The Bastard Brigade, Sam Kean
The Bastard Brigade, Sam Kean
8 Rating(s)
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
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The Bastard Brigade
The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb

Author: Sam Kean

Narrator: Ben Sullivan

Unabridged: 14 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/09/2019

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes the gripping, untold story of a renegade group of scientists and spies determined to keep Adolf Hitler from obtaining the ultimate prize: a nuclear bomb.
  Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely have the secrets been as vital as they were during World War II. In the middle of building an atomic bomb, the leaders of the Manhattan Project were alarmed to learn that Nazi Germany was far outpacing the Allies in nuclear weapons research. Hitler, with just a few pounds of uranium, would have the capability to reverse the entire D-Day operation and conquer Europe. So they assembled a rough and motley crew of geniuses -- dubbed the Alsos Mission -- and sent them careening into Axis territory to spy on, sabotage, and even assassinate members of Nazi Germany's feared Uranium Club.   The details of the mission rival the finest spy thriller, but what makes this story sing is the incredible cast of characters -- both heroes and rogues alike -- including: Moe Berg, the major league catcher who abandoned the game for a career as a multilingual international spy; the strangest fellow to ever play professional baseball. Werner Heisenberg, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist credited as the discoverer of quantum mechanics; a key contributor to the Nazi's atomic bomb project and the primary target of the Alsos mission. Colonel Boris Pash, a high school science teacher and veteran of the Russian Revolution who fled the Soviet Union with a deep disdain for Communists and who later led the Alsos mission. Joe Kennedy Jr., the charismatic, thrill-seeking older brother of JFK whose need for adventure led him to volunteer for the most dangerous missions the Navy had to offer. Samuel Goudsmit, a washed-up physics prodigy who spent his life hunting Nazi scientists -- and his parents, who had been swept into a concentration camp -- across the globe. Irène and Frederic Joliot-Curie, a physics Nobel-Prize winning power couple who used their unassuming status as scientists to become active members of the resistance.   Thrust into the dark world of international espionage, these scientists and soldiers played a vital and largely untold role in turning back one of the darkest tides in human history.  

About Sam Kean

Sam Kean is a writer in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Mental Floss, Slate, the Believer, Air & Space, Science, and the New Scientist. He is currently working as a reporter at Science magazine and as a 2009 Middlebury Environmental Journalism fellow.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ on August 26, 2019

Review first posted on Fantasy Literature: Sam Kean, who wrote the delightfully informative Caesar’s Last Breath in 2017 about the topic of gases, including a section on nuclear bombs, delves more deeply into the history of the atomic bomb in The Bastard Brigade. Though the subtitle might lead one to......more

Goodreads review by Ross on September 27, 2019

Sam Kean is already one of my favorite authors, and his latest offering is yet another fantastic blend of science and human interest. The Bastard Brigade unfolds the Allied effort to prevent Nazi Germany from building an atomic bomb. We've all considered the horrifying counterfactual of Hitler obtai......more

Goodreads review by Ed on January 27, 2020

Breezy, entertaining account of Allies' spies who investigated the Nazi's progress in building the atomic bomb. The Nazis program had advanced more than I realized. Interesting backstory given on Joe Kennedy, Jr., Moe Berg, and other colorful characters. Some easy to understand sections describe spl......more

Goodreads review by Sue on July 30, 2021

This was my first Sam Kean read. I enjoyed his narrative style and appreciated his explanations of the science essential to the story. He does a great job of telling the individual stories of the many scientists in Europe and the US, as well as military and political decisions that came together to......more

Goodreads review by Alfonso on July 21, 2022

Ogni tanto succede, credo a ogni lettore. Leggi dell’uscita di un libro, lo compri, lo leggi e hai la precisa impressione che sia stato scritto per suscitare il TUO interesse. A misura. Io me lo immagino Sam Keane che chiama la sua casa editrice, il suo agente e i suoi editor e fa: “Oh, volevo scriv......more


Quotes

NPR Science Friday's Best Science Book of 2019

"A thrilling tale of wartime derring-do meets a richly researched story of postwar intellectual exploitation . . . . Perfect as a first foray into this period, and I defy any reader not to be drawn into the world of unlikely spies and Nazi Nobel Prize winners that Kean paints so vividly and infuses with such energy."—Science

"Thrilleresque science history."—Nature

"An exciting read for fans of World War II history, espionage tales, and the development of nuclear weapons."—Library Journal, starred review

"Bastard Brigadeis as entertaining as it is fascinating. Kean's colloquial expressions and metaphors provide levity to the gritty history of a world at war, with the survival of freedom, and possibly humanity, hanging in the balance. He never lets the reader forget what was at stake. . .Kean's page-turner about a still too-little-understood chapter in history deserves a prominent place in WWII collections."—Booklist, starred review

"An exciting history of the battle for atomic supremacy during World War II. . . Throughout, Kean eschews erudite fastidiousness for consistent action and brio. Beginning with the title, the narrative is an engrossing cinematic drama. . . Vivid derring-do moves swiftly through a carefully constructed espionage thriller."— Kirkus

Praise for Sam Kean:

"Riveting.... Kean has a knack for distilling chemistry to its essential elements, using stories and humor.... this is a dose of fresh air.—Library Journal

"Richly informative.... Once again, Kean proves his mettle as one of science literature's most gifted practitioners."—Booklist

"Entertaining... with sly wit and boyish wonder"—Discover Magazine