National Security History Series - The Manhattan Project, Making the Atomic Bomb (2010 Edition) - From the Einstein Letter to the Atomic Bomb and American Strategy, Project Chronology

The advent of nuclear weapons, brought about by the Manhattan Project, not only helped bring an end to World War II but ushered in the atomic age and determined how the next war—the Cold War—would be fought. The Manhattan Project also became the organizational model behind the impressive achievements of American "big science" during the second half of the twentieth century, which demonstrated the relationship between basic scientific research and national security.

This edition of the Office of History's perennial "bestseller" is part of a joint project between the Office of History and Heritage Resources and the National Nuclear Security Administration to produce a three-volume National Security History Series documenting the Department of Energy's role in developing, testing, producing, and managing the Nation's nuclear arsenal.

It provides a comprehensive history of the making of the atomic bomb, starting with discoveries in physics in the late 19th century, through the massive World War II effort culminating in the world's first atomic bomb detonation.