What do you think?
Rate this book
109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
In 1943, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant, charismatic head of the Manhattan Project, recruited scientists to live as virtual prisoners of the U.S. government at Los Alamos, a barren mesa thirty-five miles outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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. Through the eyes of a young Santa Fe widow who was one of Oppenheimer's first recruits, we see how, for all his flaws, he developed into an inspiring leader and motivated all those involved in the Los Alamos project to make a supreme effort and achieve the unthinkable.
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. Through the eyes of a young Santa Fe widow who was one of Oppenheimer's first recruits, we see how, for all his flaws, he developed into an inspiring leader and motivated all those involved in the Los Alamos project to make a supreme effort and achieve the unthinkable.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
693 people are currently reading
3088 people want to read
About the author
Jennet Conant
20 books73 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
April 14, 2024
History lives
Jennet Conan has made Los Alamos history come alive again with her fascinating and respectfully emotional rendering of the times and people who greatly facilitated the end of a terrible war. Informative and personal. Highly recommended for everyone.
Jennet Conan has made Los Alamos history come alive again with her fascinating and respectfully emotional rendering of the times and people who greatly facilitated the end of a terrible war. Informative and personal. Highly recommended for everyone.
July 16, 2009
109 East Palace by Jennet Conant offers a fresh look at the story of the Manhattan Project, America's secret effort to build the Atom-bomb which eventually ended WWII. The author decided to tell the story through the eyes of Dorthy Mckibbion, who ran the project's office in Santa Fe, and the wives and children of the scientists who worked on "the hill" as the residents quickly took to calling Los Alamos. Conant also discusses how the people of Santa Fe reacted to the changes that WWII brought to their sleepy idyllic slow-paced lives. The women of Los Alamos faced numerous hardships such as inadequate laundry and cooking facilities, and cramped housing. They bore these burdens with grace and humor because "After all, there was a war on" Conant not only provides a window into the day-to day lives of the scientists and their families, she's also written a first rate history of the project, and woven the two stories together into one engaging seamless narrative.
My one criticism of the book is that it is badly in need of a proofreader, but the typos don't detract from the overall impact of the story.
109 East Palace is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the Manhattan Project or understand it's historical significance, and would be the perfect introduction for those just beginning to explore this fascinating subject.
My one criticism of the book is that it is badly in need of a proofreader, but the typos don't detract from the overall impact of the story.
109 East Palace is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the Manhattan Project or understand it's historical significance, and would be the perfect introduction for those just beginning to explore this fascinating subject.
February 20, 2008
What first struck me about this book was that it was so readable. The first chapter paints a beautiful picture of “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer’s first meeting with Dorothy McKibben, a laid back Santa Fean who would become “the gatekeeper” to Los Alamos. Through Dorothy’s eyes, Conant shows us the story of Los Alamos, the scientists who came there, and the atomic bomb — and the charming man behind it all, “Oppie.”
I am familiar with much of the stories surrounding wartime Los Alamos — and they are all included here. It expounded upon the Bradbury Science Museum’s standard video, “The Town That Never Was,” and included the context and history I had glimpsed in other places: articles from The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Richard Feynman’s book, or the movie Infinity starring Matthew Broderick.
As I was reading I couldn’t help but pick out quotes that would have backed up my point-of-view in past history papers (I wrote on different angles of this same general subject many times). (It's a little different to be reading this kind of book for fun, not gleaning for quotes!)
Nevertheless, I can’t say I was totally in love with this book the entire time. A few chapters were drier than others — after Conant’s beautiful narrative in the first chapter she stiffens her writing style somewhat. It’s still wonderfully written and very readable, but when the content wasn’t as interesting (I don’t care for government-related details, it seems) it was harder to get through. That said, I could hardly put the book down as it approached a few natural climaxes, particularly the testing of the bomb in the southern New Mexico desert and the dropping of the bombs on Japan.
Conant also includes the story of Oppenheimer himself: his sudden elopement with Kitty (a woman who turned out to be cold and brittle, but to whom Oppie was truly devoted), his “good life” before the war as he entertained at his California estate, and a few curious incidents and how that contributed to his stripped security clearance during McCarthy’s witchhunts of the 1950s. For all his charm and brilliance, his personal life turned out to be a wreck.
Conant’s descriptions of the other major scientists were wonderful. Her blunt portrayal of Edward Teller (a Hungarian scientists obsessed with the hydrogen bomb) was so incredulous that it was funny. Richard Feynman’s pranks, Niels Bohr’s fatherly influence, and Klaus Fuch’s quiet, deceptive ways were all interesting to read about.
109 East Palace was a very readable, comprehensive book regarding Oppenheimer, Los Alamos, and the people who lived there. I really enjoyed it!
I am familiar with much of the stories surrounding wartime Los Alamos — and they are all included here. It expounded upon the Bradbury Science Museum’s standard video, “The Town That Never Was,” and included the context and history I had glimpsed in other places: articles from The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Richard Feynman’s book, or the movie Infinity starring Matthew Broderick.
As I was reading I couldn’t help but pick out quotes that would have backed up my point-of-view in past history papers (I wrote on different angles of this same general subject many times). (It's a little different to be reading this kind of book for fun, not gleaning for quotes!)
Nevertheless, I can’t say I was totally in love with this book the entire time. A few chapters were drier than others — after Conant’s beautiful narrative in the first chapter she stiffens her writing style somewhat. It’s still wonderfully written and very readable, but when the content wasn’t as interesting (I don’t care for government-related details, it seems) it was harder to get through. That said, I could hardly put the book down as it approached a few natural climaxes, particularly the testing of the bomb in the southern New Mexico desert and the dropping of the bombs on Japan.
Conant also includes the story of Oppenheimer himself: his sudden elopement with Kitty (a woman who turned out to be cold and brittle, but to whom Oppie was truly devoted), his “good life” before the war as he entertained at his California estate, and a few curious incidents and how that contributed to his stripped security clearance during McCarthy’s witchhunts of the 1950s. For all his charm and brilliance, his personal life turned out to be a wreck.
Conant’s descriptions of the other major scientists were wonderful. Her blunt portrayal of Edward Teller (a Hungarian scientists obsessed with the hydrogen bomb) was so incredulous that it was funny. Richard Feynman’s pranks, Niels Bohr’s fatherly influence, and Klaus Fuch’s quiet, deceptive ways were all interesting to read about.
109 East Palace was a very readable, comprehensive book regarding Oppenheimer, Los Alamos, and the people who lived there. I really enjoyed it!
December 12, 2016
What a great read. I can’t say enough about the insight Jennet Conant puts into this work. She has done a masterful job weaving the intricacies of the bomb development, political up-heavel and meshing of over inflated egos into a precise, easy to digest, complex subject matter.
We all know Oppenheimer was dubbed, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” but how was he able to do it is the real story.
We were in a race to beat Germany to the draw. Everyone knew, if Hitler got there first, he’d waste no time nuking Moscow, London, Warsaw or any other target in Europe. General Groves chooses Oppenheimer to lead the charge at Los Alamos.
Talk about two diametric individuals, Oppie is the quintessential academian while Groves is hardcore military. War does make strange bedfellows. But the glue that holds this tenuous détente together is Dorothy McKibbins whom Oppie hired. Without her organizational skills and calm demeanor, it’s questionable whether the Manhattan Project would have succeeded. She was the prop master behind the curtain that allowed the performers to shine. You name it and she saw it was handled even it wasn’t in her job title: housing, food, transportation, entertainment, lost luggage, passes, credentials. No one stepped foot into the compound until she vetted him or her. The only time she allowed a stranger onto the base was when a B-29 pilot arrived late for a meeting. She sized him up in a few minutes and decided, he was okay. The pilot? None other than Colonel Paul Tibbets. I’d say she was a good judge of character.
No matter what task Oppie asked Dorothy to perform, she never balked. She, like many women were mesmerized by this soft spoken giant in the world of Physics. Whether he knew it or not, he had quite an effect on the female persuasion, yet stay true to his wife Kitty.
Without going into too much detail, she loved this man for his energy, kindness, compassion and wit.
Oppie’s drawback was his intelligence and superior attitude. Many of his colleagues embraced it while others, who felt his harsh wit, held high resentment, including the military.
After the war, we are aware of the McCarthy hearings and how they were designed to weed out any and all people who were remotely connected to the Communist Party. Many of the scientists who worked on the bomb, for whatever reasons had joined the party, but were not active. It was the thing to do. The identification of Fuchs and the Rosenbergs as Russian spies added salt to the wound. Oppenheimer would be grilled at congressional hearings for not releasing the name of a would-be informant.
His naivety of political workings would be his temporary downfall in the public eye. No textbook or theorem could prepare him for the inner workings of Washington.
This is an excellent read for anyone interested in the inner workings of Los Alamos and the individuals who launched the world into the atomic age.
Five Stars!
We all know Oppenheimer was dubbed, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” but how was he able to do it is the real story.
We were in a race to beat Germany to the draw. Everyone knew, if Hitler got there first, he’d waste no time nuking Moscow, London, Warsaw or any other target in Europe. General Groves chooses Oppenheimer to lead the charge at Los Alamos.
Talk about two diametric individuals, Oppie is the quintessential academian while Groves is hardcore military. War does make strange bedfellows. But the glue that holds this tenuous détente together is Dorothy McKibbins whom Oppie hired. Without her organizational skills and calm demeanor, it’s questionable whether the Manhattan Project would have succeeded. She was the prop master behind the curtain that allowed the performers to shine. You name it and she saw it was handled even it wasn’t in her job title: housing, food, transportation, entertainment, lost luggage, passes, credentials. No one stepped foot into the compound until she vetted him or her. The only time she allowed a stranger onto the base was when a B-29 pilot arrived late for a meeting. She sized him up in a few minutes and decided, he was okay. The pilot? None other than Colonel Paul Tibbets. I’d say she was a good judge of character.
No matter what task Oppie asked Dorothy to perform, she never balked. She, like many women were mesmerized by this soft spoken giant in the world of Physics. Whether he knew it or not, he had quite an effect on the female persuasion, yet stay true to his wife Kitty.
Without going into too much detail, she loved this man for his energy, kindness, compassion and wit.
Oppie’s drawback was his intelligence and superior attitude. Many of his colleagues embraced it while others, who felt his harsh wit, held high resentment, including the military.
After the war, we are aware of the McCarthy hearings and how they were designed to weed out any and all people who were remotely connected to the Communist Party. Many of the scientists who worked on the bomb, for whatever reasons had joined the party, but were not active. It was the thing to do. The identification of Fuchs and the Rosenbergs as Russian spies added salt to the wound. Oppenheimer would be grilled at congressional hearings for not releasing the name of a would-be informant.
His naivety of political workings would be his temporary downfall in the public eye. No textbook or theorem could prepare him for the inner workings of Washington.
This is an excellent read for anyone interested in the inner workings of Los Alamos and the individuals who launched the world into the atomic age.
Five Stars!
April 13, 2009
Having lived in Santa Fe and visited Los Alamos on a number of occasions, this book was particularly interesting to me. It gave a close up look at the many individuals who developed the Atomic Bomb, particularly Oppenheimer and his public relations aide, Dorothy. There is quite a picture of how these people tolerated (mostly with heavy drinking) the privations of isolation from family, poor living conditions, and crisis of conscience after the bomb. It was interesting to note the difference in the personalities and outlooks of theoretical physicists compared to the pragmatists of the Military who conducted World War II.
November 27, 2013
This is history made human - I really appreciated that Jennet Conant didn't end her storytelling with the Trinity Site Test or at Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
The reader learns the shape of the land that would become home to Robert Oppenheimer's group as they raced to build the bomb. We come to know the story of many of the project's personalities, struggles, and achievements. What is exceptional about these stories is the way they weave together and include frank looks at the pre-war and post-war lives of those who one way or another found themselves caught up in the work of the Manhattan project.
I'd just finished reading Einstein: His Life and Universe before I read this, it was great preparation before delving into the lives of the physicists who would work in Los Alamos . It helped me to understand better the world people left before they walked through the door at 109 E Palace and the one they would inhabit afterward.
The reader learns the shape of the land that would become home to Robert Oppenheimer's group as they raced to build the bomb. We come to know the story of many of the project's personalities, struggles, and achievements. What is exceptional about these stories is the way they weave together and include frank looks at the pre-war and post-war lives of those who one way or another found themselves caught up in the work of the Manhattan project.
I'd just finished reading Einstein: His Life and Universe before I read this, it was great preparation before delving into the lives of the physicists who would work in Los Alamos . It helped me to understand better the world people left before they walked through the door at 109 E Palace and the one they would inhabit afterward.
October 14, 2024
My introduction to this man who changed the world.
A scary topic from start to finish (and it isn't even finished. . .?) and one that even left him wishing for different choices it seems.
Amazing what a group of strangers can do when they put their minds to it. I can't stop thinking about 100, 200 years from now and where this "invention" will land on the list of human achievements.
A scary topic from start to finish (and it isn't even finished. . .?) and one that even left him wishing for different choices it seems.
Amazing what a group of strangers can do when they put their minds to it. I can't stop thinking about 100, 200 years from now and where this "invention" will land on the list of human achievements.
May 6, 2020
I bought this book because I love history and I lived in Los Alamos for 8 years, worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory and currently work at Sandia. I am married to a physicist and come from a family of physicists even though I am not one. So I was pulled in from page one. I have been to 109 East Palace Avenue many times. The book is so incredibly good. My one issue is that it is so dense with history and thoughts that if I daydreamed for even a second I lots a golden nugget and had to go back. Not a bad thing. I am glad I bought this book in paper form and I plan to keep it. Absolutely worth the read for anyone who wants a more personal history of what it was like to live in Los Alamos during the project and what happened after. Thank you for your detailed research and humanizing story.
August 28, 2018
Another great find from the little free library in our neighborhood. This book chronicles the establishment of a laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico and the subsequent development and use of the atomic bomb. It also briefly covers the fall-out that the laboratory director experienced during the Red Scare. I am not as familiar with WWII and the eastern hemisphere, so this book was eye opening in that regard. It was also well written for a non-fiction novel and offered several points of view from various sources (the lab director, the scientists themselves, scientists' family members, and Dorothy McKibbin the administrative director of the laboratory). The author did a great job of highlighting day to day life in the laboratory and how isolating it was for the individuals living/working there. The descriptions of the high birth rate and how busy the pediatrician was were amusing. Overall, this book is worth reading if you're into history/WWII.
July 13, 2024
After getting through American Prometheus I wasn’t super excited about starting in on another book about Oppenheimer and the manhattan project. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book approached it all from a different perspective and included nuggets of information that I hadn’t read about before. It was a good read that I ended up enjoying more than I expected to.
August 4, 2023
When I read history books, I'm always skeptical of the author's personal opinions altering the facts. But besides the author's Forward of the book, she stayed on track on the retelling of the personal accounts of Dorothy McKibbin as well as the documented history of the Manhattan Project.
This will be my top book recommendation for anyone who wants an easy to digest biographical account on Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project.
This will be my top book recommendation for anyone who wants an easy to digest biographical account on Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project.
June 29, 2017
This fascinating book by the granddaughter of James B. Conant, who administrated the Manhattan Project, tells the "human story" of the creation of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the development of the nuclear bomb near the end of World War II. Though the story is framed as an account of Dorothy McKibbin, the administrator who ran the "front office" of the secret wartime lab at the Santa Fe address that serves as the book's title, it is clearly an homage to J. Robert Oppenheimer and his leadership of the wartime effort.
Conant creates wonderfully vibrant characters out of what were perhaps the oddest assortment of geniuses ever assembled. It would have been very easy for the book to become little more than a side show of mad scientists, but Conant's passion for the story keeps the inevitable quirkiness authentic and, well, lovable. Genius scientists are rarely known for their "people skills" (Oppenheimer being a grand exception), but Conant is exceptionally sympathetic in her portrayal of these often difficult personalities. The one glaring exception is her portrayal of Edward Teller, who she clearly disdains. This is not a book about the A-bomb...it is a book about the community that created the A-bomb under some of the most unusual and strenuous circumstances humans could endure.
I found particularly gratifying her discussion of the immediate aftermath of Los Alamos' success, describing fully the way the various key scientists reacted to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Her portrayal of the moral ambiguity of that moment is a great moment to consider the ever more tangled web of technological advancement, militaristic foreign policy, and political expediency. In her telling, Oppenheimer's exceptionalism is rooted in his early and keen perception of the moral dilemma created by atomic energy, summarized by his famous quote after the successful test of the first atomic bomb: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Conant's carrying of the story into the McCarthy era, the revocation of Oppenheimer's security clearance and consultancy at the Atomic Energy Commission feels, to be honest, as if it goes a bit "beyond" where the story could have (perhaps should have) ended. And it is in that final section that her "crusading" for Oppenheimer's reputation as a great scientist and a great American--as well as her most damning remarks about Edward Teller's lack of character--becomes most strident. It's as if she wishes to provide the defense that her grandfather was unable to effectively mount at the height of the "Red Scare" of the 1950s.
I've always been fascinated by biographies of "great minds," so this book was fascinating in its incisive explorations of a COMMUNITY of such minds and how they interacted and reacted to each other. Conant does a tremendous job of drawing the reader into that story and making the reader care more about what happened to the people than about what happened to the project. It was a book long in the finishing, but a book that was worthy of the time.
Conant creates wonderfully vibrant characters out of what were perhaps the oddest assortment of geniuses ever assembled. It would have been very easy for the book to become little more than a side show of mad scientists, but Conant's passion for the story keeps the inevitable quirkiness authentic and, well, lovable. Genius scientists are rarely known for their "people skills" (Oppenheimer being a grand exception), but Conant is exceptionally sympathetic in her portrayal of these often difficult personalities. The one glaring exception is her portrayal of Edward Teller, who she clearly disdains. This is not a book about the A-bomb...it is a book about the community that created the A-bomb under some of the most unusual and strenuous circumstances humans could endure.
I found particularly gratifying her discussion of the immediate aftermath of Los Alamos' success, describing fully the way the various key scientists reacted to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Her portrayal of the moral ambiguity of that moment is a great moment to consider the ever more tangled web of technological advancement, militaristic foreign policy, and political expediency. In her telling, Oppenheimer's exceptionalism is rooted in his early and keen perception of the moral dilemma created by atomic energy, summarized by his famous quote after the successful test of the first atomic bomb: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Conant's carrying of the story into the McCarthy era, the revocation of Oppenheimer's security clearance and consultancy at the Atomic Energy Commission feels, to be honest, as if it goes a bit "beyond" where the story could have (perhaps should have) ended. And it is in that final section that her "crusading" for Oppenheimer's reputation as a great scientist and a great American--as well as her most damning remarks about Edward Teller's lack of character--becomes most strident. It's as if she wishes to provide the defense that her grandfather was unable to effectively mount at the height of the "Red Scare" of the 1950s.
I've always been fascinated by biographies of "great minds," so this book was fascinating in its incisive explorations of a COMMUNITY of such minds and how they interacted and reacted to each other. Conant does a tremendous job of drawing the reader into that story and making the reader care more about what happened to the people than about what happened to the project. It was a book long in the finishing, but a book that was worthy of the time.
February 28, 2017
In 109 East Palace, Jennet Conant writes a very readable history of the Los Alamos installation of the Manhattan Project. The book revolves around J. Robert Oppenheimer and Dorothy McKibben, a young widow who is hired to be the "door keeper" to the project in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Anyone who went to the Los Alamos site had to first pass through the small office at 109 East Palace which was run by Dorothy. All she was told was that it was a secret project related to the war effort.
Conant's book is very readable and human, filled with human interest not just about the scientists, but also about their families and how they coped. I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to anyone interested in this period in history.
Conant's book is very readable and human, filled with human interest not just about the scientists, but also about their families and how they coped. I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to anyone interested in this period in history.
June 29, 2007
Cool assemblage of stories about working at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project. Makes me ponder: what if my calling in life was to build the most horrible/destructive weapon imaginable?
April 7, 2021
I am so happy my friend Ash recommended I read this book. It is now one of my favorite books I’ve read on the Manhattan Project. It’s quite unique, because it tells the story from the perspective of a plucky secretary, who manned the project headquarters in Santa Fe on 109 East Palace -- which is where the book's title comes from. The secretary is an extraordinary woman. Despite having failed physics--not once but twice-- and despite her having little idea of what was going on, she took the job impulsively, feeling herself drawn to Oppenheimer. I never realized how challenging Oppenheimer's wife was, nor how really kind of out of it he was. Head in the clouds scientist who had very little or maybe I could say had zero background in experimental physics, he was such an odd choice to begin with-- but he said it was only by default that he got this position in the first place.
In addition to being fascinated by the story of the secretary, who was a fascinating woman, I also felt the book was unique in really telling the story of the secret city of Las Alamos. Despite having taking a history of science class at Caltech on Einstein with an additional focus on Trinity, I never knew much about the history of Las Alamos.
Conant did a wonderful job of telling multiple threads in such a short book. And she really excelled in the end when discussing how Oppenheimer was treated by the US government, as well as in dealing with the moral questions surrounding the use of the two bombs-- which she treated each case separately as is appropriate. Highly recommend!
In addition to being fascinated by the story of the secretary, who was a fascinating woman, I also felt the book was unique in really telling the story of the secret city of Las Alamos. Despite having taking a history of science class at Caltech on Einstein with an additional focus on Trinity, I never knew much about the history of Las Alamos.
Conant did a wonderful job of telling multiple threads in such a short book. And she really excelled in the end when discussing how Oppenheimer was treated by the US government, as well as in dealing with the moral questions surrounding the use of the two bombs-- which she treated each case separately as is appropriate. Highly recommend!
May 6, 2018
After reading this book, I have a totally new appreciation for the amount of brain power that physicists have to have at their beck and call.
Robert Oppenheimer and his tribe of scientists were charged (secretly) with developing the atomic bomb. Under military organization and oversight, a laboratory was established on the top of a mesa in the middle of nowhere. Extreme measures were employed.
Conant tells a detail-laden story of life on the mesa in a time of war and fear. The characters are all real, and the science is all real. The most moving moment for me? After the test and the scientists are all whooping in celebration, the realization of what they have actually created settles in. They are overwhelmed.
Read this book. Oppenheimer is a complex man, and his later troubles with McCarthy and politics often overshadow his brilliant mind. Life is never simple.
Robert Oppenheimer and his tribe of scientists were charged (secretly) with developing the atomic bomb. Under military organization and oversight, a laboratory was established on the top of a mesa in the middle of nowhere. Extreme measures were employed.
Conant tells a detail-laden story of life on the mesa in a time of war and fear. The characters are all real, and the science is all real. The most moving moment for me? After the test and the scientists are all whooping in celebration, the realization of what they have actually created settles in. They are overwhelmed.
Read this book. Oppenheimer is a complex man, and his later troubles with McCarthy and politics often overshadow his brilliant mind. Life is never simple.
May 26, 2020
As someone who grew up in Los Alamos in the late 70s-early 90s and went back thru the 90s and early 2000s to visit, I found myself having waves of nostalgia for the town and environs while reading. I especially enjoyed this telling of the Manhattan Project as it concentrated heavily on what life was like in the town, and the wives and families and their experiences during that time. Really well done, and a very good read.
My only small complaint was that the author failed to used n-tilde in names of places, typing "Espanola" instead of "Española" for instance, making it clear the author was not from the Southwest or conversant/caring about geographical names.
My only small complaint was that the author failed to used n-tilde in names of places, typing "Espanola" instead of "Española" for instance, making it clear the author was not from the Southwest or conversant/caring about geographical names.
October 11, 2023
Seven years on my to-read pile and I'm glad I finally made time to read it. I would actually say this was more about Dorothy McKibbin who worked in the office at 109 East Palace and her perspective of Oppenheimer and Los Alamos, but even that doesn't feel right. The writing flows and feels intimate, you are getting to know the people who swore an oath of secrecy and loyalty to a man that has become a myth. And yet some of the writing did seem to be biased. A bit of a mixed bag for me.
September 14, 2023
Read this because of the new Oppenheimer movie. Provides amazing background details about the time and place of Los Alamos during WW II, and the format is easy to read and follow. Counting on the author, editors, and publisher to ensure all of the information is accurate.
July 28, 2023
I could only find the abridged audiobook but it was very good! Great accompaniment to OPPENHEIMER if you don’t have time to read American Prometheus.
September 12, 2023
Great story of Oppenheimer and Los Alamos from viewpoint of Dorothy McKibben of Santa Fe who kept the secret.
September 25, 2023
just wish she got more dirt on which women hated who, more mess hall talk
May 30, 2024
Very interesting account of Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project told from mostly the perspective of Dorothy who set up the whole project. It does cover Oppenheimer as well, but found myself more interested in the daily workings of Los Alamos. Really great account!
September 20, 2022
Listened to the Audible version of this book after visiting Santa Fe and Los Alamos. That made it even more interesting and relatable. I would have enjoyed it even if I hadn’t visited 109 E Palace. Good story of Oppenheimer and Dorothy McKibbon.
July 24, 2019
This is one of the best books I've read. Non-fiction that reads like fiction. It is a compelling story. I really liked that the author focused on Dorthy McKibbin and Robert Oppenheimer to tell the story.
I recently visited Los Alamos so I had a real senses of place when the author described the area.
I recently visited Los Alamos so I had a real senses of place when the author described the area.
February 10, 2012
About 18 months ago, we visited Los Alamos, New Mexico, as part of our "out West" trip. It's the city located high on a mesa in the middle of the desert, formed solely to work on creating the bomb that ended WWII in the 1940s. I was totally fascinated by the place, and this is the 2nd or 3rd book on the topic I've read since.
"109 East Palace" is so named because that's the address of the office in Santa Fe where all the folks hired to work at Los Alamos went when they first arrived. Inside the unassuming office (it's just off Santa Fe's famous plaza, if you've ever visited), a friendly woman named Dorothy McKibbin greeted them and helped them feel at home -- well, as "at home" as one could feel when learning one would be living in a secret community. Residents weren't allowed to tell relatives where they actually lived (Box 1663 Santa Fe was the address for the thousands who lived there), or what they were working on, etc. Even many of the wives didn't know what the husbands were doing. The community was surrounded by barbed wire and no one could get in without a security pass. This kind of freaked out many of the German physicists who worked there, since they had recently come over from Nazi Germany.
It's also the story of Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the project. He was a quirky, odd, yet brilliant guy who inspired affection and loyalty in most all the residents. I was so interested in reading all the details of the various relationships that developed in the community -- the excitement of the Trinity Test (when the bomb was tested prior to its being used in Japan - just afterwards, Oppenheimer quoted from Hindu scriptures: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds") -- the shock and disbelief of the physicists when they realized that all their frantic work had actually produced such a powerful weapon ("They're going to take this thing and fry hundreds of Japanese" one worker said in despair) -- sadness over Oppenheimer's wife, who was a former Communist and seemed pretty nuts (I kept wishing he and Dorothy McKibbin, who was widowed, could have gotten together) -- sadness over Oppenheimer's actually losing his security clearance 10 years later in the McCarthy hearings.
Yes, I'm rambling, but there is so much to learn in this book. Very interesting, and I think you'll enjoy this glimpse into part of our country's past if you read it. I would have given it 5 stars, but the last chapter or so contained some liberal bias (I felt) by the author.
"109 East Palace" is so named because that's the address of the office in Santa Fe where all the folks hired to work at Los Alamos went when they first arrived. Inside the unassuming office (it's just off Santa Fe's famous plaza, if you've ever visited), a friendly woman named Dorothy McKibbin greeted them and helped them feel at home -- well, as "at home" as one could feel when learning one would be living in a secret community. Residents weren't allowed to tell relatives where they actually lived (Box 1663 Santa Fe was the address for the thousands who lived there), or what they were working on, etc. Even many of the wives didn't know what the husbands were doing. The community was surrounded by barbed wire and no one could get in without a security pass. This kind of freaked out many of the German physicists who worked there, since they had recently come over from Nazi Germany.
It's also the story of Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the project. He was a quirky, odd, yet brilliant guy who inspired affection and loyalty in most all the residents. I was so interested in reading all the details of the various relationships that developed in the community -- the excitement of the Trinity Test (when the bomb was tested prior to its being used in Japan - just afterwards, Oppenheimer quoted from Hindu scriptures: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds") -- the shock and disbelief of the physicists when they realized that all their frantic work had actually produced such a powerful weapon ("They're going to take this thing and fry hundreds of Japanese" one worker said in despair) -- sadness over Oppenheimer's wife, who was a former Communist and seemed pretty nuts (I kept wishing he and Dorothy McKibbin, who was widowed, could have gotten together) -- sadness over Oppenheimer's actually losing his security clearance 10 years later in the McCarthy hearings.
Yes, I'm rambling, but there is so much to learn in this book. Very interesting, and I think you'll enjoy this glimpse into part of our country's past if you read it. I would have given it 5 stars, but the last chapter or so contained some liberal bias (I felt) by the author.
July 25, 2023
what a beautiful personal account of the story of oppenheimer and los alamos. so readable and so effective.
Read
July 27, 2011This is the story of the first atomic bomb, told biographically by piecing together memoirs of many key players from 1940s Los Alamos. The idea was surely inspired by the fact that the author’s grandfather was an administrator for the Manhattan Project, so he knew everyone and eventually shared some of the stories with his family.
The problem is that physicists and professors just aren’t very interesting people. The first 100 pages, as the "characters" are all introduced, was some of the most dreadfully boring reading I’ve ever subjected myself to. Every time I wanted to quit though, I’d flip to the middle of the book and read a paragraph that was more like what I was hoping for. Just by virtue of having to live secret lives in a remote location for years, there must have been some good stories… right?
The answer is: not really. Every once in a while there was a tidbit that I enjoyed but – for the most part – the people just acted predictably stir-crazy.
On the plus side, I will say that I was completely riveted by the couple of chapters about the Trinity test and the subsequent bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It made me wish I could go on one of those rare tours of the Trinity site or – better yet – to the Peace Memorial in Japan. I’ll probably have to settle for a trip to Los Alamos, but that’s okay because it will be much easier to appreciate now that I have the scene set in my head.
The problem is that physicists and professors just aren’t very interesting people. The first 100 pages, as the "characters" are all introduced, was some of the most dreadfully boring reading I’ve ever subjected myself to. Every time I wanted to quit though, I’d flip to the middle of the book and read a paragraph that was more like what I was hoping for. Just by virtue of having to live secret lives in a remote location for years, there must have been some good stories… right?
The answer is: not really. Every once in a while there was a tidbit that I enjoyed but – for the most part – the people just acted predictably stir-crazy.
On the plus side, I will say that I was completely riveted by the couple of chapters about the Trinity test and the subsequent bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It made me wish I could go on one of those rare tours of the Trinity site or – better yet – to the Peace Memorial in Japan. I’ll probably have to settle for a trip to Los Alamos, but that’s okay because it will be much easier to appreciate now that I have the scene set in my head.
January 14, 2013
As the first order of business I'd like to give this novel 4.5 stars. With that finished we can move on to the more interesting bits. For having grown up in Los Alamos and working at the national lab for 5 summers I know shockingly little about the town's war years. In fact, this was my first foray into reading a book detailing the Manhattan Project. I will try to keep the nostalgic influence for my childhood home to a minimum. My initial realization during the first hundred pages was how well Conant described the balance between the work all of the scientists did and the strain they felt as people (mostly from their horrific living conditions). Similarly, Conant captured the tension in their lives due to the secretive nature of their work, which meant husbands and wifes could not discuss anything freely. Another facet of the scientists' humanity that was fascinating stemmed from the tension between the military and Oppenheimer, with my favorite scene being when Oppenheimer wore an indian headdress after Groves told him his normal hat was too conspicuous. One strange point to me was how many of the scientists were theoreticians. This made me wonder about the untold stories of the scientists who truly designed and built the bombs. In short, Conant's descriptions covered both the scientific and human aspects of these extraordinary people, and, as a scientist, I have often seen how hard it is to convey both adequately.
July 14, 2008
This was a bargain table book. What a find! It was written by the granddaughter of James B. Conant, administrator of the Manhattan Project.
Although I was too young to remember this time in our history, I have always had an interest in WWII. I really enjoyed this book...the story of Los Alamos, NM and the secret project to create an atomic weapon. The 'behind the scene' relationships between scientist, military personnel, civilians, and government lend a personal aspect to the story. The familial and public repercussions for many of the 'actors' in this real life drama were harsh. It made me appreciate, even more, the dedication, perserverence, bravery, loyalty and intellect of those people, great and small, who accomplished this immense task.
I hope you enjoy learning about this part of our history as much as I did.
Although I was too young to remember this time in our history, I have always had an interest in WWII. I really enjoyed this book...the story of Los Alamos, NM and the secret project to create an atomic weapon. The 'behind the scene' relationships between scientist, military personnel, civilians, and government lend a personal aspect to the story. The familial and public repercussions for many of the 'actors' in this real life drama were harsh. It made me appreciate, even more, the dedication, perserverence, bravery, loyalty and intellect of those people, great and small, who accomplished this immense task.
I hope you enjoy learning about this part of our history as much as I did.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews