This splendid portrait of Conant . . . illuminates the life of a pivotal figure in the making of U.S. nuclear, scientific, educational, and foreign policy for almost half a century. But the book is much more: it is not only an insightful narration of Conant's life, it is also a brilliant and important account of the making of the nuclear age, a chronicle that contains much that is new."--Washington Post"The bomb would be as much Conant's as it was anyone's in government. His inner response to that burden of responsibility has long been obscured, but it is illumined here. . . . This is a model of historiography that is evocative reading." --New York Times Book Review