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Library | Collection | Collection | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Beale Memorial Library (Kern Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Teen Non-Fiction | 623.45119 FET | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Tulare Public Library | Searching... Unknown | Adult Graphic Novel Display | 623.451 Fet | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Woodward Park Library (Fresno Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Non-fiction Area | 623.45119 FET | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Trinity , the debut graphic book by the gifted illustrator Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, depicts in vivid detail the dramatic history of the race to build and the decision to drop the first atomic bomb. This sweeping historical narrative traces the spark of invention from the laboratories of nineteenth-century Europe to the massive industrial and scientific efforts of the Manhattan Project. Along the way, Fetter-Vorm takes special care to explain the fundamental science of nuclear reactions. With the clarity and accessibility that only a graphic book can provide, Trinity transports the reader into the core of a nuclear reaction--into the splitting atoms themselves.
The power of the atom was harnessed in a top-secret government compound in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where some of the greatest scientific minds in the world gathered together to work on the bomb. Fetter-Vorm showcases J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and General Leslie Groves, the fathers of the atomic bomb, whose insights unleashed the most devastating explosion known to humankind. These brilliant scientists wrestled daily with both the difficulty of building an atomic weapon and the moral implications of actually succeeding.
When the first bomb finally went off at a test site code-named Trinity, the world was irreversibly thrust into a new and terrifying age. With powerful renderings of the catastrophic events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fetter-Vorm unflinchingly chronicles the far-reaching political, environmental, and ethical effects of this new discovery. Richly illustrated and deeply researched, Trinity is a dramatic, informative, and thought-provoking book on one of the most significant and harrowing events in history.
Author Notes
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm is a writer and illustrator of nonfiction graphic books. He is the cofounder of the Two Fine Chaps graphic imprint, a partnership dedicated to adapting, illustrating, and printing classical works of literature and natural science. He was born and raised in Montana and currently lives in Brooklyn.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Although billed as "the first-ever graphic novel to tell the story of the atomic bomb," Jim Ottaviani's Fallout did the same thing 10 years ago, and was much better written. Picking on an author for what marketing chooses to say isn't fair, but presumably marketing didn't choose the flat illustrations, heavy use of captions, and stiff, static panels of talking heads. The text is confusing to follow, and the wooden panels are reminiscent of clip art. All the famous players in this tale are shown-Fermi, Oppenheimer, Fat Man, and Little Boy-but in such compressed form that little drama emerges. Facts are thrown so rapidly that there is no story, no recognizable characters to follow, or personalities to relate to, just caption after caption. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Beowulf and Moby-Dick, among other works, complements his stark prophecy, as it details the bomb's development from the discovery of radioactivity by Marie Curie through the Manhattan Project led by leftist physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, through the decision by President Harry Truman to employ Hiroshima as not only a military target but a "test site." The narrative leaves readers with the sense that few of those involved in the development or deployment of the bomb had a sense of the almost unimaginable devastation that would result. The use of the weapon not only caused a rupture in the relationship between Oppenheimer and Truman, it opened a Pandora's box of radiation aftereffects beyond the initial horrors of the bombings (powerfully rendered here). Succeeds as both a graphic primer and a philosophical meditation.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The Manhattan Project receives the comics treatment, and in Fetter-Vorm's capable hands, the straightforward history largely sidelines the outsize personalities who infest it (only Oppenheimer and Groves loom large here) and refrains from portentous rhetoric (e.g., Each of our bodies contains some amount of radioactive material ) until the last dozen pages or so. The page layouts are attractively busy and varied, never crowded and hard to read, while the text proceeds stepwise down each page, never courting confusion by running in circles or zigzagging. In short, Fetter-Vorm's work within the confines of the book's relatively small, six-by-nine-inch format is altogether exemplary. And the writing's as good as the art, making this a strong primer on the A-bomb's development. For those who want to delve more deeply into the matter, there are many good prose-only treatments, of course, not to mention Jim Ottaviani and company's nonpareil first graphic novel on the subject, Fallout (2001).--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist