Sam Kean. (2019). The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb. Unabridged Hachette Audio.

Sam Kean. 2019. The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb. Hachette Audio.

Sam Kean, The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb. Hachette Audio, 2019.

Sam Kean. The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb. Unabridged Hachette Audio, 2019.

OverDrive Product Record

images

• cover:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0887-1/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img100.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• thumbnail:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0887-1/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img200.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover150Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0887-1/98B/4A1/27/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img150.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover300Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0887-1/98B/4A1/27/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img400.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg

formats

1. • identifiers:
     1. • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781549181108
   • name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
   • id: audiobook-mp3
2. • identifiers:
     1. • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781549181108
   • name: OverDrive Listen
   • id: audiobook-overdrive

mediaType

Audiobook

primaryCreator

• role: Author
• name: Sam Kean

title

The Bastard Brigade

dateAdded

2019-07-03T21:47:00Z

contentDetails

1. • href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=4617723
   • type: text/html
   • account:
     • name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
     • id: 1151

sortTitle

Bastard Brigade The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb

crossRefId

4617723

subtitle

The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb

id

98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4

starRating

4

OverDrive MetaData

isPublicDomain

False

formats

1. • duration: 14:44:05
   • fileName: TheBastardBrigade_9781549176050_4617723
   • partCount: 13
   • fileSize: 421527644
   • identifiers:
     1. • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781549176050
   • rights:
     1. • type: PlayOnPC
        • value: 1
     2. • type: PlayOnPCCount
        • value: -1
     3. • type: BurnToCD
        • value: 1
     4. • type: BurnToCDCount
        • value: -1
     5. • type: PlayOnPM
        • value: 1
     6. • type: TransferToSDMI
        • value: 1
     7. • type: TransferToNonSDMI
        • value: 1
     8. • type: TransferCount
        • value: -1
     9. • type: CollaborativePlay
        • value: 0
     10. • type: PublicPerformance
         • value: 0
     11. • type: TranscodeToAAC
         • value: 1
   • name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
   • isReadAlong: False
   • id: audiobook-mp3
   • onSaleDate: 7/9/2019
   • samples:
     1. • source: Part 1
        • formatType: audiobook-mp3
        • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/0887-1/4617723-TheBastardBrigade.mp3
     2. • source: From the book
        • formatType: audiobook-overdrive
        • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=98b4a127-9c34-472f-a9ef-9b7bb52909e4&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
2. • duration: 14:38:04
   • fileName: BastardBrigadeTheTrueStoryoftheRenegadeScienti-173
   • partCount: 0
   • fileSize: 421478185
   • identifiers:
     1. • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781549176050
   • name: OverDrive Listen
   • isReadAlong: False
   • id: audiobook-overdrive
   • onSaleDate: 7/9/2019
   • samples:
     1. • source: Part 1
        • formatType: audiobook-mp3
        • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/0887-1/4617723-TheBastardBrigade.mp3
     2. • source: From the book
        • formatType: audiobook-overdrive
        • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=98b4a127-9c34-472f-a9ef-9b7bb52909e4&.epub-sample.overdrive.com

keywords

1. • value: services
2. • value: Nazis
3. • value: Albert
4. • value: Day
5. • value: War
6. • value: nerd
7. • value: bomb
8. • value: Physics
9. • value: Fathers
10. • value: JFK
11. • value: Japan
12. • value: germany
13. • value: powers
14. • value: Science
15. • value: world
16. • value: Nuclear
17. • value: ww2
18. • value: einstein
19. • value: Atomic
20. • value: France
21. • value: WWII
22. • value: Axis
23. • value: Europe
24. • value: mission
25. • value: allied
26. • value: History
27. • value: lightning
28. • value: II
29. • value: Books
30. • value: hitler
31. • value: spies
32. • value: Italy
33. • value: Berg
34. • value: heisenberg
35. • value: buffs
36. • value: Moe
37. • value: alsos
38. • value: gifts dad

creators

1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Kean, Sam
   • name: Sam Kean
2. • role: Narrator
   • fileAs: Sullivan, Ben
   • name: Ben Sullivan

imprint

Little, Brown & Company

publishDate

2019-07-09T00:00:00-04:00

edition

Unabridged

isOwnedByCollections

True

title

The Bastard Brigade

fullDescription

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes the gripping, untold story of a renegade group of scientists and spies determined to keep Adolf Hitler from obtaining the ultimate prize: a nuclear bomb.
Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely have the secrets been as vital as they were during World War II. In the middle of building an atomic bomb, the leaders of the Manhattan Project were alarmed to learn that Nazi Germany was far outpacing the Allies in nuclear weapons research. Hitler, with just a few pounds of uranium, would have the capability to reverse the entire D-Day operation and conquer Europe. So they assembled a rough and motley crew of geniuses — dubbed the Alsos Mission — and sent them careening into Axis territory to spy on, sabotage, and even assassinate members of Nazi Germany's feared Uranium Club. The details of the mission rival the finest spy thriller, but what makes this story sing is the incredible cast of characters — both heroes and rogues alike — including:

Moe Berg, the major league catcher who abandoned the game for a career as a multilingual international spy; the strangest fellow to ever play professional baseball.

Werner Heisenberg, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist credited as the discoverer of quantum mechanics; a key contributor to the Nazi's atomic bomb project and the primary target of the Alsos mission.

Colonel Boris Pash, a high school science teacher and veteran of the Russian Revolution who fled the Soviet Union with a deep disdain for Communists and who later led the Alsos mission.

Joe Kennedy Jr., the charismatic, thrill-seeking older brother of JFK whose need for adventure led him to volunteer for the most dangerous missions the Navy had to offer.

Samuel Goudsmit, a washed-up physics prodigy who spent his life hunting Nazi scientists — and his parents, who had been swept into a concentration camp — across the globe.

Irène and Frederic Joliot-Curie, a physics Nobel-Prize winning power couple who used their unassuming status as scientists to become active members of the resistance.

Thrust into the dark world of international espionage, these scientists and soldiers played a vital and largely untold role in turning back one of the darkest tides in human history.

reviews

1. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     July 1, 2019
     Science writer Kean (The Disappearing Spoon) switches topics with this sprawling history of the Western spies, soldiers, and scientists who worked to thwart Nazi development of a nuclear bomb, accompanied by helpful cartoon illustrations of the relevant scientific concepts. The chronological account begins by introducing a large cast, including Samuel Goudsmit, an emigre physicist; Moe Berg, a pro baseball catcher turned spy; Boris Pash, a WWI vet who commanded the book’s titular brigade; and Navy airman Joseph Kennedy Jr., who died as part of a failed mission to destroy German missile bunkers suspected of being nuclear bomb silos. The point of view shifts among these and other characters, taking them through various adventures, including the bombing of a Norwegian ferry carrying heavy water for Nazi nuclear reactors and an attempt to assassinate German physicist Werner Heisenberg. Kean often takes a jokey tone, which readers will either love or hate (describing Marie Curie, he writes “the old lioness roused herself and barged into the lab”), and the majority of sources are secondary, leaving it unclear how he reconstructed dialogue. Readers who love spy stories will enjoy this entertaining book, but WWII aficionados and scholars may want to pass it by. Agent: Rick Broadhead, Rick Broadhead & Associates Literary Agency.

2. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content: This audiobook asks what a Major League catcher, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and a member of one of America's most famous families have in common? They all participated in espionage to help the U.S. develop the atomic bomb before the Nazis could. While this story is true, it's also a cracking thriller. Narrator Ben Sullivan does his best, using his deep voice and deliberate style, to entice listeners with the facts, and he alter his voice to denote characters. But while Sullivan delivers every word clearly and paces the book effectively, he fails to infuse enough excitement and emotion to carry the story forward. Better engagement would make the audiobook flow more smoothly rather than simply sounding like spoken words. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
3. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     June 21, 2019
     

     Best-selling author Kean (The Disappearing Spoon) tells the forgotten history of the spies and scientists working for the United States who helped sabotage and prevent Adolf Hitler's scientists (the Uranium Club) from building the atomic bomb. Once the Manhattan Project began to construct their own bomb, it started an offshoot program called the Alsos Mission; participants were referred to as "bastards" because they did not officially belong to any specific military group. Kean offers a chronological telling of the people involved on both the Allied and Axis sides of the conflict. These fascinating characters include former professional baseball player Moe Berg (working for the CIA-precursor Office of Strategic Services), along with physicists Werner Heisenberg and Samuel Goutsmit as well as Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest brother of John F. Kennedy, and his terrible fate during a sabotage mission. The work is rounded out by source material and a summary of the main people involved. VERDICT An exciting read for fans of World War II history, espionage tales, and the development of nuclear weapons.--Jason L. Steagall, formerly with Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI

     Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

4. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     June 15, 2019
     An exciting history of the battle for atomic supremacy during World War II. The core mission of the quasi-military group called "Alsos," part of the Manhattan Project, which was led by colorful scientist Boris Pash, was to determine the extent of Nazi efforts to produce an atomic bomb and to thwart it by any means possible. The Reich, after all, had world-class physicists like Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg. The Allies, too, had considerable talent, most notably Enrico Fermi. Science writer Kean (Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us, 2017, etc.) enlists several supporting players who had largely incidental, though dramatic, parts in the effort to deny the Germans' attempts to create an atomic bomb. There was Moe Berg, a spy and professional baseball catcher, who had the chance to capture or kill Heisenberg--but he was uncertain. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. perished in a nutty scheme to destroy what was thought to be a delivery system for nuclear weapons. The cast of characters, all well delineated by the author, include Ir�ne Joliot-Curie and Fr�d�ric Joliot, Robert Oppenheimer, Wernher von Braun, and Gen. Leslie Groves. "Known as a brilliant but ruthless manager--simultaneously the best construction foreman and the biggest asshole in the military--Groves was in charge of all army construction within the United States and on offshore bases at the war's outset," writes the author, who helps readers keep other characters straight with amusing descriptors: A colonel at Rennes was a "big swinging dick"; a "babbling" Neils Bohr "was simply incapable of keeping his trap shut." Throughout, Kean eschews erudite fastidiousness for consistent action and brio. Beginning with the title, the narrative is an engrossing cinematic drama, not an academic text. (Spoiler: Hitler, who was never much interested in science, lost.) Vivid derring-do moves swiftly through a carefully constructed espionage thriller.

     COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

5. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from July 1, 2019
     Principles governing nuclear fission were discovered before the outbreak of war in 1939, but the belligerents quickly started plans to turn those principles into weapons of incredible power. The possibility of Hitler gaining possession of the atom's secrets was terrifying for the Allies. For the first time in history, an entire military mission was devoted to derailing an enemy's scientific-research efforts. Kean's (Caesar's Last Breath, 2017) comprehensive and sometimes humorous tale of the efforts to stop the Nazi atomic bomb is an exciting action adventure that enticingly combines science and history. Featuring concise illustrations of atomic physics, each worth a thousand words, and a cast of real-life characters that Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy, and the Marx brothers would have strained to invent, The Bastard Brigade is as entertaining as it is fascinating. Kean's colloquial expressions and metaphors provide levity to the gritty history of a world at war, with the survival of freedom, and possibly humanity, hanging in the balance. He never lets the reader forget what was at stake, often stating that failure could have resulted in the ultimate mushroom cloud. Kean's page-turner about a still too-little-understood chapter in history deserves a prominent place in WWII collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

popularity

644

links

• self:
  • href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/98b4a127-9c34-472f-a9ef-9b7bb52909e4/metadata
  • type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json

id

98b4a127-9c34-472f-a9ef-9b7bb52909e4

starRating

4

images

• cover:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0887-1/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img100.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• thumbnail:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0887-1/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img200.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover150Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0887-1/98B/4A1/27/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img150.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover300Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0887-1/98B/4A1/27/{98B4A127-9C34-472F-A9EF-9B7BB52909E4}Img400.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg

isPublicPerformanceAllowed

False

languages

1. • code: en
   • name: English

subjects

1. • value: History
2. • value: Science
3. • value: Military
4. • value: Nonfiction

publishDateText

07/09/2019

otherFormatIdentifiers

1. • type: ISBN
   • value: 9780316381680

mediaType

Audiobook

shortDescription

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes the gripping, untold story of a renegade group of scientists and spies determined to keep Adolf Hitler from obtaining the ultimate prize: a nuclear bomb.
Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely have the secrets been as vital as they were during World War II. In the middle of building an atomic bomb, the leaders of the Manhattan Project were alarmed to learn that Nazi Germany was far outpacing the Allies in nuclear weapons research. Hitler, with just a few pounds of uranium, would have the capability to reverse the entire D-Day operation and conquer Europe. So they assembled a rough and motley crew of geniuses — dubbed the Alsos Mission — and sent them careening into Axis territory to spy on, sabotage, and even assassinate members of Nazi Germany's feared Uranium Club. The details of the mission rival the finest spy thriller, but what makes this story sing is the incredible cast of...

sortTitle

Bastard Brigade The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb

crossRefId

4617723

subtitle

The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb

publisher

Hachette Audio

bisacCodes

1. • code: HIS014000
   • description: History / Europe / Germany
2. • code: HIS027100
   • description: History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General
3. • code: SCI051000
   • description: Science / Physics / Nuclear