"An absorbing investigation of how the two physicists, each formidable in his own way, attempted to shoulder responsibility for their creation."
The New Yorker "There is merit to Schweber's contrasting portraits of Oppenheimer and Bethe... Trained as a physicist, Schweber is the first biographer to explain the significance of the scientific work that Oppenheimer and Bethe did
a fascinating topic in itself."
Gregg ... Read moreHerken, American Scientist "The author of this book studied physics with J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe. His remarkably clear account of their rise to intellectual leadership in the 1930's pulses with an insider's love. Mostly, however, S. S. Schweber writes as a historian and philosopher of science, elegantly exploring the morally fractured stories of American physicists transformed by the Cold War."
John M. Staudenmaier, The Historian "In the Shadow of the Bomb is a rare example of a successful hybrid work... Schweber entwines issues of science, technology, ethics, and politics in a relatively seamless manner, bringing in each lens of analysis at the appropriate time... [He] presents a model of how to write respectfully of individuals while portraying them as fallible human beings in a complex cultural, political, intellectual, and scientific context."
Russell Olwell, Technology & Culture "For a world in which scientific power must be checked by visionary words linked to prudent politics, Schweber has written a book of compelling insight."
Booklist "Schweber is to be commended for pulling together, with comprehensive referencing, many of the relevant events in the interlocking sagas of Oppenheimer and Bethe... Bethe is the dominant figure in this volume, and Schweber knows and describes him well."
Sidney D. Drell, Physics Today "Silvan Schweber [worries] about the gap between moral ideals and moral realities among scientists who brought the Atomic Age into being and who lived with its postwar consequences... In the Shadow of the Bomb ...contrasts Bethe's exemplary conduct with Oppenheimer's moral ambiguity."
Steven Shapin, London Review of Books "[A] fascinating account... [It offers] gripping accounts that capture the essence of an era through panoramic detail."
Nicole Johnston, The Globe and Mail "[A] book, well footnoted and scholarly, that poses fundamental moral and ethical questions and seeks their answers through examination of the lives of Oppenheimer and Bethe. This is very much a book for current times..."
Choice "Schweber's book ... offers intriguing insights into the creativity of [Robert Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe] and the shaping of their moral outlooks in the atomic age. How they balanced the ethical equation between uncovering truths about nature and inventing the most terrible weapons of mass destruction makes for fascinating reading."
PD Smith, The Guardian Unlimited Show Less