Have this book on my shelf waiting to be read. It’s frequently mentioned.

The author also has a book about the hydrogen bomb too:

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/0684...

Superb book, perhaps the finest non-fiction book I've had the pleasure of reading. I love the way he is able to create a narrative that goes all the way back to H. G. Wells to find its roots.

Rhodes' follow-up, "Dark Sun: The Making Of The Hydrogen Bomb", basically continues the story where TMAB left off. The narrative gets a bit more fractured and factual, focused on the question of how to safeguard nuclear weapons and what their political/military/diplomatic purpose is. But it does wrap up the J. Robert Oppenheimer story.

Once one has read these two, I strongly recommend "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" [2] by Bird and Sherwin. Also extremely well written.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/0684...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/American-Prometheus-Triumph-Tragedy-O...

I'm in the middle of his 1996 follow up book, "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb" (http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/06848...).

The book details the Soviet nuclear program, as well as the truly massive amount of espionage that was going on at the various locations of the Manhattan project.

Its sequel, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb [1] is also great. It deals with Edward Teller's hydrogen bomb, the nuclear spies (Fuchs, the Rosenbergs, etc.), the beginning of the cold war, Oppenheimer's ambitious attempts at atomic regulation, and his subsequent trial. TMAB stands out, however; it is superb in its panoramic, often lyrical depiction of science and philosophy coming together in a broad cast of scientists. Much of Dark Sun is about spies, cops and military figures, and its subject matter is somewhat more prosaic.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/06848...

Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes is the follow up to The Making of the Atomic Bomb and is even more interesting as it tells the story of the Soviet bomb project at the same time as the US H-bomb project:

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/06848...