THE BIRTH OF THE BOMB

Ronald Clark's crisp and canny exploration of Britain's 'untold' participation in the development of atomic warfare was recently greeted in that country with kudos of and pleasure; it's unlikely, however, the same fate awaits it here. For The Birth the Bomb in a little too partisan and slyly slanted; though the tone is mostly impeccable, it does constitute a White Paper of sorts, ultimately downgrading our own Manhattan Project in favor of England's 1939-41 activities. Nevertheless, this once said, the book must be cited for an intensive, highly important, thoroughly intriguing recreation of a very game chain of reactions, super-secrets, pioneer pursuits, underground speculations and -and-dagger mischief culminating in Downing Street's Maud Committee uranium findings, a report which influenced USA defensive policy. Clark has interviewed many of the protagonists involved, including physicists Chadwick, Peierls, Frisch and Sir George Thomson, along with signaling France's famed Jollot-Curie and the all-important 'heavy water' escape the Nazis. Often resembling the stratagems of a spy thriller, covering differing aspects in different places and using until now classified information, ""Bomb"" makes of a complex and affair required reading and ripe reporting.