History 4000

History 4000 Papers

Earlier 4000 Papers

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History 2285

Burns, Patrick. In The Shadow of Los Alamos: Selected Writings of Edith Warner. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2001. Burns compiled and edited this book, which includes a brief history of Edith Warner’s life and the history of the secret Los Alamos community of scientist, who developed and tested the first atomic bomb. Burns’s purpose was to create a book that honored the life and writing career of Warner, as well as argue that through her life it can be revealed how the present world exists “in the shadow of the Los Alamos creation.” In The Shadow of Los Alamos is geared towards a literary audience rather than a historical audience as it focuses more on her literary works than the events and history surrounding the atomic bomb. The book, while not as helpful in researching the Los Alamos scientific community, was beneficial in that it presented the scientist and their research from an outsider’s perspective.

Conant, Jennet. 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. Jennet Conant wrote 109 East Palace in an attempt to reveal the lives and community that developed in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the twenty-seven months of the Second World War that the scientist and their families work and lived there. The book relies on the person of Dorothy Mckibbin and her detailed records of the Los Alamos community to reveal what life was like inside the secret community. The book while newsy in format has great historical evidence and information concerning the Los Alamos scientific community and the main persons behind the development of the atomic bomb, particularly Robert J. Oppenheimer. This book was extremely helpful in revealing the personalities and their influence on the creation and development of the atomic bomb.

Fermi, Rachel and Esther Samra. Picturing the Bomb: Photographs from the Secret World of the Manhattan Project. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, 1995. Rachel Fermi and Esther Samra created Picturing the Bomb in an effort to better understand the persons and decisions that came together to create the atomic bomb. The book as its title suggest attempts to understand these persons, ideas and places through photography; as the authors felt it would give the viewer and reader a taste of the “lived experience.” The book includes a forward by Richard Rhodes and lengthy explanations of the pictures in attempt to answer their questions. Why they were chosen? What they represent in light of the Manhattan Project? The book reveals pictures that capture not only the people involved in the Manhattan Project but also the locations, housing and communities that surrounded the secret cities of the Project. The book included photos of scientific discoveries and the testing of the atomic bomb at Trinity. The book ends with powerful images of the destruction the atomic bomb reined on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The images in this book bring to life the persons, ideas and reality behind the atomic bomb. The most applicable and useful part of the book can be found behind all the pictures in the appendix. Found there is a very detailed timeline addressing the development and creation of the atomic bomb.

Hevly, Bruce and John M. Findland. The Atomic West. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998. Hevly and Findland argue in their book The Atomic West that the western region of the United States has played a major role in the development of atomic energy. They state that it is only fitting that a region known both as heaven and hell would create weapons that ended and prevented wars but also killed thousands and created immeasurable amounts of devastation. The scientific community at Los Alamos was built hastily and therefore was relatively minimal in its housing and resources. As time passed and the importance and success of atomic weapons grew so did the permanence of Los Alamos. The Atomic West is an extremely well researched and referenced book that is a tremendous aid, as it not only provides valuable information about how atomic weapons were developed and where, but it also provides it readers with a wealth of resources to spur on further study.

Howe, Ruth H. and Carolin L. Herzenberg. Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999. Their Day in the Sun was written to reveal the importance of women and their impact on the Manhattan Project. The book argues that although women played a smaller role than their male counterparts their impact on the project was critical to its success. The book first examines the lives of women who although not directly working in the Manhattan Project influenced the creation of the atomic bomb, such as Lisa Meitner and Marie Curie. The book then explains why there was a need for women to work for the Manhattan Project; due to the United States military’s manpower needs for World War II. Not only did women work in the Manhattan Project plants but served as assistants to scientists, as secretaries, wives, mothers and hostesses. As the book argues the role of the women in the Manhattan Project was immensely important. However for the purpose of this research the short bibliography about the life of Dorothy McKibbin, revealing her importance and impact on the Los Alamos scientific community, was the most beneficial aspect of the book. Her commitment to Robert J. Oppenheimer and the families of Los Alamos significantly aided in the success of the development and testing of the atomic bomb.

Hunner, Jon. Inventing Los Alamos: The Growth of an Atomic Community. Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. Inventing Los Alamos is the historical story concerning the growth of the tiny New Mexico town of Los Alamos into the United States’ leading center for the development of nuclear weapons and weapons research. Hunner addresses three paradoxes that surface when researching Los Alamos; first it created a weapon that destroyed entire cities while its creator built a new city. Secondly, individuals living and working there considered it a “safe” place due to it secretive nature, but the scientist working were there daily putting their lives on the line to create the atomic bomb. And finally, the book addresses the juxtaposition of the scientist’s secretive rhetoric and the openness within the Los Alamos families and community. As an overview of how the city of Los Alamos changed this book is a wealth of information to both researchers and historians. Written in a readable format it is an ideal choice for persons studying the city of Los Alamos.

Kelly, Cynthia C. The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, Inc, 2007. Cynthia Kelly compiled a book that as its title suggest brings together works by the creators of the atomic bomb, eyewitnesses, and historians; all in an attempt to capture the birth and significance of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project is broken into nine sections; covering topics from the persons of Leslie Groves and Robert J. Oppenheimer to the secrecy that surrounded the United States creation of atomic weaponry. The book includes letters, pictures, excerpts from books and journal articles, as well as, quotes and interviews. The book examines the Manhattan Project in a holistic way, attempting to address, through primary and secondary sources, the major components of the entire project. The book was extremely helpful as it provided a broader context to Los Alamos community. However, sections three, four, five, and six were the most helpful as they address topics specifically pertaining to persons or events within the Los Alamos scientific community.

Lee, Ho Wen, and Zia Helen. My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy. New York: Hyperion, 2001. My Country Versus Me is Wen Ho Lee’s personal account of his arrest and trial, which lasted from 1998 until 2000. He was accused of being a Chinese spy and stealing nuclear weapons secrets from Los Alamos’ development laboratory. The book chronicles the events from Lee’s arrest on December 23, 1998 to his acquittal and release from prison on August 30, 2000. The book, while not directly related to the topic of the scientific community of Los Alamos that created and tested the atomic bomb in 1945, does reveal the impact atomic weaponry has had on science and governmental policy. The book also was a helpful source in that it revealed the secrecy that still pervades and protects atomic weapons development.

Piccard, Paul J. “Scientist and Public Policy: Los Alamos, August-November, 1945.” The Western Political Quarterly Vol. 18, No 2, Part 1 (June, 1965) 251-262. Piccard in his journal article attempts to reveal the prodigious task that faced the Los Alamos scientist after the successful testing of the atomic bomb, these men had to translate their scientific findings and creations into political terms in an effort to help develop control policies surrounding nuclear weaponry. The scientist felt a need to share their discoveries with the world in an effort to keep stability on a global scale, however President Truman and Congress did not look so favorably on their suggestions. The President and Congress opted to keep the discoveries made about nuclear energy and weapons development in secret, as they felt that many governments of the world could not handle nuclear weapons responsibly. “Scientist and Public Policy” presents an interesting perspective as to what the world would look like if the scientist had succeeded and global communities guarded the use of nuclear weapons. This article portrays the scientists and how they felt nuclear energy should be handled after the war, as well as, presents a new perspective as to the role of science after the creation of the atomic bomb.

Schweber, S. S. In the Shadow of the Bomb: Bethe, Oppenheimer and the Moral Responsibility of the Scientist. New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2000. Schweber argues In the Shadow of the Bomb that the lives of the scientist who created and developed the atomic bomb were forever altered by the power they had discovered through physical science. After their creation had been dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima they shouldered new responsibilities that scientist had never before carried. The creation of atomic weapons had allowed physical scientist to hold the power over life and death in their hands; a moral responsibility that needed to be closely monitored and guarded as it was too great for one individual. While this book is an historical overview of the scientist lives and their discoveries it lays out relatively clear explanations concerning the complicated science behind the atomic bomb. The book was an extremely helpful aid as it explained how, after it had been dropped; the bomb affected and changed the lives of the scientist, who had created it, due the power they had unleashed.

Stoff, Michael B., Johnathan F. Fanton, and R. Hal Williams. The Manhattan Project: A Documentary Introduction to the Atomic Age. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991. Opening with a chronology and a list of major characters The Manhattan Project reveals the mystery and controversy surrounding the Manhattan project through photocopies of primary sources documents. Documents ranging from top-secret letters, senate reports, memoranda, scientific reports, and governmental press releases. Intermixed with these documents are editorial notes and introductions to further explain different aspects of the Manhattan Project. Finding primary sources is not often an easy task, particularly in the case of sources pertaining to the atomic bomb due to it high level of secrecy, this book presents numerous primary source documents in an easily understandable and accessible format, making it an indispensable resource. The editors hoped that through these documents the rich and dramatic reality history of the atomic bomb would be revealed.

 “The Science New-Letter.” Society for Science and the Public Vol. 65, No. 17 (April. 24, 1954) 259-261. An unknown author in this article explains why Robert J. Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos scientific community and head over the creation and testing of the first atomic bomb, was put on governmental trial and suspended from his position with the Atomic Energy Commission, AEC, in 1953. The article also outlines Oppeheimer’s response to their accusations, which he felt were unjustified and false. The article revealed the extreme controversy that surrounded the future development of nuclear weapons during the 1950’s. The date of this article is perhaps the most valuable aspect to historians as it was written close to the time of Oppeneimer’s trial, 1954, making it a more historically reliable source. The article chronicles the sift from scientifically controlled atomic development to governmentally controlled atomic development, a transfer that occurred shortly after the end of the Second World War.