A thrilling narrative of scientific triumph, decades of secrecy and the unimaginable destruction wrought by the creation of the atomic bomb. Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part 1. The road to Hanford -- The chain reaction -- Element 94 -- The decision -- The Met Lab -- Plutonium at last -- The demonstration -- Part 2. A factory in the desert -- The evicted -- The builders -- The B Reactor -- The T Plant -- Implosion -- Washington, D.C. -- Trinity -- Tinian Island -- Part 3. Under the mushroom cloud -- Nagasaki Medical College Hospital -- The Urakami Valley -- Nagasaki -- Part 4. Confronting Armageddon -- The Cold War -- Building the nuclear arsenal -- Peak production -- The reckoning -- Remembering -- Epilogue.