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mpetruce's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Nice, quick read that gives a great survey of the building and use of the atomic bomb, with an unsurprising look at Hollywood BS and the fact that in the America of "the good old days," the people in government still acted and lied out of self-interest as opposed to the interests of the country or anyone else for that matter. And what's a few thousand dead women and children because an A bomb went off target anyway? But yeah, this book lets you see how Hollywood and Washington sausage is made.
marisacarpico's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Strong, informative, engaging. Flew by, honestly. I admittedly assumed it would cover more time than just the films made in the immediate aftermath of the drop, but this covers the subjects comprehensively. Surprised to realize here the way so many images and ideas of what testing and development was like sort of became fact despite being completely inaccurate. Particularly surprising to hear the thing about the lotion, which felt like such a weird, distinct moment in Oppenheimer, didn't happen.
I especially loved the way this talked about the Donna Reed of it all and the casting/re-casting drama. There's not necessarily overt criticism of how much MGM allowed the government to intervene, but Mitchell sort of lets the events speak for themselves on that one.
Really hard to realize how much work this must have taken and how well Mitchell puts this particular story in the context of larger Hollywood (Red Scare) and world (Cold War) history because it's presented in such a digestible, enjoyable way.
I especially loved the way this talked about the Donna Reed of it all and the casting/re-casting drama. There's not necessarily overt criticism of how much MGM allowed the government to intervene, but Mitchell sort of lets the events speak for themselves on that one.
Really hard to realize how much work this must have taken and how well Mitchell puts this particular story in the context of larger Hollywood (Red Scare) and world (Cold War) history because it's presented in such a digestible, enjoyable way.
jansendotsh's review against another edition
5.0
This book shows just how absurd the desire the government was driven to shape culture in support of something so wantonly violent. The absolute bureaucratic nightmare with trying to be somewhat truthful while maintaining a veneer of lies, helping make the entire thing palatable to the public. Deranged and the stuff that we don't really hear about in school.
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