Christopher Crutchfield Walker

There's a reason they called it theoretical physics. No one really knew for sure what would happen when we split the atom. At Los Alamos, the famous scientist Enrico Fermi jokingly suggested a bet: the bomb would ignite the atmosphere - and end all life on earth. Not everyone thought it was funny. The sky didn't catch fire, but the mushroom cloud over the New Mexico desert that day cast a long shadow. It began an explosive era of secrecy and fear that we still live with today. ATOMIC AGE DECLASSIFIED tells the untold stories of a time that brought us to the edge of human possibility - and the verge of total annihilation - more times than we ever knew.