Atomic Spy The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs

Praise for Atomic Spy

One of USA Today's "Books Not to Miss"

"Enthralling and riveting . . . [Greenspan] has brought together new material that rounds out Fuchs s life" The New York Times Book Review

"Greenspan gives us fresh and fascinating insights into Fuchs s formative years." The Wall Street Journal

"Spies make for enticing biographies. Well told, their stories combine the drama of a police procedural (how did they do it?) with the ambiguities of a psychological thriller (why did they do it?). Nancy Thorndike Greenspan seeks to answer both those questions in the very well told Atomic Spy. a deeply nuanced and sympathetic portrait of a scientist-spy with the best of intentions an original addition to the shelf of Fuchs biographies." Nature

"Nancy Thorndike Greenspan s biography offers a new look at Fuchs s story, all the more fascinating for its deviations from typical spy-movie script." The New Criterion

"A detailed and authoritative yet equally interesting and readable study . . . From student to scientist to spy, Fuchs is portrayed as a careful and quiet yet passionate man who nevertheless persisted."  Library Journal

"This richly detailed work . . . blurs the lines between courage and treachery in thought-provoking ways." Publishers Weekly

Nancy Greenspan dives into the mysteries of the Klaus Fuchs espionage case and emerges with a classic Cold War biography of intrigue and torn loyalties. Atomic Spy is a mesmerizing morality tale, told with fresh sources and empathy. Kai Bird, author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames and coauthor of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
 
Greenspan sheds new light on the character, family, and motives of the notorious spy who gave the Soviet Union a blueprint for the atomic bomb. Klaus Fuchs s espionage and its consequences raise timely questions about blind devotion to an ideology. Cynthia C. Kelly, President, Atomic Heritage Foundation
 
A riveting read. Greenspan skillfully and with nuance describes how one of the Manhattan Project s prominent physicists, led to Communism by early struggles against Nazism, eventually became a important spy for the Russians. A tale of intrigue, competing moralities and human fallibility. Gino Segrè, author of The Pope of Physics and Ordinary Geniuses
 
The Soviets had more than a half-dozen spies inside the Manhattan Project, but none was more important than Fuchs, a senior physicist in the theoretical division of the plutonium bomb project. Greenspan takes us through the evidence with assurance. Most impressive is her detailed exposition of the strengths and weaknesses of MI5 s investigations of Fuchs in the 1930s and 1940s as well as Fuchs evolution from German Social Democrat to devoted Communist under the impact of Hitler s rise to power. John Earl Haynes, coauthor of Spies: the Rise and Fall of the KGB in America