---
product_id: 1298256
title: "109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos"
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reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/1298256-109-east-palace-robert-oppenheimer-and-the-secret-city-los
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---

# 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos

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109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos [Conant, Jennet] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos

Review: The people that made the Manhattan Project a success. - What a great read. I can’t say enough about the insight Jennet Conant puts into this work. She has done a masterful job weaving the intricacies of the bomb development, political up-heavel and meshing of over inflated egos into a precise, easy to digest, complex subject matter. We all know Oppenheimer was dubbed, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” but how was he able to do it is the real story. We were in a race to beat Germany to the draw. Everyone knew, if Hitler got there first, he’d waste no time nuking Moscow, London, Warsaw or any other target in Europe. General Groves chooses Oppenheimer to lead the charge at Los Alamos. Talk about two diametric individuals, Oppie is the quintessential academian while Groves is hardcore military. War does make strange bedfellows. But the glue that holds this tenuous détente together is Dorothy McKibbins whom Oppie hired. Without her organizational skills and calm demeanor, it’s questionable whether the Manhattan Project would have succeeded. She was the prop master behind the curtain that allowed the performers to shine. You name it and she saw it was handled even it wasn’t in her job title: housing, food, transportation, entertainment, lost luggage, passes, credentials. No one stepped foot into the compound until she vetted him or her. The only time she allowed a stranger onto the base was when a B-29 pilot arrived late for a meeting. She sized him up in a few minutes and decided, he was okay. The pilot? None other than Colonel Paul Tibbets. I’d say she was a good judge of character. No matter what task Oppie asked Dorothy to perform, she never balked. She, like many women were mesmerized by this soft spoken giant in the world of Physics. Whether he knew it or not, he had quite an effect on the female persuasion, yet stay true to his wife Kitty. Without going into too much detail, she loved this man for his energy, kindness, compassion and wit. Oppie’s drawback was his intelligence and superior attitude. Many of his colleagues embraced it while others, who felt his harsh wit, held high resentment, including the military. After the war, we are aware of the McCarthy hearings and how they were designed to weed out any and all people who were remotely connected to the Communist Party. Many of the scientists who worked on the bomb, for whatever reasons had joined the party, but were not active. It was the thing to do. The identification of Fuchs and the Rosenbergs as Russian spies added salt to the wound. Oppenheimer would be grilled at congressional hearings for not releasing the name of a would-be informant. His naivety of political workings would be his temporary downfall in the public eye. No textbook or theorem could prepare him for the inner workings of Washington. This is an excellent read for anyone interested in the inner workings of Los Alamos and the individuals who launched the world into the atomic age. Five Stars!
Review: Beautifully written; impeccably researched; almost impossible to read. - I am amazed at the work that Ms. Conant put into this book. It is a marvel of both research and writing. However, for me, there is one major flaw: the type is so small that I had to put on reading glasses two times stronger - and then got eyestrain if I read for too long. What a shame to make an amazing piece of journalism such a trial to enjoy! Still - I highly recommend this book. If you have strong reading glasses!

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #213,863 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #71 in Nuclear Weapons & Warfare History (Books) #1,169 in World War II History (Books) #1,486 in U.S. State & Local History |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,396 Reviews |

## Images

![109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81sFFZeRfgL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The people that made the Manhattan Project a success.
*by J***N on December 12, 2016*

What a great read. I can’t say enough about the insight Jennet Conant puts into this work. She has done a masterful job weaving the intricacies of the bomb development, political up-heavel and meshing of over inflated egos into a precise, easy to digest, complex subject matter. We all know Oppenheimer was dubbed, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” but how was he able to do it is the real story. We were in a race to beat Germany to the draw. Everyone knew, if Hitler got there first, he’d waste no time nuking Moscow, London, Warsaw or any other target in Europe. General Groves chooses Oppenheimer to lead the charge at Los Alamos. Talk about two diametric individuals, Oppie is the quintessential academian while Groves is hardcore military. War does make strange bedfellows. But the glue that holds this tenuous détente together is Dorothy McKibbins whom Oppie hired. Without her organizational skills and calm demeanor, it’s questionable whether the Manhattan Project would have succeeded. She was the prop master behind the curtain that allowed the performers to shine. You name it and she saw it was handled even it wasn’t in her job title: housing, food, transportation, entertainment, lost luggage, passes, credentials. No one stepped foot into the compound until she vetted him or her. The only time she allowed a stranger onto the base was when a B-29 pilot arrived late for a meeting. She sized him up in a few minutes and decided, he was okay. The pilot? None other than Colonel Paul Tibbets. I’d say she was a good judge of character. No matter what task Oppie asked Dorothy to perform, she never balked. She, like many women were mesmerized by this soft spoken giant in the world of Physics. Whether he knew it or not, he had quite an effect on the female persuasion, yet stay true to his wife Kitty. Without going into too much detail, she loved this man for his energy, kindness, compassion and wit. Oppie’s drawback was his intelligence and superior attitude. Many of his colleagues embraced it while others, who felt his harsh wit, held high resentment, including the military. After the war, we are aware of the McCarthy hearings and how they were designed to weed out any and all people who were remotely connected to the Communist Party. Many of the scientists who worked on the bomb, for whatever reasons had joined the party, but were not active. It was the thing to do. The identification of Fuchs and the Rosenbergs as Russian spies added salt to the wound. Oppenheimer would be grilled at congressional hearings for not releasing the name of a would-be informant. His naivety of political workings would be his temporary downfall in the public eye. No textbook or theorem could prepare him for the inner workings of Washington. This is an excellent read for anyone interested in the inner workings of Los Alamos and the individuals who launched the world into the atomic age. Five Stars!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Beautifully written; impeccably researched; almost impossible to read.
*by W***R on August 21, 2024*

I am amazed at the work that Ms. Conant put into this book. It is a marvel of both research and writing. However, for me, there is one major flaw: the type is so small that I had to put on reading glasses two times stronger - and then got eyestrain if I read for too long. What a shame to make an amazing piece of journalism such a trial to enjoy! Still - I highly recommend this book. If you have strong reading glasses!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The human side of the Manhattan project - Well paced and informative
*by A***Z on June 18, 2017*

There are a lot of books about the the Manhattan project . This book concentrates solely on Los Alamos which most people think was the entirety of the Manhattan project; it wasn't. Los Alamos was an isolated boys school whose location was known to Robert Oppenheimer who thought it would be an ideal spot for a secret project. The initial plan was for a laboratory of just a few people. This is the story of how this plan grew into a facility with several thousand people who all first came to the site through a small office based at 109 East Palace in Santa Fe. How the chaos was managed by a small staff was another endeavour that is often overlooked when contemplating the achievements of Los Alamos itself. This is full of very human and personal stories woven together in a very enagaging style by Jennet Conant. I found it very a enjoyable and illuminating book which added colour and flavour to the story of Los Alamos. I did feel it went a bit past its remit by talking about the post-war story of Oppie and McCarty but this didn't spoil the book. If you have an interest in World War II history and the Manhattan project this is a fascinating book about the period which brings a necessary human scale to the story.

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*Product available on Desertcart South Africa*
*Store origin: ZA*
*Last updated: 2026-03-07*