Monday, August 28, 2017

Picturing the Bomb by Rachel Fermi


While this book does not entirely consist of photographs, they do make up the majority of the book. It includes photos from Los Alamos, Oakridge and Hanford, all secret locations of the Manhattan Project, which cumulated in the construction of the world’s first atomic bomb. After reading a few books on the topic, this one was nice in that it provided a sizable photographic glimpse into that world. If you are not too familiar with the project, then the book does fill you in the major people, places, and events involved. Also included at the back is a time line, a glossary and a section for biographies and profiles of certain people involved. I found it interesting that the book points out that so many people associate the image of the mushroom cloud with the atomic bomb project, however to so many on the inside, it was daily life for years, not just a single moment and as a result of that these photos are very diverse. They portray daily life at the three locations showing the interior of the prefab homes, people at work in the factories at Oakridge or the labs in Los Alamos. There were families and children and social life among the work that are shown all together here with the more familiar photos of the ground zeros in Japan and the inner workings of the bomb parts, the planes used to transport the bombs and so on. As I’ve discovered in my reading on the subject, there’s always more to this story because it’s so many stories wrapped into one. I recommend it if you are at all interested in the Manhattan Project or World War Two.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Girls of Atomic City, by Denise Kiernan [940.53 Kie], or 109 East Palace Place, by Jennet Conant 623.451 Con].]

[ official Rachel Fermi Photography Blog ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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