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Man of the Hour: James B. Conant, Warrior Scientist
James Bryant Conant was a towering figure. He was at the center of the mammoth threats and challenges of the twentieth century. As a young eminent chemist, he supervised the production of poison gas in World War I. As a controversial president of Harvard University, he was a champion of meritocracy and open admissions. As an advisor to FDR, he led the interventionist cause for US entrance in World War II. During that war, Conant was the administrative director of the Manhattan Project, oversaw the development of the atomic bomb and argued that it be used against the industrial city of Hiroshima in Japan. Later, he urged the Atomic Energy Commission to reject the hydrogen bomb, and devoted the rest of his life to campaigning for international control of atomic weapons. As Eisenhower’s high commissioner to Germany, he helped to plan German recovery and was an architect of the United States’ Cold War policy.
Now New York Times bestselling author Jennet Conant recreates the cataclysmic events of the twentieth century as her grandfather James experienced them. She describes the guilt, fears, and sometimes regret of those who invented and deployed the bombs and the personal toll it took. From the White House to Los Alamos to Harvard University, Man of the Hour is based on hundreds of documents and diaries, interviews with Manhattan Projects scientists, Harvard colleagues, and Conant’s friends and family, including her father, James B. Conant’s son. This is a very intimate, up-close look at some of the most argued cases of modern times—among them the use of chemical weapons, the decision to drop the bomb, Oppenheimer’s fate, the politics of post-war Germany and the Cold War—the repercussions of which are still affecting our world today.
Now New York Times bestselling author Jennet Conant recreates the cataclysmic events of the twentieth century as her grandfather James experienced them. She describes the guilt, fears, and sometimes regret of those who invented and deployed the bombs and the personal toll it took. From the White House to Los Alamos to Harvard University, Man of the Hour is based on hundreds of documents and diaries, interviews with Manhattan Projects scientists, Harvard colleagues, and Conant’s friends and family, including her father, James B. Conant’s son. This is a very intimate, up-close look at some of the most argued cases of modern times—among them the use of chemical weapons, the decision to drop the bomb, Oppenheimer’s fate, the politics of post-war Germany and the Cold War—the repercussions of which are still affecting our world today.
608 pages, Hardcover
Published September 19, 2017
54 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
About the author
Jennet Conant
20 books75 followersJennet Conant is an American non-fiction author and journalist. She has written four best selling books about World War II, three of which have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Asia and America, she received a BA degree in Political Theory from Bryn Mawr College in 1982, and double-majored in Philosophy at Haverford College. She completed a Master's degree in Journalism from New York City's Columbia University in 1983. She was awarded a John J. McCloy Fellowship to study politics in Germany.
Conant went on to work at Newsweek magazine for seven years, and wrote profiles for Rolling Stone, Spy magazine, and The New York Times. Additionally, she was a contributing editor for Esquire, GQ, and Vanity Fair, from which she resigned to write her first book, Tuxedo Park. Her profile of James Watson, the co-discoverer of the double-helix, was featured in The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2004.
Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Asia and America, she received a BA degree in Political Theory from Bryn Mawr College in 1982, and double-majored in Philosophy at Haverford College. She completed a Master's degree in Journalism from New York City's Columbia University in 1983. She was awarded a John J. McCloy Fellowship to study politics in Germany.
Conant went on to work at Newsweek magazine for seven years, and wrote profiles for Rolling Stone, Spy magazine, and The New York Times. Additionally, she was a contributing editor for Esquire, GQ, and Vanity Fair, from which she resigned to write her first book, Tuxedo Park. Her profile of James Watson, the co-discoverer of the double-helix, was featured in The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 26, 2018
Man of the Hour: James B. Conant, Warrior Scientist was a meticulously researched biography of James Bryant Conant as well as the sweeping history of the twentieth century spanning two world wars and the subsequent cold war as told by Jennet Conant. In addition to having written three books on the cold war, Ms. Conant as the granddaughter of James B. Conant, had unlimited access not only to thousands of documents in the public domain, but also her grandparents' private papers, correspondence, diaries, journals, scrapbooks and photographs. In addition, Ms. Conant conducted extensive interviews with her parents and other family members and friends.
James B. Conant, a graduate of Harvard, went on to be a brilliant chemist. After enlisting in World War I, he supervised the production of poison gas. After the war, he returned to Harvard where he taught and later became president, making sweeping changes in education. Later, in working with Franklin Roosevelt during World War II, he was asked to become Director of the Manhattan Project, and as such, became a mentor and father-figure to J. Robert Oppenheimer. Realizing the gravity of what had been unleashed, he devoted the rest of his life working for the limitation of the use of nuclear arms. James Conant's contributions to the world of science, education and in his role as a statesman made for interesting reading.
"The approach to Los Alamos always took Conant's breath away. As the twisting road slowly wound its way up the mesa, the terrain changed from the vast, sparse red and brown southwestern desert to pleasant aspen forests, and in the distance was a splendid view of the majestic snowcapped Sangre de Cristo Mountains across thirty miles of the Middle Rio Grande Valley."
"Nuclear intimidation was not the only way to achieve national security. Having had a hand in unleashing his tremendous destructive force, Conant felt a strong obligation to see it contained. No one understood better than he the need to outlaw the bomb's use in future conflicts, for that way led only to certain disaster and Armageddon."
"Conant was hardly alone in experiencing a kind of delayed reaction to the bombings. He and his fellow atomic scientists had lived with the fact of the weapon for years, had experienced what Ernest Lawrence called the 'mighty thunder' at Alamogordo, so, unlike the public, they were not stunned by the news from Japan. For them, the psychological repercussions lay in the growing horror of the nuclear holocaust--the grisly scenes reported in the aftermath of the attacks, and the deadly long-term effects of radiation poisoning that emerged in the weeks and months that followed. And in the very real fear that it would happen again."
James B. Conant, a graduate of Harvard, went on to be a brilliant chemist. After enlisting in World War I, he supervised the production of poison gas. After the war, he returned to Harvard where he taught and later became president, making sweeping changes in education. Later, in working with Franklin Roosevelt during World War II, he was asked to become Director of the Manhattan Project, and as such, became a mentor and father-figure to J. Robert Oppenheimer. Realizing the gravity of what had been unleashed, he devoted the rest of his life working for the limitation of the use of nuclear arms. James Conant's contributions to the world of science, education and in his role as a statesman made for interesting reading.
"The approach to Los Alamos always took Conant's breath away. As the twisting road slowly wound its way up the mesa, the terrain changed from the vast, sparse red and brown southwestern desert to pleasant aspen forests, and in the distance was a splendid view of the majestic snowcapped Sangre de Cristo Mountains across thirty miles of the Middle Rio Grande Valley."
"Nuclear intimidation was not the only way to achieve national security. Having had a hand in unleashing his tremendous destructive force, Conant felt a strong obligation to see it contained. No one understood better than he the need to outlaw the bomb's use in future conflicts, for that way led only to certain disaster and Armageddon."
"Conant was hardly alone in experiencing a kind of delayed reaction to the bombings. He and his fellow atomic scientists had lived with the fact of the weapon for years, had experienced what Ernest Lawrence called the 'mighty thunder' at Alamogordo, so, unlike the public, they were not stunned by the news from Japan. For them, the psychological repercussions lay in the growing horror of the nuclear holocaust--the grisly scenes reported in the aftermath of the attacks, and the deadly long-term effects of radiation poisoning that emerged in the weeks and months that followed. And in the very real fear that it would happen again."
December 27, 2018
MAN OF THE HOUR: JAMES B. CONANT, WARRIOR SCIENTIST is a honest and loving biography of an extraordinary man by his granddaughter, Jennet Conant. (Do not dismiss this as a family memoir. Jennet Conant is an accomplished author and journalist.)
I put this book on my TO READ list on GOODREADS in December 2017, a year before I read it. I have no idea why. I grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s and I have no doubt that my education (and likely the education of many of my teachers) was influenced by Dr. Conant. My father was a subscriber to Time Magazine, the cover of which was graced by Conant no less than four times, which, according to TIME, may have been a record for one never elected to public office. I have no recollection of ever seeing the face of James Conant in our house nor do I recall ever hearing of him.
I suspect that I learned of this book either through NPR or C-SPAN, (a fortuitous accident). That it took me a year to getting around to reading it is due to my unusual (odd) way of picking books to read. But in doing so, I discovered a gem that is the new occupant on my BEST BOOKS list.
Conant was, indeed, an extraordinary man. His chosen field of education and vocation was chemistry, focusing on research. When he became president of Harvard University, those who criticized the selection pointed to that so called liability.
His dedication to education, at the college level and much later at the high school level, sandwiched his work for the government, perhaps most notably in the development of the atom bomb during World War II. I say “perhaps” because Conant preferred to dwell on other accomplishments instead of on the making of a weapon of mass destruction.
There is much one can say about James Conant, but I would rather just highly recommend the book for your edification and enjoyment. To that end, I make two observations about the book itself.
First, the subject matter can be rather dry but this book is certainly not boring. Jennet Conant not only brings known personalities into the mix, (four Presidents of the United States come to mind) but also men whose names are likely unknown to most of us but will unlikely be forgotten. Indeed, the printing of all the pictures in the book at the end of the text, a major flaw in my opinion, does not detract from the quality of this book because of Jennet Conant’s narrative.
Second, in considering how I might write a biography of my grandfather, I wondered if I could be so candid about any foibles he might display. Jennet Conant, while recognizing her grandfather’s brilliance, also truthfully, and compassionately, exposes his deficiencies, particularly those that directly affected his sons, including her father. James Conant was not a perfect man, but he was certainly a man whose contributions to his country, to the world, cannot be overestimated.
Five stars
I put this book on my TO READ list on GOODREADS in December 2017, a year before I read it. I have no idea why. I grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s and I have no doubt that my education (and likely the education of many of my teachers) was influenced by Dr. Conant. My father was a subscriber to Time Magazine, the cover of which was graced by Conant no less than four times, which, according to TIME, may have been a record for one never elected to public office. I have no recollection of ever seeing the face of James Conant in our house nor do I recall ever hearing of him.
I suspect that I learned of this book either through NPR or C-SPAN, (a fortuitous accident). That it took me a year to getting around to reading it is due to my unusual (odd) way of picking books to read. But in doing so, I discovered a gem that is the new occupant on my BEST BOOKS list.
Conant was, indeed, an extraordinary man. His chosen field of education and vocation was chemistry, focusing on research. When he became president of Harvard University, those who criticized the selection pointed to that so called liability.
His dedication to education, at the college level and much later at the high school level, sandwiched his work for the government, perhaps most notably in the development of the atom bomb during World War II. I say “perhaps” because Conant preferred to dwell on other accomplishments instead of on the making of a weapon of mass destruction.
There is much one can say about James Conant, but I would rather just highly recommend the book for your edification and enjoyment. To that end, I make two observations about the book itself.
First, the subject matter can be rather dry but this book is certainly not boring. Jennet Conant not only brings known personalities into the mix, (four Presidents of the United States come to mind) but also men whose names are likely unknown to most of us but will unlikely be forgotten. Indeed, the printing of all the pictures in the book at the end of the text, a major flaw in my opinion, does not detract from the quality of this book because of Jennet Conant’s narrative.
Second, in considering how I might write a biography of my grandfather, I wondered if I could be so candid about any foibles he might display. Jennet Conant, while recognizing her grandfather’s brilliance, also truthfully, and compassionately, exposes his deficiencies, particularly those that directly affected his sons, including her father. James Conant was not a perfect man, but he was certainly a man whose contributions to his country, to the world, cannot be overestimated.
Five stars
January 5, 2023
I just finished Jennet Conant's, Man of the Hour: James B. Conant, Warrior Scientist.
I was aware of who James Conant was due to his link to the Manhattan Project but I was shocked he much I didn't know.
A man who overcame his family's background to achieve a scholarship to Harvard. A chemist by training who earned his Doctorate in Chemistry from Harvard.
He worked for the army during World War I creating mustard gas and other gas agents for the war effort. He went on to marry his mentors daughter and teach chemistry at Harvard. He was picked to be the youngest President of Harvard.
A respected scientist and educator he was picked the help direct the Manhattan Project and along with General Leslie was responsible for picking Robert Oppenheimer in his role to lead the team at Los Alamos, but later was adamantly opposed to the development of the Hydrogen Bomb.
Later picked by President Eisenhower to be the High Commissioner of Germany later the Ambassador of Germany after West Germany became an independent nation.
He later worked again as an educator working for the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
A thoroughly complex an accomplished individual who we know little about, I certainly this and recommend this 5 star book.
I was aware of who James Conant was due to his link to the Manhattan Project but I was shocked he much I didn't know.
A man who overcame his family's background to achieve a scholarship to Harvard. A chemist by training who earned his Doctorate in Chemistry from Harvard.
He worked for the army during World War I creating mustard gas and other gas agents for the war effort. He went on to marry his mentors daughter and teach chemistry at Harvard. He was picked to be the youngest President of Harvard.
A respected scientist and educator he was picked the help direct the Manhattan Project and along with General Leslie was responsible for picking Robert Oppenheimer in his role to lead the team at Los Alamos, but later was adamantly opposed to the development of the Hydrogen Bomb.
Later picked by President Eisenhower to be the High Commissioner of Germany later the Ambassador of Germany after West Germany became an independent nation.
He later worked again as an educator working for the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
A thoroughly complex an accomplished individual who we know little about, I certainly this and recommend this 5 star book.
January 21, 2018
James Conant was one of the most famous men of his time. He was an award winning chemist who made several scientific breakthroughs, one of the youngest presidents of Harvard serving so for two decades, director of the Manhattan Project, confidant of Presidents FDR, Truman & Eisenhower, high commissioner to Germany during the occupation after the war and once the occupation ended ambassador to Germany and in later years did a study of education in America resulting in three groundbreaking books.
But all of the above achievements only tell part of his story. Eisenhower especially depended on him for "chats" in which Conant would explain to him in simple terms about complex scientific concepts. He was forever ashamed of his work on the Manhattan Project and strongly opposed the creation of the H-Bomb which cost him a great number of friends & admirers. When Oppenheimer was being stripped of his security clearance by the Senator McCarthy group, it was he that went before the Atomic Energy Commission panel and defended him angrily and voraciously.
It was truly a monumental life he led and I had never heard of him. So much for college degree in history!
But all of the above achievements only tell part of his story. Eisenhower especially depended on him for "chats" in which Conant would explain to him in simple terms about complex scientific concepts. He was forever ashamed of his work on the Manhattan Project and strongly opposed the creation of the H-Bomb which cost him a great number of friends & admirers. When Oppenheimer was being stripped of his security clearance by the Senator McCarthy group, it was he that went before the Atomic Energy Commission panel and defended him angrily and voraciously.
It was truly a monumental life he led and I had never heard of him. So much for college degree in history!
January 4, 2018
James B. Conant High School opened my sophomore year, all we were told was that Conant is a famous educator. The book is the story of his life, it’s 500 pages, sometimes I labored through sections but much of the book was fascinating. He was a “scholarship boy” at Harvard, a brilliant chemist, helped the USA catch up to the German’s World War l chemical weaponry, taught at Harvard, became president of Harvard, worked on atomic bomb for World War ll, was a statesman as the Cold War heated up, In his later years he did much to improve high school education, was the force behind developing SAT tests, worked to match education to the students ability, not to his family’s financial and social standing. Tried to improve educational opportunities for African Americans and women. Was very involved with post world war ll Germany and the Cold War. I’ve have another go at this write up after a good night’s sleep.
March 9, 2018
I had never heard of James Conant before reading this book. How can there be someone who had so much influence, yet most people know nothing about him and what he did? Yes, he was a key player in the development of nuclear bombs, but he also had a profound influence on education, and the effects of his work are still very much felt today. Not having been much of a history student, I learned a lot, by reading this book, about what America was like in the period from the end of WWI through the Cold War. Seeing that history from the viewpoint of one influential person, with the biases and beliefs and values he held, made that history much more real to me. I'm glad I took the time to read it.
November 7, 2018
James Conant is probably best remembered, if you remember him at all, as one of the three top overseers of the Manhattan Project to develop atomic weapons in World War II. Jennet Conant, his granddaughter, corrects this oversight in a fascinating biography. The voice for her biography is as a third party, not a relative, though I imagine she had access to family members and materials a true outsider would have had difficulty using. The result is a highly enjoyable story of a man who leaves a Nobel-prize promising career in chemistry to serve his country, directly during both World Wars, and indirectly through his commitment to academic freedom and, late in his career, sounding the call for improvement in American high school education. This biography well rewards your time.
December 1, 2017
This was an interesting book, and definitely covered interesting times, but somehow it lacked the drama of the enormously important events that Conant was part of. I feel that the conflicts he dealt with were enumerated but how he dealt with them was not sufficiently explained (though the book, already long at 500 pages, might have been cut before publishing). I was also bothered that while Conant was clearly a man of high principles, he inexplicably caved before the loyalty-oath know-nothings.
So...a good book for those with a special interest in the man or the times, but maybe not for the general public.
So...a good book for those with a special interest in the man or the times, but maybe not for the general public.
December 18, 2022
Really thorough biography. Sometimes a bit "too much" biography (the first ~100 pages with all the family history was ok, but not really my cup of tea) and also a bit "too much" of a story of the Manhattan Project / people Conant worked with. Sometimes I felt that Conant was almost missing on some of the longer "diversions." But in the end, I think it was a really good balance and I found it a really illuminating look at both Conant and all the science/policy going on from WWI through the cold war.
May 28, 2018
There are many ways one could read and interpret this biography: as a Jeffersonian, a Cold War historian, a civil rights activist, a politician, etc. The takeaway point for me was that it took a handful of people only a little over 4 years to develop nuclear bombs, and the entire political structure of the world over 70 years (and counting...) to prevent Armageddon through their use. It's an interesting property of reality that it's always easier to do destructive things than otherwise.
September 24, 2023
Quite Interesting
I learned a lot about James Conant. Although I may have actually heard about him on the news in the late ‘50s, but I consciously only knew about his work with the Manhattan Project, but this filled in a lot more of his accomplishments. Sometimes the book seemed to be a text book, but even when I got bogged down in details, I enjoyed learning more about this Man of the Hour and his effect on multiple decades and our current America.
I learned a lot about James Conant. Although I may have actually heard about him on the news in the late ‘50s, but I consciously only knew about his work with the Manhattan Project, but this filled in a lot more of his accomplishments. Sometimes the book seemed to be a text book, but even when I got bogged down in details, I enjoyed learning more about this Man of the Hour and his effect on multiple decades and our current America.
December 26, 2017
I suppose one should approach with caution a biography written by the subject's granddaughter, but Jennet Conant does provides an interesting portrait of a remarkable man in James B. Conant, and the main take-away from book is why Conant is not mentioned more often among the great men of the 20th century given his involvement in so many of the major events and decisions of the era.
March 5, 2018
It was good- very interesting- although I admit I felt bogged down in details and names at some points but I would have written that kind of book had it been about my own grandfather. And obviously it had a lot of important history in it.
August 27, 2021
Well written and researched biography of a very consequential man in World War II (but also in WWI). Sympathetically but fairly written by his granddaughter. A vivid portrait of life in a different America.
November 11, 2017
Another great book by one of my favorite authors. Thanks Jennet!!
March 26, 2023
Great story! But tough read for those who don’t have a great understanding of scientific lingo like me.
October 11, 2023
Fantastic book. Conant was instrumental in moving education, American diplomacy, and science. So well written.
May 28, 2021
Provides detailed biography of the author's grandfather, President of Harvard University and a leading figure in the development of the atom bomb. Well written. Not something I would have been drawn to on my own but came to me as a Christmas present from my wife.
July 1, 2019
Captivating
Moving like a train at first grudgingly slow the gaining speed , the author takes you on a fascinating ride in the Life of a fascinating person whose influence on our lives is little known. Great read!
Moving like a train at first grudgingly slow the gaining speed , the author takes you on a fascinating ride in the Life of a fascinating person whose influence on our lives is little known. Great read!
September 16, 2022
This guy was quite the explitive - oh, wait - I'm supposed to be reviewing the book
January 27, 2018
The granddaughter of James B. Conant undertakes a review of his life. I had read her book 109 East Palace some years ago which was a fascinating book about the Manhattan Project from the point of view of the project secretary and front person, a woman. The first five chapters of this book should have been interesting. They described how the families who came on the first ships to America sorted themselves out to become the snobbish elitist families of Boston. I think these chapters were intended to also emphasize the impact that descending from people on the "third ship to the new world" and therefore the perceived inferior heredity by the elites at Harvard had on Dr. Conant's life and outlook.
I was impressed by the life of this man and the amount of information that was available to his granddaughter about his thoughts, actions and deeds. I learned a great deal of new information about higher education at the turn of the century, about WWI, WWII, the process that led up to the atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project, the cold war, post-war Germany, McCarthyism and about Conant's role in all of this when I had been ignorant of his existence prior to reading the book. However, probably the most poignant part of reading this book now....during the current political climate of the United States is how important the actions and maturity of world leaders is to keeping destruction at bay. I am not encouraged.
I was impressed by the life of this man and the amount of information that was available to his granddaughter about his thoughts, actions and deeds. I learned a great deal of new information about higher education at the turn of the century, about WWI, WWII, the process that led up to the atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project, the cold war, post-war Germany, McCarthyism and about Conant's role in all of this when I had been ignorant of his existence prior to reading the book. However, probably the most poignant part of reading this book now....during the current political climate of the United States is how important the actions and maturity of world leaders is to keeping destruction at bay. I am not encouraged.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews