The Bastard Brigade

July 1, 2019
Science writer Kean (The Disappearing Spoon) switches topics with this sprawling history of the Western spies, soldiers, and scientists who worked to thwart Nazi development of a nuclear bomb, accompanied by helpful cartoon illustrations of the relevant scientific concepts. The chronological account begins by introducing a large cast, including Samuel Goudsmit, an emigre physicist; Moe Berg, a pro baseball catcher turned spy; Boris Pash, a WWI vet who commanded the book’s titular brigade; and Navy airman Joseph Kennedy Jr., who died as part of a failed mission to destroy German missile bunkers suspected of being nuclear bomb silos. The point of view shifts among these and other characters, taking them through various adventures, including the bombing of a Norwegian ferry carrying heavy water for Nazi nuclear reactors and an attempt to assassinate German physicist Werner Heisenberg. Kean often takes a jokey tone, which readers will either love or hate (describing Marie Curie, he writes “the old lioness roused herself and barged into the lab”), and the majority of sources are secondary, leaving it unclear how he reconstructed dialogue. Readers who love spy stories will enjoy this entertaining book, but WWII aficionados and scholars may want to pass it by. Agent: Rick Broadhead, Rick Broadhead & Associates Literary Agency.

June 21, 2019

Best-selling author Kean (The Disappearing Spoon) tells the forgotten history of the spies and scientists working for the United States who helped sabotage and prevent Adolf Hitler's scientists (the Uranium Club) from building the atomic bomb. Once the Manhattan Project began to construct their own bomb, it started an offshoot program called the Alsos Mission; participants were referred to as "bastards" because they did not officially belong to any specific military group. Kean offers a chronological telling of the people involved on both the Allied and Axis sides of the conflict. These fascinating characters include former professional baseball player Moe Berg (working for the CIA-precursor Office of Strategic Services), along with physicists Werner Heisenberg and Samuel Goutsmit as well as Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest brother of John F. Kennedy, and his terrible fate during a sabotage mission. The work is rounded out by source material and a summary of the main people involved. VERDICT An exciting read for fans of World War II history, espionage tales, and the development of nuclear weapons.--Jason L. Steagall, formerly with Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2019
An exciting history of the battle for atomic supremacy during World War II. The core mission of the quasi-military group called "Alsos," part of the Manhattan Project, which was led by colorful scientist Boris Pash, was to determine the extent of Nazi efforts to produce an atomic bomb and to thwart it by any means possible. The Reich, after all, had world-class physicists like Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg. The Allies, too, had considerable talent, most notably Enrico Fermi. Science writer Kean (Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us, 2017, etc.) enlists several supporting players who had largely incidental, though dramatic, parts in the effort to deny the Germans' attempts to create an atomic bomb. There was Moe Berg, a spy and professional baseball catcher, who had the chance to capture or kill Heisenberg--but he was uncertain. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. perished in a nutty scheme to destroy what was thought to be a delivery system for nuclear weapons. The cast of characters, all well delineated by the author, include Ir�ne Joliot-Curie and Fr�d�ric Joliot, Robert Oppenheimer, Wernher von Braun, and Gen. Leslie Groves. "Known as a brilliant but ruthless manager--simultaneously the best construction foreman and the biggest asshole in the military--Groves was in charge of all army construction within the United States and on offshore bases at the war's outset," writes the author, who helps readers keep other characters straight with amusing descriptors: A colonel at Rennes was a "big swinging dick"; a "babbling" Neils Bohr "was simply incapable of keeping his trap shut." Throughout, Kean eschews erudite fastidiousness for consistent action and brio. Beginning with the title, the narrative is an engrossing cinematic drama, not an academic text. (Spoiler: Hitler, who was never much interested in science, lost.) Vivid derring-do moves swiftly through a carefully constructed espionage thriller.

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Starred review from July 1, 2019
Principles governing nuclear fission were discovered before the outbreak of war in 1939, but the belligerents quickly started plans to turn those principles into weapons of incredible power. The possibility of Hitler gaining possession of the atom's secrets was terrifying for the Allies. For the first time in history, an entire military mission was devoted to derailing an enemy's scientific-research efforts. Kean's (Caesar's Last Breath, 2017) comprehensive and sometimes humorous tale of the efforts to stop the Nazi atomic bomb is an exciting action adventure that enticingly combines science and history. Featuring concise illustrations of atomic physics, each worth a thousand words, and a cast of real-life characters that Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy, and the Marx brothers would have strained to invent, The Bastard Brigade is 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, often stating that failure could have resulted in the ultimate mushroom cloud. Kean's page-turner about a still too-little-understood chapter in history deserves a prominent place in WWII collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)