to find its roots.

Rhodes' follow-up, "Dark Sun: The Making Of The Hydrogen Bomb", basically continues the story where TMAB left off. The narrative gets a bit more fractured and factual, focused on the question of how to safeguard nuclear weapons and what their political/military/diplomatic purpose is. But it does wrap up the J. Robert Oppenheimer story.

Once one has read these two, I strongly recommend "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" [2] by Bird and Sherwin. Also extremely well written.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/0684...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/American-Prometheus-Triumph-Tragedy-O...