There’s a sense of horror in the description of the ‘college campus’ atmosphere that these intelligent, liberal young scientists brought to the top secret military base where they were constructing weapons of mass destruction. Jon Else is unequivocal in his condemnation of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and very squarely blames inertia for the bombing: that not one of the ‘great men’ involved—Oppenheimer, Truman, Groves—had the courage to stand in front of the political machinery of military, industry, and capital that had already been set in motion.