Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the book over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. In the text, many US officials don’t trust Oppenheimer with atomic secrets.

• Why were American military and political figures suspicious of Oppenheimer? (topic sentence)
• Give 3 examples of things Oppenheimer said or did that provoked suspicion about his loyalties.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain whether the outcome of Oppenheimer’s work proved these suspicions warranted.

2. The sabotage of the Norwegian heavy-water plant was critical to the race to build an atomic bomb. 

• Why did the sabotage affect the German A-bomb effort so profoundly? (topic sentence)
• Give 3 reasons why the Germans relied on heavy-water production.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize the effect the sabotage had on the course of the war in Europe.