This author received the Pulitzer for his "The Making Of The Atomic Bomb". So far easily the best history on the subject. Knowing his skill as a writer, when I saw this book, "A Hole In The World" on the remainder shelf, I bought it without knowing what it was about. It was my pleasant surprise of the month.
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It is a brutally honest, spare nothing, marvelously recalled personal story of the author from birth to adulthood. He examines the hole left by his mothers untimely death, his revolting non-supportive father, his brutal step-mothers, beatings, starvation, embarrassments, filthy environments, foster homes, and finally the warmth and restoration he (and his brother) found at the Andrew Drumm Orphanage.
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Richard Rhodes experienced a dreadful passage to adulthood and he lays it all out in this book for everyone to see. As anticipated, the book is very well written, holds your interest, and disturbs your mind. For those of us who have never been so deprived, it is a powerful learning experience.
