BOMB : Prologue and Part I

"There is a great deal more to this story. It goes way back," he said. "I would like to tell it all."

Right from the Prologue, Steve Sheinkin throws us into the tension filled moment when Harry Gold, an American spy for the Soviet Union, is frantically destroying evidence and then fielding questions from FBI agents. With such an awesome hook, how could you not keep reading?! I couldn't stop turning pages to find out what events had lead up to this final moment. I forgot that I was reading narrative nonfiction because I was so taken in by the exciting story line.

On the jacket flap, Steve Sheinkin refers to himself as a “story detective.” Doing research often feels like detective work, which is one way to think about engaging in real world explorations and research. 

Within Bomb, Mr. Sheinkin specifically balances three narratives: America’s efforts to build the bomb, America’s efforts to impede the German’s attempts to build the bomb, and the Soviet’s efforts to steal the bomb research from the Americans or the Germans. Often times, we consider events only from one point-of-view... typically the point-of-view of the United States. Maybe we can become "story detectives" like Mr. Sheinkin, and the next time we are researching a single event we can use a variety of perspectives to examine that event from an international, interconnected context. Think about a current or historical event. How does your understanding of the issue change when you look at it from multiple, international perspectives? 

What do you think of the book so far? Leave your thoughts in 'comments'.

Next, read... Part 2 : Chain Reaction by June 28th.