This book captures the drama of 27 perilous months at Los Alamos, a secret city cut off from the rest of society, ringed by barbed wire, where Oppenheimer and his young recruits lived as virtual prisoners of the U. S. government--freshly minted secretaries and worldly scientists contending with living conditions straight out of pioneer days, racing to build the first atomic bomb before Germany could. Oppenheimer was as arrogant as he was inexperienced, and few believed the 38-year-old theoretical physicist would succeed. Yet despite the obstacles, he forged a vibrant community through the sheer force of his personality.