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Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power
Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power
By Marc Wortman
Published February 15, 2022
328 pages
“Superb” —Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander, NATO
A riveting exploration of the brilliant, combative, and controversial “Father of the Nuclear Navy”
Known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy,” Admiral Hyman George Rickover (1899–1986) remains an almost mythical figure in the United States Navy. A brilliant engineer with a ferocious will and combative personality, he oversaw the invention of the world’s first practical nuclear power reactor. As important as the transition from sail to steam, his development of nuclear-propelled submarines and ships transformed naval power and Cold War strategy. They still influence world affairs today.
His disdain for naval regulations, indifference to the chain of command, and harsh, insulting language earned him enemies in the navy, but his achievements won him powerful friends in Congress and the White House. A Jew born in a Polish shtetl, Rickover ultimately became the longest-serving U.S. military officer in history.
In this exciting new biography, historian Marc Wortman explores the constant conflict Rickover faced and provoked, tracing how he revolutionized the navy and Cold War strategy.
Also available as an audio book
About the Author
Marc Wortman is an independent historian and award-winning freelance journalist. His books include 1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War, The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta, and The Millionaires’ Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power.
Author photograph © Jodi Cohen
Awards
Honorable mention, John Lyman Book Award (2023)
Reviews
"Marc Wortman delivers a 17-gun salute to this short, profane spitfire who pulled a reluctant Navy into the atomic era....This latest book, part of Yale’s Jewish Lives series, is, like Rickover himself, efficient, blunt and clear.... Mr. Wortman opens a window into the life of an intellectual titan disdainful of nearly everything except scientific honesty, his adopted nation, and the power of the atom." —Wall Street Journal
“A superb and even-handed treatment of a complex, brilliant, and driven admiral who inspired both awe and loathing across the Navy he fundamentally reshaped. Rickover’s raw accomplishments in delivering nuclear power afloat changed the US Navy forever and remain seminal today." —Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander, NATO, and author of 2034
“Hyman Rickover is justifiably known as the ‘Father of the Nuclear Navy.’ Marc Wortman provides a lively, deeply informed, and revealing portrait of this remarkable man, warts and all.”—David Holloway, author of Stalin and the Bomb
