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  • The General and the Genius

  • Groves and Oppenheimer - The Unlikely Partnership That Built the Atom Bomb
  • By: James Kunetka
  • Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
  • Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (70 ratings)
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The General and the Genius

By: James Kunetka
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
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Summary

Two ambitious men. One historic mission. With a blinding flash in the New Mexico desert in the summer of 1945, the world was changed forever. The bomb that ushered in the atomic age was the product of one of history's most improbable partnerships. The General and the Genius reveals how two extraordinary men pulled off the greatest scientific feat of the 20th century. Leslie Richard Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers, who had made his name by building the Pentagon in record time and under budget, was made overlord of the impossibly vast scientific enterprise known as the Manhattan Project. His mission: to beat the Nazis to the atomic bomb. So he turned to the nation's preeminent theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer - the chain-smoking, martini-quaffing son of wealthy Jewish immigrants, whose background was riddled with communist associations - Groves' opposite in nearly every respect. In their three-year collaboration, the iron-willed general and the visionary scientist led a brilliant team in a secret mountaintop lab and built the fearsome weapons that ended the war but introduced the human race to unimaginable new terrors. And at the heart of this most momentous work of World War II is the story of two extraordinary men - the general and the genius.

©2015 James Kunetka (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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Great book

Not as good as the making of the Atomic bomb, but it’s really great. Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in the bomb. The book is not only about Oppie and groves but about all aspects of the Manhattan project

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Excellent detail on a great historical period

Very much enjoyed the pace, the detailed information about the living quarters and the rest of trinity, just excellent

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Amazing story

Read beautifully this amazing story really comes to life with detail and personality. The narrator deserves particular praise.

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Really excellent

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this rather heavy subject but quickly realised it was superbly written combination of technical and historical fact combined with interesting human interest.

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Excellent!

I read the classic account by Richard Rhodes, but this stands up very well indeed as a very human telling of the story

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