Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon

Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon written by Steve Sheinkin, is another non-fiction title that makes a difficult topic easy to understand, interesting to read about, and accessible to a wider audience.  I’ll admit, it’s been awhile since I’ve taken a U.S. history class, but I learned so much from this book that I never learned in school.  This non-fiction text reads more like a story because of the way the book is written, which makes it more exciting and interesting to read than a school textbook.

The author takes a look at three facets of the making of the atomic bomb, the first being an intimate portrait of the men behind the Manhattan project, the second being how the KGB created a network of spies to steal atomic bomb secrets from the U.S, and the third was the Allies efforts to sabotage the German bomb building process.

This book would be a great resource for reports for both older middle school students as well as high school students due to the great number of primary sources available with the book itself and the extensive bibliography found in the back.

Also, check out Steve Sheinkin’s other works including his historical work entitled The Notorious Benedict Arnold.  You can view his website for more information.

Title: Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
Author: Steve Sheinkin
Publisher: Roaring Books Press
Publication Date: 2012
Page Number: 266 pgs.