{"product_id":"book-jwtz","title":"The Devil Reached Toward the Sky","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOn the eightieth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the Pulitzer Prize finalist whose work is \"oral history at its finest\" (\u003cem\u003ePittsburgh Post-Gazette\u003c\/em\u003e) delivers an epic narrative of the atomic bomb's creation and deployment, woven from the voices of hundreds of scientists, generals, soldiers, and civilians.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe building of the atomic bomb is the most audacious undertaking in human history: a rush by a small group of scientists and engineers in complete secrecy to unlock the most fundamental power of the universe. Even today, eighty years later, the Manhattan Project evokes boldness, daring, and the grandest of dreams: bringing an end to World War II in the Pacific, a conflict that already had stretched from Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal to Leyte Gulf to Iwo Jima and Okinawa.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen fight those battles, men and women strive to discover the atom's secrets at laboratories and plants in places like Chicago, Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos. On August 6, 1945, the world discovers what the end of the war-and the new global age-will look like. Science and politics will never be the same again.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe road to the first atomic bomb ends in Hiroshima, Japan, but it begins in Hitler's Europe, where brilliant physicists following the path that Einstein blazed are forced to flee fascism and antisemitism-bringing to America their determination to harness atomic power before it falls into the Führer's arsenal. \u003cem\u003eThe Devil Reached Toward the Sky \u003c\/em\u003etraces the breakthroughs and the breakneck pace of atomic development in the years leading up to 1945, then takes us inside the B-29 bombers carrying Little Boy and Fat Man and finally to ground zero at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff, this book\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eis the panoramic narrative of how ordinary people grapple with extraordinary wartime risks, sacrifices, and choices that will transform the course of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheorists and engineers dare to experiment with forces of terrifying power for the purpose of creating an atomic bomb, knowing each passing day costs soldiers' lives-but fearing too the consequences of their creation. Hundreds of thousands of workers toil around the clock to produce uranium and plutonium in an endeavor so classified that most people involved learn the reality of their effort only when it is announced on the radio by President Truman. The 509th Composite Group trains for a mission whose details are kept a mystery until shortly before takeoff, when the \u003cem\u003eEnola Gay \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eBockscar \u003c\/em\u003eare loaded with bombs the crew has never seen. And the civilians of two Japanese cities that have been spared American attacks-preserved for the sake of judging the power of the bomb on an intact city-escape their pulverized homes into a greater hellscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing from dozens of oral history archives and hundreds of books, reports, letters, diaries, and transcripts from across the United States, Japan, and Europe, Graff masterfully blends the memories and perspectives from the known and unknown. These include key figures like J. Robert Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, and President Truman; the crews of the B-29 bombers; and the haunting stories of the Hibakusha-the \"bomb-affected people.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth a testament to human ingenuity and resilience and a compelling drama told by the participants who lived it, \u003cem\u003eThe Devil Reached Toward the Sky \u003c\/em\u003eis a singular, profound, and searing book about the inception of our most powerful weapon and its haunting legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49642371875120,"sku":"BDjwtz","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49642371842352,"sku":"10jwtz","price":65.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/jwtz-Square-cover.jpg?v=1770758962","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-jwtz","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}