Product Description
In 1943, Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant, charismatic head of the Manhattan Project, recruited scientists to live as virtual prisoners of the U.S. government on a barren mesa thirty-five miles outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Los Alamos was a secret city, a primitive barbed-wire-enclosed encampment whose makeshift dormitories and labs housed scientists, their young families, and some of the most advanced scientific equipment in the world. Thousands of men, women and children spent the war years sequestered in this top-secret military facility. They lied to friends and family about where they were going and what they were doing, and then disappeared into the desert. The women came to Los Alamos over the Army's objections. But Oppenheimer insisted it would be the only way to recruit the world-class physicists he needed and keep them reasonably sane and content during the many months - even years - it would take to create this new weapon. Conant shows how the stringent security, lack of privacy, spartan living conditions and loneliness of their isolated mountain hideaway drove some residents to the brink of despair. Yet only a handful gave up and left. Oppenheimer was a leader who, for all his flaws, inspired great devotion, and the author tells the story of the patriotism, sacrifice and triumph of the bomb project through the eyes of a young Santa Fe widow who was one of his first and most loyal recruits.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 24 reviews)

Oppenheimer and the amazing and mysterious city of Los Alamos

Nearly a classic, this book evokes the spirit of the amazing and mysterious city of Los Alamos as scientists and secretaries, immigrant Europeans and homegrown college graduates, Jews and Native Americans, soldiers and civilians, families and individuals, famous and unknown, came together and disappeared through the portal at 109 East Palace to create the atomic bombs that changed the world.

The most fascinating part of the story is the people, who are the focus of the book, and how they build a makeshift society in an isolated place. Conant (who has family connections) tells the story well.

The only criticism that kept me from marking this as a classic is its idolization of Oppenheimer. However, having recently read an odd novel in which Oppenheimer comes alive (Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet), which also casts Oppenheimer in a similar messianic light, the man must have had an extremely powerful personal influence.

So perhaps this is a classic.
August 19, 2008

A peek at the past

I read 109 East Palace for a public library adult discussion group here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several people who either currently work at Sandia Labs or are recently retired from there attended the discussion.
The group (27 in attendance) was very positive about this book and appreciated learning many of the details of daily life at Los Alamos during the development of the atomic bomb.
This is an easy read and chronicles a very important event in the World War II era. Whether or not you agree with the use of atomic weapons, this is an informative book and gives a unique perspective. It is well worth reading.
April 07, 2008

109 East Palace

An excellelnt accout of one of the most important projects of the last century. Since reading it, I visited Los Alamos and also Trinity Site. An inspiring piece of history.
January 07, 2008

Splendidly written

Jannet Conant has written a superbly beatiful account of the Manhattan Project. Her narrative skirts the main and readilly accessible history of the project itself and instead concentrates on the human side of this momentous effort. Her description of the places around the Los Alamos and of the people who played secondary, but nevertheless fascinating, roles in the making of the bomb is extremely engaging.

This book is as exquisitely crafted as her previous book Tuxedo Park. If you are interested in going beyond the main line of other iconic books on the subject, such as The Making of the Bonmb, don't miss this one.

November 11, 2007

Enjoyable book, different perspective

I like historical books on technical matters, and I found myself quite enjoying this book. Were I asked to describe this book, I'd say this book reads like a (long) conversation you might have, were you to sit on a park bench with someone who worked at Los Alamos during WW II... The book provides a glimpse into what life was like at the labs - you won't learn about the physics of the bomb, but you'll get highly personal views on the politics of that time. Were I to have a complaint about the book, it would be that the book relies heavily on one primary source for a great portion of the book, and while that character did have a very unique and interesting perspective, we are left with "her" opinions of others thoughts and motivations - not a problem, and really unavoidable given the wealth of source material her primary source left her. If you want to know what life was like at the labs, this is the book for you.
November 05, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Tuxedo Park : A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
by Jennet Conant

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin

The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes

The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
by Jennet Conant

The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses and Historians.
by Cynthia Kelly, Richard Rhodes