Book Review: Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb

Source: Amazon.com

Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, by Richard Rhodes

From the book’s cover:

Here, for the first time, in a brilliant, panoramic portrait by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, is the definitive, often shocking story of the politics and the science behind the development of the hydrogen bomb and the birth of the Cold War. Based on secret files in the United States and the former Soviet Union, this monumental work of history discloses how and why the United States decided to create the bomb that would dominate world politics for more than forty years.


The Review:

I have started reading again after a bit of a dry spell in which I only listened to music on my headphones, or even did nothing at all. I note this only because it is part of the reason I felt a bit detached from this particular book. The material in Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb is interesting, but I seem to be having a tough time focusing. Perhaps a work of fiction might have held my attention better. That, and having been out of school now for a short while (as of the writing of these notes, and not the actual publishing of this review, and I really hope I'm out and done), I feel a bit... slow of mind.

The book's author, Richard Rhodes / Source: Wikipedia.org

[Sometime later, after having now completed the book] Wow. This thing is quite extensive. Dark Sun covers the scientific side of the development of both the hydrogen bomb and, to a certain extent because of the need for it as background, the atomic bomb. There is material on foreign policy, both from the Soviet and U.S. sides. There is material on the people who were intimately involved in the process, including major sections on the spy ring that made the transfer of knowledge between the U.S. and Soviet Union possible. There is an in-depth look at the mental workings of Curtis LeMay and the power SAC wielded in the 1950s. There is even material on the balance of global power that came about because of the arms race that the quest for the hydrogen bomb created.

This is all fantastic, mind you. But then again (and I realize part of this is me being in transition from school to non-school life) at times, it felt tedious. For instance, I thought some of the material included on Opennheimer was a bit overboard, and the entire spy ring side show, though relevant, seemed a bit too well covered in my estimation. I also thought the background info on the atomic bomb was covered in too much detail, but I also have read fairly extensively about that project and so it seemed redundant to me personally. However, others might disagree on both points I have just made. Really, there was no part of the whole story that seemed to get short shrift, and that may be a good thing for a novice who is interested in learning the whole story behind the evolution of the atomic bomb into the hydrogen - or so-called "thermonuclear" weapon.

As for things I learned, it was interesting to see the development of the actual hydrogen bomb itself. I confess to being weak on that particular aspect of the nuclear arms race, and so found the descriptions of the process by which multi-megaton weapons were dreamed up to be both fascinating and disturbing. The "Super," as it was called, was both a natural out-growth of the work done on the atomic weapon, and also a whole new set of complicated processes. Several methods to implement incredibly high yields were approached, including a multi-stage design, and a so-called "alarm clock" variant. The particulars behind each were a bit above me, as physics is not my strong suit. But needless to say, the author goes into fairly good detail on the processes, and the advantages and disadvantages that each design faced.

This image, a basic schematic of a thermonuclear device, is taken from Wikipedia.  The design principles of a hydrogen bomb are fairly straight-forward.  The atomic bomb part, or "principle," is set off first, which causes a chain-reaction the sets off (in milliseconds or less) the "secondary."  The secondary is where actual nuclear fusion takes place, and the result is an outrush of energy so vast as to rival the output of a star. / Source: Wikipedia.com

Another interesting part of the book was the fact that after WWII, the United States was woefully unprotected by its so-called "atomic shield." The first atomic weapons were almost cottage industry products, and therefore there was no mass production industry for atomic bomb output readily available, should the Soviet Union have decided in the post war period to invade Europe. Had the Soviets been both willing and able to push further than their claims on Eastern Europe in the late 1940's, they would have faced no true atomic bomb defense (which the United States claimed was its fallback method for this sort of contingency), or at least not a quick enough one to do any good.

And then when weapons did begin to enter the atomic stockpile, they were temperamental at best. The number of available atomic fission bombs and the amount of aircraft that could accurately deliver such devices actually changed on a day-to-day basis, based on the fact that the bombs were not easily stored or assembled, their components would decay and become useless too rapidly. And the 509th Airgroup that dropped the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were a shell of their wartime selves. They were wholly inadequate for combat operations, as was proved in tests conducted by General Curtis LeMay.

The creator is this image, done in a comic book panel style, has illustrated the differences in scale between an atomic weapon's output, a normal thunderstorm, and a thermonuclear output quite well. / Source: AtomicToasters.com

Speaking of LeMay, when the hydrogen bomb finally did begin to roll off the production lines in a size usable by USAF forces, LeMay was, for a time, the only one who really was in charge of such weapons (and for any who have read about LeMay himself, that is a scary prospect). During the critical Cold War years of the 1950s, through to the Cuban Missile Crisis, LeMay had both the plan and the power to launch a first strike on the Soviets. The only reason, according to LeMay's own accounts, that kept him from doing so was his soldier's oath to obey orders from the Commander-in-Chief. And he thought Kennedy's reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis was cowardly (he thought Kennedy himself a coward). Thankfully, LeMay was never let off his chain, for the concept of nuclear winter and total annihilation of the Earth had not been adequately studied when the power of thermonuclear weapons was first delivered into his hands. Had the Soviet Union, which was not armed nearly as well as scare-mongers in the U.S. touted them to be, been attacked by the United States, it is clear that the U.S. would have "won" a nuclear exchange with less damage inflicted upon us then upon them. But the total cost in lives would have been so mind-numbing as to leave this reviewer speechless. To be sure, I certainly wouldn't be alive today to write this book commentary.

In conclusion, Dark Sun itself was well done, though as stated, it did drag on some in places. And the book is certainly not light reading either. If the potential reader were to consider this more of an almost-textbook on the subject, rather than a quick and dirty explanation of the material itself, they would go in adequately prepared. It's not for the faint of heart. But definitely recommended, for those who really want a full and well-rounded view of the subject of hydrogen bombs and - for good or ill - the way they came into this world.

Learn more about Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb on  Amazon.com


The parting comment:


I have this strange fascination with atomic/nuclear explosions outside of the Earth's atmosphere.  I don't know what it is about them, but they seem pretty cool to me.  Maybe it's because they don't cause fallout in the traditional sense, or because they look like a strange '70s special effect for a sci-fi movie.  Or maybe it's just because it's the biggest firework you could possibly manage.  But still, that's cool stuff, ya know.

And here's a picture of the STARFISH test from 1962.

Source: blastr.com