rbkegley's review against another edition
4.0
James Conant is probably best remembered, if you remember him at all, as one of the three top overseers of the Manhattan Project to develop atomic weapons in World War II. Jennet Conant, his granddaughter, corrects this oversight in a fascinating biography. The voice for her biography is as a third party, not a relative, though I imagine she had access to family members and materials a true outsider would have had difficulty using. The result is a highly enjoyable story of a man who leaves a Nobel-prize promising career in chemistry to serve his country, directly during both World Wars, and indirectly through his commitment to academic freedom and, late in his career, sounding the call for improvement in American high school education. This biography well rewards your time.
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