J. R. Partington

This scholarly compendium is almost an obituary of chemical explosives, rules as the ultimate arbiters of human affairs. It is about a persistence of human dilemma, struggle for power and preservation of the secret which stand an uncommonly high standard of "security"

The easy style and the sympathy for the reader that have made Isaac Asimov one of the most successful writers on science of all time are applied here to the fascinating history of Professor Asimov's own field of specialization. From the Bronze Age to the Nuclear Age the story of the step-by-step advance through the mysteries of the elements is recounted, and the impact of the great discoveries on civilization through applied chemistry is set forth in all its drama.