The first full-scale biography of the "father of the atomic bomb," the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to capture the fire of the sun for his country in time of war. After Hiroshima, he became the most famous scientist of his generation--an icon of modern man confronting the consequences of scientific progress. In the hysteria of the early 1950s, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup, and people...

Dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors he feels are responsible for history's broadest patterns.