A Review of Steve Sheinkin's BOMB by Jeff Bailey

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.