Título: The Bastard Brigade
Autor: Sam Kean
Sinopse: From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes the gripping, untold story of a renegade group of scientists and spies determined to keep Adolf Hitler from obtaining the ultimate prize: a nuclear bomb.
Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely have the secrets been as vital as they were during World War II. In the middle of building an atomic bomb, the leaders of the Manhattan Project were alarmed to learn that Nazi Germany was far outpacing the Allies in nuclear weapons research. Hitler, with just a few pounds of uranium, would have the capability to reverse the entire D-Day operation and conquer Europe. So they assembled a rough and motley crew of geniuses -- dubbed the Alsos Mission -- and sent them careening into Axis territory to spy on, sabotage, and even assassinate members of Nazi Germany's feared Uranium Club.
The details of the mission rival the finest spy thriller, but what makes this story sing is the incredible cast of characters -- both heroes and rogues alike -- including:
Moe Berg, the major league catcher who abandoned the game for a career as a multilingual international spy; the strangest fellow to ever play professional baseball. Werner Heisenberg, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist credited as the discoverer of quantum mechanics; a key contributor to the Nazi's atomic bomb project and the primary target of the Alsos mission. Colonel Boris Pash, a high school science teacher and veteran of the Russian Revolution who fled the Soviet Union with a deep disdain for Communists and who later led the Alsos mission. Joe Kennedy Jr., the charismatic, thrill-seeking older brother of JFK whose need for adventure led him to volunteer for the most dangerous missions the Navy had to offer. Samuel Goudsmit, a washed-up physics prodigy who spent his life hunting Nazi scientists -- and his parents, who had been swept into a concentration camp -- across the globe. Irène and Frederic Joliot-Curie, a physics Nobel-Prize winning power couple who used their unassuming status as scientists to become active members of the resistance.
Thrust into the dark world of international espionage, these scientists and soldiers played a vital and largely untold role in turning back one of the darkest tides in human history.
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “The Bastard Brigade”, de Sam Kean, publicado pela editora Back Bay Books, em 2020 e com 489 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Back Bay Books
Páginas: 489
Ano: 2020-07-21
Edição: Reprint
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 0316381675
ISBN13: 9780316381673
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Back Bay Books oferecem uma experiência de leitura marcada por narrativas que transitam entre histórias pessoais intensas, biografias detalhadas e ficção que explora relações humanas complexas. O catálogo sugere obras que combinam dramas familiares, conflitos internos e contextos históricos, frequentemente ambientados em cenários realistas, como cidades contemporâneas ou períodos marcantes do século XX. Há também espaço para narrativas mais densas, como relatos de espionagem e investigações políticas, que mantêm um ritmo tenso e envolvente. As sinopses indicam uma atenção especial a personagens multifacetados, cujas jornadas emocionais são apresentadas com linguagem acessível, mas sem perder profundidade.
