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Los Alamos, New Mexico
& The Manhattan Project
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Books On The Subject
This section was already large when the "Oppenheimer" movie was released, and the surge in new material
led to the Books Section being cut to its own page in August 2023.
"The Los Alamos Primer" [1943] by physicist Robert Serber
The document was initiated by Robert Oppenheimer asking his protégé physicist Robert Serber to summarize all knowledge and possible solutions known as of April 1943
in a series of lectures; Serber did such an excellent job that notes by Edward Condon from the 5-lecture series were turned into "The Los Alamos Primer" booklet, given to
new scientific staff at Los Alamos, to catch them up on the work of building a practical fission bomb.
book entry at Wikipedia
 | "The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures On How To Build An Atomic Bomb" [1943] by Robert Serber; Introduction by Ross Bolton Unabridged declassified reproduction in full color with all censor markings 32-page Chump Change 11x8½ pb [4/1943 facsimile] for $7.98 32-page Chump Change 11x8½ hardcover [4/1943 facsimile] for $13.98 | |
 | "The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures On How To Build An Atomic Bomb" [rev. 1992] by Robert Serber, Edited & Introduction by Richard Rhodes Once-classified lectures, with annotations for the nonspecialist reader and an Introduction by Pulitzer-winning historian Rhodes Univ California Press 8¼x5½ pb [4/2020] for $12.89 Univ California Press 9¼x6 hardcover [3/92] for $40.97 |
"The Smyth Report" [August 1945] by Henry DeWolf Smyth [1898-1986]
Major General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, commissioned physicist Smyth to write the official un-classified administrative history of the development of the atomic bombs and the basic physical processes behind them. The report was released to the public on 12 August 1945, just days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
book entry at Wikipedia
 | "Atomic Energy For Military Purposes: A General Account of The Scientific Research and Technical Development That Went Into The Making of Atomic Bombs" [1945] by Henry D. Smyth Official un-classified administrative history about the Manhattan Project, released to the public on 12 August 1945, just days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kindle Edition from atomic archive [6/2015] for $1.99 {sic} Stanford Univ Press 8½x5½ pb [1990] for $27.36 American Physical Society 7¾x5¼ hardcover [8/1945] out of print/used |
 | "The Accident: A Novel" [1955] by Dexter Masters In April 1946, Canadian physicist Louis A. Slotin was working in a laboratory at Los Alamos and accidentally triggered a burst of hard radiation; he died nine days later. Masters's novel describes the events around fictional Louis Saxl and a similar event. Penguin Books 7½x5 pb [8/85] out of print/used Faber & Faber 7¾x5 pb [1987] out of print/used Alfred A. Knopf 8x5¾ hardcover [1955] out of print/used | |
 | "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns: A Personal History of The Atomic Scientists" [1958] by Robert Jungk, translated by James Cleugh Harvest Books 8x5½ pb [10/70] for $18.99 Harcourt Brace hardcover [1958] out of print/used | |
 | "Now It Can Be Told: The Story of The Manhattan Project" [Harper 1962] by Gen. Leslie R. Groves [1896-1970] Da Capo Press 8¾x5¾ pb [3/83] for $13.60 | |
 | "Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of The Making of The Atomic Bomb" [1967] by Stephane Groueff [1922-2006] iUniverse/Backinprint 9x6 pb [6/2000] for $28.95 Bantam Books mass pb [1968] out of print/used Little Brown & Co. hardcover [6/67] out of print/used 1965 interview of Robert Oppenheimer by Stephane Groueff: transcript + audio recording | |
 | "An American Genius: The Life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Father of The Cyclotron" [1968] by Herbert Childs
E.P. Dutton 9¼x6½ hardcover [8/68] out of print/used | |
 | "City of Fire: Los Alamos and The Birth of The Atomic Age, 1943-1945" [1978] by James W. Kunetka reviwed as dry but technically thorough Univ New Mexico Press pb [12/79] out of print/used Prentice-Hall hardcover [1978] out of print/used | |
 | "Reminiscences of Los Alamos, 1943-1945" [1980] Edited by Lawrence Badash, Joseph O. Hirschfelder & Herbert P. Broida texts of a series of short lectures by Norris Bradbury, Bernice Brode, John H. Dudley, Laura Fermi, Richard P. Feynman, editor Hirschfelder, George B. Kistiakowsky, John H. Manley, Edwin M. McMillan, and Elsie McMillan Springer 9x6 pb [8/80] - overpriced! Springer 9¼x6 hardcover [8/80] - overpriced! | |
 | "Hans Bethe: Prophet of Energy" [1980] by Jeremy Bernstein Basic Books pb [10/80] out of print/used | |
 | "Oppenheimer: The Years of Risk" [1982] by James W. Kunetka Book focuses primarily on the critical years of Oppenheimer's career, from 1939 to 1954, discussing his scientific achievements, the development of the atomic bomb, and the significant issues that shaped his life Prentice Hall hardcover [10/82] out of print/used | |
 | "The Oppenheimer Years: 1943-1945 (Los Alamos Laboratory Report)" [1983] 19-page collection of documents; obscure R.S.I. of Mojave, California has a Facebook page that was last updated in 2018 Rocket Science Institute, Inc. pb [1983] out of print/scarce | |
 | "The Day The Sun Rose Twice: The Story of The Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945" [1984] by Ferenc Morton Szasz [1940-2010]
Univ NM Press 9x6 pb [7/95] for $12.89 Univ NM Press hardcover [12/84] out of print/used | |
 | "Day One: Before Hiroshima & After" [1985] by Peter Wyden The Manhattan Project from the viewpoint of Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard Warner pb [8/85] out of print/used S&S hardcover [8/85] out of print/many used "Day One" tv movie [Spelling/CBS March 1989] Directed by Joseph Sargent; based on the book {above}; starring Brian Dennehy, David Strathairn, Michael Tucker, Hume Cronyn, Hal Holbrook, Barnard Hughes & Richard Dysart; won Emmy for Best Drama Special • full credits at IMDb Acorn Media color DVD [11/2007] for $22.49 | |
 | "Los Alamos: Beginning of An Era, 1943-1945" [1986] by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Public Relations Los Alamos Historical Society 10¾x8¼pb [4/86] for $5.95 | |
 | "The Making of The Atomic Bomb" [1986] by Richard Rhodes book won the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction - considered to be the definitive history of the Manhattan Project Kindle 25th Anniv Edition from Simon & Schuster Digital Sales [9/2012] for $14.99 S&S 25th Anniv 9x6 pb [7/2012] for $21.15 S&S 9¼x6 pb [8/95] for $16.03 Touchstone 9¼x6¼ pb [2/88] out of print/90+ used S&S 9½x6¼ hardcover [2/87] out of print/used | |
 | "Project Alberta: The Preparation of Atomic Bombs For Use In World War II" [1990] by Harlow W. Russ Exceptional Books 11x8½ pb [8/90] out of print/rare | |
 | "The Road From Los Alamos" [1991] by Hans A. Bethe [1906-2005] A.I.P. Press 9½x6½ hardcover [4/91] for $39.95 S&S/Touchstone 9x6 pb [4/91] out of print/used | |
 | "Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During The Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945" [1993] by Lillian Hoddeson, Paul W. Henriksen, Roger A. Meade & Catherine L. Westfall Cambridge Univ Press 9x6 pb [2/2004] for $53.95 Cambridge Univ Press 8¾x6 hardcover [5/93] for $160.00 | |
 | "The Manhattan Project: A Secret Wartime Mission" [1994] by Kenneth M. Deitch Discovery Enterprises 7¾x5¼ pb [9/94] for $7.95 Tandem Library hardcover [10/2001] for $15.75 | |
 | "Dark Sun: The Making of The Hydrogen Bomb" [1995] by Pulitzer-winning historian Richard Rhodes S&S 9¼x6 pb [8/96] for $12.24 S&S 9½x6¾ hardcover [8/95] out of print/many used | |
 | "Picturing The Bomb: Photographs From The Secret World of The Manhattan Project" [1995] by Rachael Fermi & Esther Samra Fermi, a granddaughter of Enrico Fermi, began her quest to document the project after finding a color snapshot of the world's first atomic blast amid family photos in a shoebox; includes official and unofficial photographs, as well as work and social life at the various project sites Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 10¼x10½ hardcover [9/95] out of print/used watch ½-hour presentation at 11/2008 C.U.N.Y. symposium [5/2009 upload; 24:59] online at YouTube | |
 | "Los Alamos: A Novel" [1997] by Joseph Kanon Wartime Los Alamos, New Mexico is a dusty, remote community of secretly-constructed buildings and awesome possibility, where the world’s most brilliant minds have come together and are joined by an unraveler of human secrets - a man in search of a killer . . .; won Edgar Award for Best First Novel Kindle Edition from Bantam Books [9/2010] for $12.99 Bantam Books 8x5¼ pb [9/2018] for $16.67 Broadway Books hardcover [5/97] for $11.00 Little, Brown & Co. hardcover [5/97] out of print/used listen to author's 11/2008 lecture [8/2014 upload; 44:19] online at SoundCloud | |
 | "Tales of Los Alamos: Life On The Mesa, 1943-1945" [1997] by Bernice Brode Alamos Historical Society 8¾x6 pb [10/97] out of print/used | |
 | "Secret Mesa: Inside Los Alamos National Laboratory" [1997] by Jo Ann Shroyer Wiley 9½x6½ hardcover [10/97] for $24.95 | |
 | "Plutonium Metallurgy at Los Alamos, 1943-1945: Recollections of Edward F. Hammel" [1998] Personal recollections and hundreds of hours of searching through archives at Los Alamos provides a history of the early struggles of dealing with plutonium - the world's most complex element - illus-trating the immensity of the accomplishments of the chemists, metallurgists, and engineers who worked side-by-side with the physicists of the Manhattan Project Los Alamos Historical Society 9¾x7 pb [12/98] out of print/used | |
 | "Their Day In The Sun: Women of The Manhattan Project (Labor And Social Change)" [1999] by Ruth H. Howes & Caroline C. Herzenberg, Foreword by Ellen C. Weaver, PhD The Manhattan Project was not just in Los Alamos - it was, in fact, a sprawling research and industrial enterprise that spanned the country from Hanford in Washington State to Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and the Metallurgical Laboratory in Illinois; the Manhattan Project included women in every capacity Temple Univ Press 9x6 pb [4/2003] for $30.95 Temple Univ Press 9x6 hardcover [10/99] for $58.41 watch 10/2016 interview with Ruth Hege Howes [2/2017 upload; 16:43] at YouTube | |
 | "In The Shadow of The Bomb: Oppenheimer, Bethe & The Moral Responsibility of The Scientist" [2000] by Silvan S. Schweber Princeton Univ Press 9½x6½ pb [4/2000] for $34.15 | |
 | "Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey In Science & Politics" [2001] by Edward Teller, with Judith Shoolery Perseus Books 9¼x6 pb [10/2002] for $12.89 Perseus Books 9&fracx6½ hardcover [10/2001] out of print/used | |
 | "Racing For The Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, The Manhattan Project's Indispensable Man" [2002] by Robert S. Norris
Steerforth 9¼x6¼ pb [3/2003] for $16.47 Steerforth 9½x6½ hardcover [3/2002] out of print/used | |
 | "Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon & The Secret Palace of Science That Changed The Course of World War II" [2002] by Jennet Conant
S&S 8½x5½ pb [5/2003] for $11.10 S&S 9½x6½ hardcover [5/2002] out of print/many used | |
 | "Brotherhood of The Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller" [2002] by Smithsonian historian Gregg Herken behind-the-scenes account based on a decade of research, interviews, and newly-released Freedom of Information Act documents and Russian documents Kindle Edition from Henry Holt & Co. [9/2002] for $11.99 Holt Paperbacks 8½x5½ pb [9/2003] for $29.99 Henry Holt & Co. 9½x6½ hardcover [9/2002] out of print/used | |
 | "Gatekeeper To Los Alamos: Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin - A Biography of A Great Lady of Santa Fe" [2003] by Nancy Cook Steeper
Los Alamos Historical Society 9x6 pb [4/2003] for $15.00 | |
 | "The Atomic City: A Firsthand Account of A Son of Los Alamos" [2003] by Terry L. Rosen "The juxtaposition of carefree childhood with the birth of the atomic bomb makes for a fascinating read." Eakin Press 8¾x6 pb [4/2003] out of print/used Eakin Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [4/2003] out of print/used | |
 | "100 Suns" photo book [2003] by Michael Light Art-quality plates culled from official government photographs of nuclear tests from 1942 to 1962 Knopf 13¾x10¾ pb [10/2003] for $28.35 | |
 | "Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove" [2004] by Peter Goodchild Harvard Univ Press 9½x6½ hardcover [10/2004] for $19.77 Weidenfeld & Nicolson hardcover [4/2004] for $29.38 | |
 | "Los Alamos (NM), 1944-1947 (Images of America)" [2005] by Toni Michnovicz Gibson & Jon Michnovicz U.S. Army Pvt. J.J. Michnovicz was assigned to Los Alamos as a photographer and later worked there as a civilian PUB pb [8/00] for $21.99 Arcadia Publng Library Editions 9½x6¾ hardcover [3/2005] for $31.99 | |
 | "109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer & The Secret City of Los Alamos" [2005] by Jennet Conant S&S 8½x5½ pb [5/2006] for $10.78 S&S 9½x6½ hardcover [4/2005] for $16.98 | |
 | "Rider of The Pale Horse: A Memoir of Los Alamos & Beyond" [2005] by McAllister Hull, with Amy Bianco, illustrations by John Hull Univ NM Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [11/2005] for $16.47 | |
 | "Shadow of The Bomb: A Snap Malek Mystery" [2006] by Robert Goldsborough Chicago newspaper reporter Snap Malek gets wind of an important and very secret project led by physicist Enrico Fermi underneath a football stadium on the University of Chicago campus; he attempts to arrange an exclusive story, but that is made difficult by several violent deaths . . . Kindle Edition from Echelon Press [3/2009] for $4.99 Echelon Press 8x5 pb [9/2006] out of print/used | |
 | "The Green Glass Sea" [ages 9-12; 2006] by Ellen Klages Viking Juvenile 8½x5¾ hardcover [10/2006] for $11.55 | |
 | "They Changed The World: People of The Manhattan Project" [2006] by A.J. Melnick, Foreword by Gov. Bill Richardson Sunstone Press 8¾x6 pb [11/2006] for $17.90 | |
 | "Changing Light: A Novel" [2007] by Nora Gallagher 'Nora Gallagher’s elegant debut novel is a love story set in Los Alamos in 1945' Kindle Edition from Vintage/Random House [2007 edition] for $9.99 Vintage 8x5¼ pb [2/2008] for $12.46 Pantheon 8½x6 pb [2/2007] out of print/80+ used Pantheon 9x6½ hardcover [2/2007] out of print/used | |
 | "The Manhattan Project: The Birth of The Atomic Bomb In The Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses & Historians" [2007] Edited by Cynthia C. Kelly, Introduction by Richard Rhodes Black Dog & Leventhal 9x6¼ hardcover [9/2007] for $16.47 "Remembering The Manhattan Project: Perspectives On The Making of The Atomic Bomb & Its Legacy" [2005] Edited by Cynthia C. Kelly World Scientific Publng 9x6 hardcover [4/2005] for $37.24 | |
 | "The Forgotten Physicist: Robert F. Bacher, 1905-2004" [2008] by Alan B. Carr Los Alamos Historical Society 8¾x6 pb [2/2008] for $15.00 | |
 | "Manhattan Project To The Santa Fe Institute: The Memoirs of George A. Cowan" [2010] Univ New Mexico Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [2/2010] for $18.45 | |
 | "The First War of Physics: The Secret History of The Atomic Bomb, 1939-1949" [2010] by Jim Baggott Pegasus Books pb [8/2011] for $13.46 Pegasus Books 9x6 hardcover [4/2010] for $21.89 | |
 | "A Spy's Guide To Santa Fe and Albuquerque" [2011] by former C.I.A. agent E.B. Held Reveals details of the plot to assassinate Leon Trotsky, Ted Hall's delivery of atom bomb secrets to the K.G.B., the case of Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, and the allegations against Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Dr. Wen Ho Lee Univ NM Press 8½x5½ pb [1/2011] for $14.82 | |
 | "Los Alamos [New Mexico] and The Pajarito Plateau (Images of America)" [2011] by Sharon Snyder, Toni Michnovicz Gibson & the Los Alamos Historical Society Arcadia Publng 9x6½ pb [8/2011] for $16.49 | |
 | "Beyond The Mushroom Cloud: Commemoration, Religion, and Responsibility After Hiroshima" [2011] by Yuki Miyamoto author cites philosopher Avishai Margalit, Buddhist philosopher Sueki Fumihiko, Koji Shigenobu, Shinran (founder of True Pure Land Buddhism), Nagai Takashi, many others Fordham Univ Press 9x6 pb [12/2011] for $35.00 Fordham Univ Press 9x6¼ hardcover [12/2011] for $104.52 {sic} | |
 | "The Wives of Los Alamos: A Novel" [2014] by TaraShea Nesbit NOTE: several Amazon reviewers were upset that the author chose the unusual First Person Plural POV for this fictional treatment of the years during and after World War II. Kindle Edition from Bloomsbury USA [2/2014] for $9.99 Bloomsbury USA 8½x6¼ hardcover [2/2014] for $15.00 | |
 | "Los Alamos: Secret Colony, Hidden Truths - A Whistleblower’s Diary" [2015] by Chuck Montaño Desert Tortoise Publng 9x5¾ pb [4/2015] for $19.99 author's official booksite | |
 | "The Basis of Everything: Before Oppenheimer and The Manhattan Project There Was The Cavendish Laboratory" [2019] by journalist Andrew Ramsey Before the Manhattan Project there was Cambridge University's famed Cavendish Laboratory [est. 1874] in Wales, led by physicists Nobel-laureate Ernest Rutherford [1871-1937] and Mark Oliphant [1901-2000] Kindle Edition from HarperCollins [8/2019] for $10.99 HarperCollins 9¼x6 pb [4/2024] for $24.99 HarperCollins Australia 9½x6½ hardcover [7/2019] for $30.29 | |
 | "Atomic Women: The Untold Stories of The Scientists Who Helped Create The Nuclear Bomb, Illustrated" [ages 7 & up; 2020] by Roseanne Montillo featuring Lise Meitner, Irène Joliot-Curie, Elizabeth Rona (the foremost expert in plutonium), Leona Woods, Elizabeth Graves, and Joan Hinton Kindle Edition from Little, Brown BFYR [5/2020] for $8.99 Little, Brown BFYR 8¼x5½ pb [5/2021] for $11.08 Little, Brown BFYR 8¾x5¾ hardcover [5/2020] for $14.34 | |
 | "Manhattan Project: The Story of The Century" [2020] by Bruce Cameron Reed
The U.S. Army’s secret program to develop and deploy atomic weapons in World War II was a pivotal event in human history; the author presents a wide-ranging survey that not only tells the story of how the project was organized and carried out, but also introduces the leading personalities involved and features simplified but accurate descriptions of the underlying science and the engineering challenges Kindle Edition from Springer [6/2020] for $21.96 Springer 9¼x6¼ pb [6/2021] for $35.71 Springer 9¼x6¼ hardcover [6/2020] for $23.12 | |
 | "Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of The Atomic Bomb and The 116 Days That Changed the World, Illustrated" New York Times bestseller [2020] by Chris Wallace (veteran journalist and CNN anchor), with Mitch Weiss When President Roosevelt died suddenly, VP Harry Truman became President and inherited the Manhattan Project, about which he had no prior knowledge Kindle Edition from Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster [6/2020] for $13.99 Avid Reader Press 8½x5½ pb [5/2021] for $10.41 Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster 9¼x6 hardcover [6/2020] for $14.98 | |
 | "Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and The Effects of The Nuclear Industrial Complex On Nuevomexicanos" [2022] by Myrriah Gómez shows how the tradition of colonialism affected events in Los Alamos during World War II and continue today Kindle Edition from Univ Arizona Press [11/2022] for $16.50 Univ Arizona Press 9x6 pb [11/2022] for $30.00 Univ Arizona Press 9x6 hardcover [11/2022] for $100.00 {sic} | |
 | "Nobel Laureates of Los Alamos: The Manhattan Project Era" [2023]  Edited by Rizwan Ali & Brye Ann Steeves (both of the L.A.N.L. National Security Research Center) Eighteen of the scientists working on the Manhattan Project received a Nobel Prize before, during, or after their participation Texas A&M Univ Press 11¾x11 hardcover [4/2023] for $42.50 | |
 | "Road To Surrender: Three Men and The Countdown To The End of World War II" [2023] by Evan Thomas covers historic efforts to end the Pacific War by Henry Stimson, U.S. Secretary of War, who oversaw the Manhattan Project; U.S. Army Air Forces Gen. Carl 'Tooey' Spaatz, head of strategic bombing in the Pacific; and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo Kindle Edition from Random House [5/2023] for $13.99 Random House 9½x6½ hardcover [5/2023] for $18.19 | |
 | "Pioneering Minds: The Manhattan Project and The Birth of The Atomic Bomb: From Albert Einstein's Theories To J. Robert Oppenheimer's Test {J.R.O. Legacy Series}" [2023] by Julian R. Stonebridge meticulously-researched atomic history; NOTE: awkward wording of some titles and text suggest that the author may be an E.S.L. person Kindle Edition from indep [8/2023] for $5.99 indep 8x5 pb [8/2023] for $13.99 indep 8½x5½ hardcover [8/2023] for $20.99 | |
 | "Beyond The Mushroom Cloud: The Global Fallout of The Atomic Bomb - Unraveling The Echoes: Humanity's Odyssey In The Nuclear Age {J.R.O. Legacy Series}" [2023] by Julian R. Stonebridge Kindle Edition from indep [9/2023] for $5.99 indep 8x5 pb [8/2023] for $13.99 indep 8½x5½ hardcover [8/2023] for $21.99 |
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