Steve Sheinkin brings nail-biting history to life again in his new book Fallout : Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown. This book follows his Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, winner of a Newbery Honor award and a National Book Awards finalist. Fallout, a vivid portrayal of the Cold War, should be in the awards cycle for the coming year as well.
Sheinkin fills his book with the people of the Cold War beginning with a paperboy whose pay includes a hollowed-out nickel used to pass along spy secrets. He includes the spies, one that is inept; the schoolchildren practicing hiding under their desks in case of a nuclear blast; Francis Gary Powers, the captured U-2 pilot; Harry Seidel, tunnel digger and rescuer working to bring East Berliners past the Berlin Wall; and the major competitors – Krushchev, Kennedy, and Castro, who nervously try to outbluff each other.
The gripping story moves among these main participants and others with finely drawn characters taking part in a plot that would make a great fictional thriller, except that it is all true. The Soviets have seen the atomic bomb at the end of World War II and don’t want to come in second. The United States is equally fearful of coming in second. Both work on the next and bigger bomb and wind up with the capability between them of destroying the world. Castro and Cuba have the capability of being the catalyst that sets off this third World War. Few people knew how close the world came to being annihilated by hydrogen bombs.
This book is listed for ages ten and up, but the “up” has no limit. Even those who remember the time will feel the tension in this meticulously researched account. History buffs and lovers of spy thrillers of all ages will love it.