Summary
During World War II, as Allied forces sought to combat the Axis powers by conventional military means, recent advances in nuclear science led the U.S. military to organize the Manhattan Project-a massive government-run program to invent an atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project operated facilities across the country that employed more than 100,000 workers. Most crucial to the program's success was the top-secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico. There, surrounded by a wire fence manned by armed guards, many of the world's greatest scientists wrestled with their consciences while racing to build the most destructive bomb the world had ever known. Their invention of the atomic bomb not only changed the course of the war, but also gave humanity a frightening new weapon capable of destroying the planet.
Illustrated with full-color and black-and-white photographs, and accompanied by a chronology, bibliography, and further resources, The Manhattan Project, Updated Edition explains how the development and use of the bomb greatly affected the course of World War II and the history of the world. Historical spotlights and excerpts from primary source documents are also included.
About the Author(s)
LIZ SONNEBORN is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Swarthmore College, she has written more than 80 books for children and adults. Her works include The American West, The Gold Rush, Yemen, A to Z of American Indian Women, and The Ancient Kushites, which the African Studies Association's Children's Africana Book Awards named an Honor Book for Older Readers in 2006.