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Richard Rhodes

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

US$215

Illustrated by Jack Smyth

Introduced By the author

Richard Rhodes’s Pulitzer Prize-winning history brings to life the drama, science and ethical reckoning behind the atomic bomb. With over 100 historic photographs and a new introduction by the author, this two-volume set blends storytelling and scholarship with rare mastery.

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The Making of the Atomic Bomb

US$215
Book Details
 
Production DetailsTwo-volume set
Bound in printed and blocked cloth with a design by Jack Smyth
Printed slipcase with a design by Jack Smyth
Dimensions9½ inches × 6¾ inches (24.1 × 17.2 cm)
FontTypeset in Dante with Helvetica Neue as display
Pages944
AuthorRichard Rhodes
Illustrated byJack Smyth
IllustrationVolume 1: 1 colour frontispiece; 20 pages of black & white photographs
Volume 2: 1 black & white frontispiece; 20 pages of photographs; 8-page foldout
Publication Date05/05/2026
PrintingFirst Printing
Synopsis
 
The Making of the Atomic Bomb is the definitive account of one of the most extraordinary scientific and moral turning points in human history. Richard Rhodes traces the path from the discovery of nuclear fission to the devastating explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki – a journey driven by brilliance, urgency and fear. This is no dry chronicle of physics and politics. Rhodes brings to life the personalities at the heart of the Manhattan Project, from Oppenheimer's complex personality to Leo Szilard's unrelenting foresight, and captures the tension, ambition and ethical unease that shaped their choices.

Blending science, history and storytelling with rare mastery, this Pulitzer Prize-winning book explores how the atomic bomb was not just built but imagined. It is both a monumental work of scholarship and a gripping human drama – a reminder of what happens when knowledge and power collide.
Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

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Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

2 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

3 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

4 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

5 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

6 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

7 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

8 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

9 of 10

Editor's Notes

This is the gold-standard account of the development of the atomic bomb – from the early 20th-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. It is both a monumental story of scientific discovery and a magnificent human drama; in Rhodes’s own words, ‘the tragic epic of the twentieth century’.

We felt that such a great book deserved the two-volume treatment, giving space to both word and image. We've sourced a new selection of 100 photographs, chosen and captioned by the author from specialist archives, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the renowned Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen. The set includes an 8-page foldout of original images from the second-by-second record of the Trinity Test – the world’s first nuclear explosion. Richard Rhodes has also written an exclusive introduction, outlining the dangerous evolution of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century.

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Author image

About the Author

Richard Rhodes is the author of 26 books including The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986; Folio 2026), which won a Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, a National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award; Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (1995), which was shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize in History; and two further volumes of nuclear history.

Rhodes has received numerous fellowships for research and writing, including grants from the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard, MIT and Stanford and a host and correspondent for documentaries on American public television.