Erin Perkins

2/29/16

Review of Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

*Nonfiction Selection

In Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s most Dangerous Weapon, Steve Sheinkin tells the story of building the first atomic bomb during World War II and the spies who stole the secrets about it. The story opens with a man Harry Gold scrambling through his apartment to hide the evidence of his years as a spy for the Soviet Union. Sheinkin then flashes back to the United States just before the outbreak of WWII, with two scientists searching for Albert Einstein. The two have news that they believe Germany is acquiring equipment and knowledge to build an atomic bomb. The news eventually makes its way to President Roosevelt. With the scene set, Sheinkin tells the dual stories of Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States as they try to build the world’s first atomic bomb. In America, Robert Oppenheimer gathers the world’s best scientist in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Germany invades Norway and begins creating heavy water to create their weapon, while the Soviets build a mass of spies in America in order to steal the knowledge and plans for the U.S. bomb. As these three countries compete to build the weapon, the United States emerges as the winner and then deploys their bomb in Japan helping to bring a close to the war. In the aftermath, Soviet spies are still working to gather information about the American bomb, causing many to be apprehended and arrested. Due to the alliance between Russia and allies the spies are sentenced to lighter sentences, but the tensions between the allied countries and the Soviets thickens, setting the stage for the cold war.

Sheinkin crafts a wonderful telling of this famous story, weaving in espionage and freedom fighting that occurred in the midst of the bomb’s creation. Bomb was particularly engaging due to Sheinkin’s ability to layer the story. He didn’t simply paint the picture of how America built the atomic bomb. He placed us right in the middle of a swirling storm of tense events. We see scientists in the U.S. furiously working to create a bomb before Germany, while Norwegian freedom fighters hatch multiple plots to stop supplies that Germany is accruing. All the while, Soviet spies work to infiltrate the research on the bomb being done. Sheinkin also uses descriptive language to place readers directly in the middle of the action. In describing one plan by the Norwegian freedom fighters he writes, “Through the freezing, foot-deep water sloshing around at the ship’s bottom, they crawled to the front of the ferry. Blowing a hole here, they knew, would cause the water to rich in. The front of the boat would sink…” (p. 112). I recommend this book to high school readers. This would also be a great tool for reluctant readers doing research on this topic.