The Day the Sun Rose Twice
The Day the Sun Rose Twice
The Story of the Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945
Winner of the Western History Association’s Robert G. Athearn Award for outstanding book on the twentieth-century American West
Just before dawn on July 16, 1945, the world’s first nuclear bomb was detonated at Trinity Site in an isolated stretch of the central New Mexico desert. It may have been the single most important event of the twentieth century. The Day the Sun Rose Twice tells the fascinating story of the events leading up to this first test explosion, the characters and roles of the people involved, and the aftermath of the bomb’s successful demonstration.
With J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," at last getting his Hollywood close-up in Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster film Oppenheimer, readers can discover the background behind the world’s first atomic blast in Ferenc Morton Szasz’s award-winning history. "Tightly focused, lucidly written, and thoroughly researched," according to the New York Times Book Review, the book provides "a valuable introduction to how our nuclear dilemma began."
A thorough and well-written history of the Trinity Site nuclear explosion, the culmination of the work of the longhairs of Los Alamos.…a flawless and fascinating read, the definitive book on the subject.
May be the definitive account of the days and hours leading up to the first nuclear explosion in history and the legacy it left. He vividly reconstructs the story: the industrious atmosphere of the scientists and technicians; the grave considerations of those making key decisions; the sense of wonder, and twinges of conscience, at what had been achieved.
This tightly focused, lucidly written and thoroughly researched book.…describes the events, personalities and scientific processes that led to the detonation of the first atomic bomb in an isolated stretch of New Mexican desert.…Mr. Szasz provides fascinating details.…The Day the Sun Rose Twice is concise and cogent, a valuable introduction to how our nuclear dilemma began.
Ferenc Morton Szasz (1940-2010) was professor of history at the University of New Mexico.
