The devil reached toward the sky : an oral history of the making & unleashing of the atomic bomb / Garrett M. Graff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Graff, Garrett M., 1981- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--1933-1945.

United States.

Japan--History--1926-1945.

Japan.

Manhattan Project (U.S.).

Atomic bomb--United States--History.

Atomic bomb.

Atomic bomb victims--Japan.

Atomic bomb victims.

Military planning--United States--History--20th century.

Military planning.

World War, 1939-1945--United States.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Japan.

Genre:

Oral histories.

Physical Description:

xxxii, 567 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps, portraits ; 25 cm

illustrations.

maps.

Edition:

First Avid Reader Press hardcover edition.

Other Title:

Oral history of the making and unleashing of the atomic bomb

Place of Publication:

New York : Avid Reader Press, 2025.

Summary:

"On the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the Pulitzer Prize finalist whose work is 'oral history at its finest' (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) delivers an epic narrative of the atomic bomb's creation and deployment, woven from the voices of hundreds of scientists, generals, soldiers, and civilians. ... Drawing from dozens of oral history archives and hundreds of books, reports, letters, diaries, and transcripts from across the US, Japan, and Europe, Graff masterfully blends the memories and perspectives from the known and unknown--key figures like J. Robert Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, and President Truman; the crews of the B-29 bombers; and the haunting stories of the Hibakusha--the 'bomb-affected people.' Both a testament to human ingenuity and resilience and a compelling drama told by the participants who lived it, The Devil Reached Toward the Sky is a singular, profound, and searing book about the inception of our most powerful weapon and its haunting legacy"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Author's note

Foreword: Dawn at Trinity

Part I Exploring the atom. Particles unseen ; Darkness falls on Europe ; Fleeing fascism ; Adjusting to the New World ; The M.A.U.D. Committee ; December 7, 1941

Part II Imagining a bomb. Setting up the Met lab ; FDR's OK ; Creating the Manhattan Engineering District ; Three big decisions ; Making the pile ; Chain reaction

Part III Making the bomb. Oak Ridge: creating the Clinton Engineer Works ; Oak Ridge: Y-12 ; Oak Ridge: living inside the gates ; Oak Ridge: making U-235 ; Los Alamos: Project Y ; Los Alamos: working on the mesa ; Life on Bathtub Row ; Oak Ridge: glimpsing plutonium ; Los Alamos: designing the bomb ; Hanford: life in a construction camp ; Hanford: making plutonium en masse ; Hanford: the B Reactor

Part IV Readying the bomb. Boeing's bomber ; Code name Silverplate ; Training the 509th ; Spring 1945 ; 100 tons of TNT ; Selecting the targets ; The interim committee ; Trinity ; Potsdam with Truman

Part V Unleashing the bomb. At Tinian ; Moving the bomb ; The day before ; Code name Centerboard ; Ground zero in Hiroshima ; Landing at Tinian ; Hiroshima burning ; Reaction to the bomb ; The day after in Hiroshima ; Mission #16 ; Ground zero at Nagasaki ; The return of Bockscar ; Afterward in Nagasaki ; V-J Day ; The sickness

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

A note on sources

Source notes

Index

Image credits.

Notes:

Color maps on lining papers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 507-534) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Hagen fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781668092392

1668092395

9781668092408

1668092409

OCLC:

1528886469