Western Book Club: 109 E. Palace by Jennet Conant

Location: Virtual/Zoom

Cost: Free

The Eiteljorg Museum’s Western Book Club, like the museum itself, is committed to including works that represent many different cultural values, attitudes, and points of view.

Members come together bimonthly to discuss books that represent the diversity of the American West and Indigenous peoples of North America. Meetings take place via Zoom, and are open to all.

Join us for a discussion of 109 E. Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos by Jennet Conant. A story of the 27 intense months that Oppenheimer and the world’s best scientists worked to produce the A-bomb and win WWII. Thousands of men, women, and children spent the war years sequestered in this top-secret military facility. They lied to friends and family about where they were going and what they were doing, and then disappeared into the desert. Through the eyes of a young Santa Fe widow who was one of Oppenheimer’s first recruits, we see how, for all his flaws, he developed into an inspiring leader and motivated all those involved in the Los Alamos project to make a supreme effort and achieve the unthinkable.