Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up, and the Deceitful Case for the Atom Bomb

by Peter Watson

Overview

The justification for the atomic bomb was simple: it would defeat Hitler and end the Second World War faster, saving lives. The reality was different.

Fallout dismantles the conventional story of why the atom bomb was built. Peter Watson has found new documents showing that long before the Allied bomb was operational, it was clear that Germany had no atomic weapons of its own and was not likely to. The British knew this, but didn't share their knowledge with the Americans, who in turn deceived the British about the extent to which the Soviets had penetrated their plans to build and deploy the bomb.

The dark secret was that the bomb was dropped not to decisively end the war in the Pacific but to warn off Stalin's Russia, still in principle a military ally of the US and Britain. It did not bring a hot war to an abrupt end; instead it set up the terms for a Cold one to begin.

Moreover, none of the scientists recruited to build the bomb had any idea that the purpose of the bomb had been secretly changed and that Russian deterrence was its new objective.

Fallout vividly reveals the story of the unnecessary building of the atomic bomb, the most destructive weapon in the world, and the long-term consequences that are still playing out to this day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610399616
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	09/18/2018
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	1,098,088
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Peter Watson is a journalist, television presenter and historian of intellectual movements. He has written for the Observer, the Daily Telegraph, the Times, the Sunday Times, the New York Times, and the Spectator. His books include The Modern Mind; Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud; and The German Genius; The Age of Atheists; and Convergence — and he has been published in twenty-six countries.

Table of Contents

Preface - Cover-Up: 'When the Righteous Sin' 1

Part 1 Incognito: Klaus Fuchs and Niels Bohr

1 Zigzag 11

Part 2 The Overestimate of the Germans

2 The Taste of Fear: The Menace of Fission 25

3 The Beginnings of a 'Strategic Game' 38

4 Struggles over Secrecy 46

5 The Midwives 69

6 The Strategic Sabotage of Heavy Water 75

7 The First Glimpses of Germany's Nuclear Secrets 81

8 The 'Crown Jewel' of Secrets 93

9 Intelligence Blackout: The Fatal Mistake 105

10 Fall Out 122

11 'Hard Evidence' of Soviet Spying 139

12 The Secret Agenda of General Groves 153

13 The Bohr Scare 184

14 A Vital Clue Vanishes 190

15 'Don't Bother Me With Your Scruples': The Loss of Innocence 213

16 The Claws of the Bear 223

Part 3 Lives in Parallel: Niels Bohr and Klaus Fuchs

17 The Little Fox 247

18 Lunch in the Supreme Court 269

19 'The Mission He Had Been Waiting For' 274

20 A President 'Eager for Help' 282

21 The Letter from Moscow 287

22 The Prime Minister's Mistake 295

23 The Bomb in Trouble: Mistakes at Los Alamos 303

24 The President's Mistake 309

Part 4 The Underestimate of the Russians

25 Bohr and Stalin 317

26 Fuchs: Shining in the Shadows 340

Acknowledgements 367

Notes 371

Index 405

Editorial Reviews

08/06/2018
Unprecedented scientific breakthroughs, World War geopolitics, and the birth of the Cold War serve as the backdrop to this thorough history of the atomic bomb from journalist and historian Watson (The Modern Mind). Watson posits that “by not acting as allies, the Allies kick-started the nuclear arms race we inherit today” and outlines how various actors kept various pieces of important information from others: the U.S. hid the Germans’ lack of nuclear arsenal from its scientists, and the British knew but didn’t share that Soviet spies were aware of the American research. Alongside well-known scientists such as Niels Bohr, Werner Heisnberg, and Karl Fuchs, Watson brings into the spotlight critical yet lesser-known actors, such as Austrian scientific publisher and spy Paul Rosbaud, who worked undercover for England. The book’s strongest section juxtaposes Bohr’s efforts to share information through official channels with the more illicit efforts of physicist-spy Fuchs to inform the Russians of nuclear developments; the idea that nuclear transparency was essential to maintaining peace was pervasive in some diplomatic and scientific circles. The question of whether the atomic bomb was even needed to win the war recurs throughout. Watson’s speculations about the potential knock-on effects of a non-nuclear end to WWII feel a little overstated. However, he writes about quantum physics and scientific developments in an accessible way that even the uninitiated will appreciate. Agent: Robin Straus, Robin Straus Agency. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly