Events /
Garrett Graff — The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb
Marking the 80th anniversary of the year of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Roosevelt House presents bestselling historian and journalist Garrett Graff on his new book, The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb. Comprehensive and engrossing, the book delivers the remarkable—and terrifying—story of the atomic bomb’s creation and deployment, woven from the voices of hundreds of scientists, generals, soldiers, and civilians. The author will be in conversation with Jonathan F. Fanton Director of Roosevelt House Harold Holzer.
The development of the atomic bomb, Graff writes, was the most audacious undertaking in human history—beginning with a small group of scientists and engineers rushing in complete secrecy to unlock “the most fundamental power of the universe.” Even today, says Graff, the Manhattan Project evokes boldness, daring, and the grand dream of bringing an end to World War II in the Pacific. A panoramic narrative of how ordinary people grapple with extraordinary wartime risks and sacrifices, The Devil Reached Toward the Sky traces the breakthroughs and the breakneck pace of atomic development in the years leading up to 1945. Then, the book takes readers inside the B-29 bombers carrying Little Boy and Fat Man, and finally to ground zero at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Drawing from dozens of oral history archives and hundreds of books, reports, letters, and diaries from across the US, Japan, and Europe, Pulitzer Prize-Finalist Graff blends the memories and perspectives from the known and unknown. Among the key voices included are J. Robert Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, President Truman, the crews of the B-29 bombers, and the “Hibakusha”—a Japanese term meaning the “bomb-affected people.” The Devil Reached Toward the Sky tells the profound and searing tale of the inception of humanity’s most powerful weapon, and its haunting legacy.
Garrett M. Graff has spent two decades covering politics, technology, and national security. The former editor of Politico and longtime Wired and CNN contributor, he writes the popular “Doomsday Scenario” newsletter and hosts the Edward R. Murrow Award–winning podcast Long Shadow. He is the author of ten books, including the #1 national bestseller The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001; the FBI history The Threat Matrix; Raven Rock; and the New York Times bestsellers Watergate: A New History, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History, and When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day, which he appeared at Roosevelt House to discuss.
Harold Holzer, moderator, has served since 2015 as the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. A prolific author with more than 50 books to his credit, he won the 2015 Gilder Lehrman Prize for his Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion and was awarded a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship. His most recent book is Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration (2024).
