Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller
- Book Review,
by Gregg Herken
Amazon.com
It would be difficult to identify three American scientists whose work had a greater effect on world politics than Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller. This exhaustive account of how they worked together (and competed against each other) on the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs is more a story of people than science. Author Gregg Herken of the Smithsonian Institution informs us, for instance, of Oppenheimer's "riotous parties" in the 1930s, in which latecomers would see "the top physicists of their generation, drunk and crouched on all fours, playing a version of tiddly-winks on the geometric patterns of Oppenheimer's Navajo rug." Despite a few light touches, Brotherhood of the Bomb is no breezy profile of three great minds. Instead, it is a serious look at invention, rivalry, and betrayal. One of the central episodes involves Oppenheimer's too-cozy relationship with radical-left politics--he carelessly associated with Communists, even though he occupied one of the most sensitive jobs in the U.S. government during the cold war--and Teller's momentous decision to testify against him. This event is one of the most controversial in the annals of American science, and Herken tells it straight, with barely a word of editorial comment. Fans of Richard Rhodes will enjoy this triple biography, as will anybody with an interest in science, politics, and top-secret security clearances. --John J. Miller
From Publishers Weekly
The personalities of the scientists who made the nuclear bomb are the focus of this detailed, engrossing history of one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century. Relying on author interviews and primary and secondary sources, Herken (The Winning Weapons) explains the backgrounds of the three physicists who were essential to the creation of the atomic bombs dropped over Japan during WWII. But even though the author focuses on Oppenheimer, Lawrence and Teller offering both brief bios of each and depicting the sometimes-tempestuous relationships among them it's the former who garners the lion's share of his attention. "Oppie," as he was known, has long been a controversial figure for his later opposition to weapons programs and his alleged Communist links (he was stripped of his U.S. government security clearance during the McCarthy years). As Herken notes, the trial might have had a backlash, turning many scientists against U.S. defense projects for years to come. But there's no smoking gun here: Herken argues that it is unlikely that Oppenheimer, despite his strong leftist sympathies, was ever a member of the Communist Party, let alone a spy. But he nicely details the intersection between the scientific and leftist communities (particularly during the 1920s and 1930s) and the government's attempt to infiltrate these communities after the war. The book is unlikely to end the debate over Oppenheimer's past or change any minds about the balances between security needs and civil liberties but if there was ever a question that politics plays a part in science, this book washes away any doubts.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Herken is curator of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian and a leading authority on the development of America's nuclear arsenal (Counsels of War). Here he examines the network of scientists who created the most devastating weapons known to humankind. He is particularly interested in examining the enmeshed lives of physicists Ernest Lawrence, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Edward Teller. Herken stresses that this triumvirate of scientific geniuses provided the expertise and leadership needed to sustain the incredibly complex activities that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The unique feature of this study is the author's exploration of the personal ambitions and political convictions that split apart three of the most influential physicists of the twentieth century. The Lawrence-Teller-Oppenheimer rift is a story often told, but Herken's prodigious use of recently declassified documents (many available for perusal at www. brotherbomb.com) offers a fresh perspective on the entire subculture of scientists doomed by circumstance to become engineers of "megadeath." Brotherhood is one of the most important books to come out of America's nuclear era since Richard Rhodes's massive The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. Jim Doyle, Sara Hightower Regional Lib., Rome, GA Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Meticulous and authoritative, Herken's revisitation of the J. Robert Oppenheimer cause celebre of 1954 might supersede every previous account of how the physicist was humiliated by having his security clearance revoked amid Red-baiting innuendo. Herken had unprecedented access to the FBI's file on Oppenheimer. Making judicious, not voyeuristic, use of this source, Herken methodically examines the record of how Oppenheimer's enemies swirled around him and ultimately hanged him. The incident that caused his downfall was his (and General Leslie Grove's) convoluted explanations of a murky espionage pitch made to him by a friend (Haakon Chevalier), possibly acting on behalf of Soviet intelligence. Herken's scope, however, widens beyond Oppenheimer's travail, to his relations with Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller, fellow progenitors of the nuclear bomb. Promethean enthusiasts for all-out development of atomic fire, Lawrence and Teller came to regard Oppenheimer as their opponent, and both prepared to testify against him in 1954 (although only Teller did so--and suffered lifelong ostracism from the physics community). This conflicted confluence of science with politics structures Herken's painstakingly researched and dispassionate presentation, a work in the league of Richard Rhodes' Dark Star: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (1995). Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"The most commanding history yet written of the internal politics of the United States during the early years of the nuclear age . . . an enthralling narrative." -The New York Times Book Review
"The story is well-crafted and meticulously researched, drawing on recently declassified FBI files and documents, and it moves at a helter-skelter pace . . . a gripping account of three tangled lives." -The Washington Post World
"A well-written, well-documented, exciting and yet unhappy tale of a crucial encounter between science and politics."-Los Angeles Times
Review
"The most commanding history yet written of the internal politics of the United States during the early years of the nuclear age . . . an enthralling narrative." -The New York Times Book Review
"The story is well-crafted and meticulously researched, drawing on recently declassified FBI files and documents, and it moves at a helter-skelter pace . . . a gripping account of three tangled lives." -The Washington Post World
"A well-written, well-documented, exciting and yet unhappy tale of a crucial encounter between science and politics."-Los Angeles Times
Review
"The most commanding history yet written of the internal politics of the United States during the early years of the nuclear age . . . an enthralling narrative." -The New York Times Book Review
"The story is well-crafted and meticulously researched, drawing on recently declassified FBI files and documents, and it moves at a helter-skelter pace . . . a gripping account of three tangled lives." -The Washington Post World
"A well-written, well-documented, exciting and yet unhappy tale of a crucial encounter between science and politics."-Los Angeles Times
Book Description
The story of the twentieth century is largely the story of the power of science and technology. Within that story is the incredible tale of the human conflict between three men-Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller-the scientists most responsible for the advent of weapons of mass destruction. How did science, enlisted in the service of the state during the Second World War, become a slave to its patron during the Cold War-and scientists with it? The story of these three men, is fundamentally about loyalty-to the country, to science, and to each other-and about the wrenching choices that had to be made when these allegiances came into conflict.
Gregg Herken gives us the behind-the-scenes account based upon a decade of research, interviews, and new documents. Brotherhood of the Bomb is a vital slice of American history told authoritatively-and grippingly-for the first time.
About the Author
Gregg Herken is a curator and historian at the Smithsonian Institution and has taught at Oberlin, Caltech, and Yale. He is the author of The Winning Weapon, Counsels of War , and Cardinal Choices and received a MacArthur grant for this book. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
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