Physicists Book

1. Who is this book about? This book is about the Los Alamos generation physicists. They had been weaned on the new quantum mechanics, built the atomic bomb, and for 25 years after 1945 operated as a "high priesthood" in the US. The book is about the roots of their achievements with the efforts of the physicists in the 50 years after the Civil War.
2. Themes: One of the central themes is how an avowedly elitist enterprise grew and prospered in a Democratic culture. What brought them to power was the identification of physics with the material (solid state physics: transistors and chips) and military (the physicists war was WWII, they built radar, rockets, and the atomic bomb) elements of national security. But, conflicts arise because of the elitism of physics and the democracy of America. Today, physics is not broadening its social base by bringing in women or blacks into the field. Other conflicts include those between the celebration of physics as high culture and its subordination to industrial profit and military prowess. Also, there are conflicts between the desire to built monumental experimental facilities (such as the supercollider) and the necessity to meet ordinary social needs.
3. Historiography: This book is both internal and external because Kevles argues for "mutual change." The physicists changed the world, and the world (academic, cultural, institutional, and governmental) changed the physicists. Kevles is perhaps a bit too uncritical of the physicists in this book.
4. Style: This is a long book (25 chapters) which are not structured in such a way as to provide quick access to the main ideas of the book. An excellent essay on sources provides an extended discussion on the numerous manuscript and personal interviews conducted by Kevles.