Snake Dance

A beautifully written book – informative and entertaining – Piers Paul Read * Spectator *
Fascinating… Snake Dance is nothing less than the biography of nuclear power, the most awesome force humanity has yet unleashed upon the planet – Peter Whittakar * New Internationalist *
[Patrick Marnham’s] mastery of a vast trove of material makes him an erudite travel companion…perennially eager to poke about in radiation zones armed only with a wonky Geiger counter and a paper mask – Matthew Green * Literary Review *
The travel writing is first class… [A] thrillingly ominous account * Spectator *
A superb book on the genesis and use of the atomic bomb * Scotsman *
This is a humane and intelligent book, and one in which Marnham has clearly been deeply engaged – Melanie McGrath * Sunday Telegraph *
The great strength of Snake Dance is to create an atmosphere in which the advent of atomic energy is not just outrageous but tragic * Observer *
Snake Dance is a hybrid of a film tie-in, travelogue, biography and history. It’s a blend that gels through Marnham’s unwavering verve as he follows the trail of a lethal cargo – Christian House * Independent *
Impeccably researched and written – Giles Milton * Mail on Sunday *
From colonial slavery to the blind potential of scientific exploration to enslave us in turn, he makes a circular journey: the nuclear snake eats its own tail * The Times *

Patrick Marnham is a biographer and travel writer. He began his career as a reporter on Private Eye and has written for many newspapers including the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the New York Times and Liberation. He has worked as a BBC script writer and a special correspondent in Africa, the Middle East and Central America. He has been literary editor of the Spectator and was the first Paris Correspondent of the Independent. He has written lives of Diego Rivera, Georges Simenon, Jean Moulin and Mary Wesley. His books have won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Marsh Biography Award. To accompany this book Marnham has written the prize-winning documentary film Snake Dance, directed by Manu Riche, the Belgian film maker. Patrick Marnham lives with his family in Oxfordshire.

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