The first history of the bomb project, written when some detailed were not quite public. If you are looking for one book to read on the bomb, this is not the choice. If you are interested in the bomb in general, an excellent piece of literary history. Well written. ( )

was Heller als tausend Sonnen first published Alfred Scherz Verlag 1956
this translation first published great britain Gollancz and Hart-Davis 1958
published as Penguin Special 160
reprinted in Pelican Books 1964, 1965, 1970, 1982

When i first read this in 1961 i thought it astoundingly good, it covered what appeared "the whole ground" of A-Bomb development with a large quantity of what appeared well researched biographical, political and scientific detail in very readable form.
having now read considerably more on the subject i now think it a very worthwhile read as long as it is only part of reading on the subject. some of the biographic writing appears to indicate the (inevitable) bias' of the author, and much of the physics is (inevitably) erred.
whoah, all this sounds excessively diparaging of a very worthwhile book made very available very promptly in its career. ( )