Today, I’m reviewing BOMB,
The Race to Build - and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin. BOMB
is a historical novel about the people and events surrounding the United
States’ quest to build the world’s first nuclear weapon. The book is history,
painstakingly accurate and extensively cited history. However, Steve presents
the history in the form of the stories of the people who lived that history. I
was taken by the depth and breadth of the bibliography. I was most impressed
with the volume of recently declassified documents that Steve cited for his
stories. There would have been a hole in this story if he had not included
these declassified documents. Steve also introduced his characters out the
personal papers and memoirs of those characters. I was able to understand (but
not necessarily agree with) the thinking and motivations that drove these people.
Before I retired, I spent fifty years
working in various nuclear industries from nuclear weapons to nuclear power
plants to nuclear research reactors to nuclear research at a national
laboratory and I learned things from this book, excellent. Before, it was all
just history. Now, it’s alive with the real people. For me, the history is
deeper when I know the whole story of the people who lived the history. And,
for me, the people are more personable when I match them to the history that
they lived. Not since James
Michener have I enjoyed a historic novel more. My only comment is that I
would have preferred that it be one thousand pages.
I met Steve Sheinkin a few weeks ago, at the 2016
Cavalcade of Authors in Washington State. The
Cavalcade is a Pacific Northwest regional event similar to The
International Science and Engineering Fair. The difference is that The Cavalcade
brought 1200 middle school and high school readers and aspiring authors together with more than
twenty of their favorite authors for a day of lectures, workshops, signing
events and photo ops.
 |
| Justina Chen, Jeff Bailey, and Steve Sheinkin |
I spent most of the day escorting and
hosting Steve. In the introduction to one of his workshop, Steve said that, “… that
he used to write history books, but that he always knew that there was a better
way to present the cold, dry facts of history to his readers.” He succeeded. At
the Cavalcade, Steve had a knack for engaging the group of teenagers in his
lecture hall. Once engaged, Steve drew them in with questions, “How would you…”
“Where would you start...”, “What would you write next?” It was fascinating to
watch. Steve has found the secret to presenting history in a format that
captures his readers.
I rate Steve Sheinkin’s BOMB
- five stars. I also include Steve Sheinkin on my “A-List” of celebrity
authors.
Other titles by Steve Sheinkin include, Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the
Secret History of the Vietnam War, The
Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery,
Lincoln's Grave Robbers, and The
Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. I
highly recommend them all.
Read more about Jeff
Bailey, author of The
Defect. Follow my blog.
Read the first chapter of The
Defect, released by Deer Hawk Publications in May, 2016.
