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180th out of 280 books
—
188 voters
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 fa...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
May 2nd 2006
by Simon & Schuster
(first published 2005)
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Jul 16, 2009
Mahlon
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes history from a woman's perspective or WWII
Recommended to Mahlon by:
Amazon
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...more
The gripping and well-written back story of Los Alamos. Told mostly through the lens of Dorothy McKibben, the gatekeeper, and Oppenheimer. Many of the people who went there and arrived in Santa Fe did not even know where exactly they were going (Los Alamos), but were just told to go to 109 East Palace in Santa Fe. McKibben handled all the complicated logistics competently and in good humor.
After taking over a boys' camp, Los Alamos was a city built quickly and at first everything was muddy and...more
After taking over a boys' camp, Los Alamos was a city built quickly and at first everything was muddy and...more
This 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 dre...more
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 dre...more
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This book contains the information I've been looking for: the who, what, where, why and when of Los Alamos. There are some slow and tedious pages at the beginning and at the end, nevertheless, the book is an excellent resource. Jennet Conant captures the emotions and the hectic pace that went into providing housing, laboratories, security, and infrastructure for the new city, built from scratch, thrown together by the Army for the sole purpose of developing the atomic bomb before Nazi Germany. M...more
Ms. Conant draws on interviews with some of the key players, and on personal and other sources, to fashion a warm, readable account of the initiation and development of the Manhattan Project. She captures the power and weaknesses of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the charismatic leader of this project. Underrated at first, Oppenheimer managed to provide inspiration and direction to a disparate group of scientists and an ultimately large supporting cast, and in the end to produce the awesome weapons whi...more
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 u...more
"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 u...more
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 C...more
This is a riveting story of the building of the bomb at Los Alamos 1943-1945. Since my Dad had the opportunity to go on the Manhattan Project (and decided against it) and I currently live in New Mexico, I found it personally interesting as well. Great characters brought to life and very thorough research.....
I was fascinated by the two "lead characters"--Robert Oppenheimer and Dorothy McKibben. It sounds like Oppenheimer might have been the only guy who could have pulled this off, and I am horri...more
I was fascinated by the two "lead characters"--Robert Oppenheimer and Dorothy McKibben. It sounds like Oppenheimer might have been the only guy who could have pulled this off, and I am horri...more
I found the book extremely interesting, not only because it dealt with the development of the atomic bomb during a crucial period of our nation's history, but also because of the insight it provided into the way some of the world's top scientists were forced to live while working on this project. Oppenheimer was a fascinating person who proved to be skilled in leadership, which was crucial to bringing the project to a timely and successful conclusion. Sadly, his post-Los Alamos involvements thru...more
Excellent read. Had read much of Richard Rhodes book on the making of the bomb years ago. This gets a little into the that but it really spends more time developing the people and the relationships that made achieving success possible. It also deals with the personal costs to Oppenheimer during the war and just a bit afterward. Jennet is the granddaughter of James Conant, one of the academics advising FDR on atomic research so she has some additional insight and possibly a bit of bias; however,...more
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?
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 t...more
This is an excellent book on the..social...aspects of the Manhattan Project, giving good insight into the obstacles faced by J. Robert Oppenheimer as he shepherded a large group of scientists toward the goal of designing a nuclear weapon. While other books have been written on the science of this effort, this is the best description of the human effort that went into the project - particularly on the problems faced by the scientists and their families while living in isolation in Los Alamos. Opp...more
The directorship of Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, New Mexico near Santa Fe for the development of the nuclear bomb, aka the Manhattan Project, and the concurrent running of the gateway to the secret city by Dorothy McKibbin in the non descript 109 East Palace office in Santa Fe
Good working relationship between the scientists (led by Oppenheimer) and the military (led by General Groves)
Interesting information about the development of the Trinity test site, the political and moral ramification...more
Good working relationship between the scientists (led by Oppenheimer) and the military (led by General Groves)
Interesting information about the development of the Trinity test site, the political and moral ramification...more
Truly fascinating. A great history professor recommended this book and 5 years later I finally got around to finishing it. It's a little dry and long winded in some parts but she does a brilliant job humanizing the players.
My grandparent's home is on Palace Ave in Santa Fe, and I love reading about this tiny corner of the world during one my favorite historical periods. I have also been to Trinity Site, and there's this energy that hangs in the air there, It's very electric.
I think Oppenheimer...more
My grandparent's home is on Palace Ave in Santa Fe, and I love reading about this tiny corner of the world during one my favorite historical periods. I have also been to Trinity Site, and there's this energy that hangs in the air there, It's very electric.
I think Oppenheimer...more
109 East Palace provides a succinct account of how the a city of Los Alamos came about and how through that city the atom bomb was developed. The story of the atom bomb is one of the most fascinating in history from all points of view (history, military, science, political) and there is no doubt that Richard Rhodes provides the definitive account on the matter. What I find refreshing about Connat's book is that it takes a more humanistic view and shows how the people working on the bomb were aff...more
This book is incredibly readable and in at least the first half, provides an great story about the founding of Los Alamos, the logistics and personalities, and general miracle that anything was accomplished. I enjoyed the introduction to Dorothy, who appears to have been a saint to have put up with all that she did. Her passion for New Mexico and devotion to the project were impressive. I enjoyed learning about Groves and the other personalities that were part of the project, and found Oppenheim...more
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...more
I am familiar with much of the stories surrounding wartime Los...more
I enjoyed this book, which discusses what life was like for the scientist and other members of the Los Alamos community while they were working on the first Atomic Bomb.
They're shown warts and all, and much of the detail is provided by the journal of Dorothy McKibben, the woman who guarded the presence of the project from a small office at 109 East Palace. Written by the granddaughter of one of the men who helped run Los Alamos.
They're shown warts and all, and much of the detail is provided by the journal of Dorothy McKibben, the woman who guarded the presence of the project from a small office at 109 East Palace. Written by the granddaughter of one of the men who helped run Los Alamos.
Filled with trivia and gossip about Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. I found it a bit convoluted and sometimes a little tedious, but the trivia was great and when the project was closer to completion, the story of course gained momentum. It left you with the question...should the bombs have been dropped at all...was the second bomb necessary...what a miracle that the technology was even sucessful!
Most interesting book. A tad hard to get into at the outset, but by the middle of the book you felt like you were living on that high plateau with the wind constantly blowing! I think part of the hesitation was my fault, because I thought it was going to be a fictional account, so the painstaking research that the author did surprised me. Nora Gallaher wrote Changing Light, about a scientist who "escapes" from Los Alamos after he learns that the bomb won't be used against Germany but instead aga...more
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There are so many accounts of the Manhattan Project. This one is different, you see through the eyes of the little known names, the women who formed the support network, whose motto/MO/raison d'etre was "getting things done" to move the project along.
It also gives an interesting portrait of Santa Fe and how it came to be an important art colony.
It also gives an interesting portrait of Santa Fe and how it came to be an important art colony.
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...more
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...more
Enjoying reading this book. Hard for me to skim. My family moved to Los Alamos in 1960, three years after 'The Gate' came down. It's great reading about the wonderful city of Santa Fe. (It was quite the place in the early 60s anyway.) Fun reading more of the history of a place I called home for four years. I was a Hilltopper (High school nickname) for three years before we moved on to Nigeria.
Can picture some of the buildings noted in the book. Wish I had been more aware of the history of Los Al...more
Can picture some of the buildings noted in the book. Wish I had been more aware of the history of Los Al...more
Great true story of the secrecy surrounding the building of the atomic bomb. Gives an incredible inside story about how the families and scientists lived in secrecy less than an hour from Santa Fe without people knowing exactly what was happening. Written in great journalistic style.
As my uncle was a nuclear physicist who spent a lot of time at these labs I found this very interesting. Also very informative about that time in history and a personal glimpse into the people behind a very frightening and powerful weapon.
An amazing book about Robert Oppenheimer in Los Alamos, NM. I was so interested in the story that we went to visit Los Alamos last year. Definitely a wonderfully written story about an interesting chapter in American history.
I've been reading this in fits and starts for what seems like forever. I almost never do this, but it was there on my e-reader. I'd start up on it again when I finished a book and couldn't immediately get to the library for another. It just wasn't compelling enough to keep me going on it. Plus I found it sort of gossipy in tone and disorganized. When I reached a place where the next paragraph after a section about how witchy Oppenheimer's wife was, started talking about his problems getting a se...more
This is history that reads like a novel. A really dull, annoying novel. How dull? I stopped listening to this so that I could manually repair space-delimited .lev files so that Levelogger 3.30 could convert them to comma-delimited spreadsheets.
I enjoyed reading this book and learning about the origins of Los Alamos and the thousands of people who lived in secrecy and isolation during the research and development of the atomic bomb. Some of the characters were very interesting. If I had to name one reason why I enjoyed the book, it would be learning about the interpersonal relationships and socialization aspects of such a secluded group of scientific experts and their families.
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Aug 28, 2011 06:15pm
Aug 29, 2011 07:54am