I tracked the story from the beginning, that week in 1943, right through the present time. I pay special attention to the crossroads, those places were monumental decisions were made -- the decision to use the atomic bomb, how we responded to the discovery of the Soviet capacity to launch Sputnik, the beginning of the arms race.
A writer who's recovering from a near-fatal illness -- and the writer's block that it led to -- is the main character in Paul Auster's novel, a complicated story-within-a-story-within-a-story. It's told from the point of view of a man named Sidney Orr.
I tracked the story from the beginning, that week in 1943, right through the present time. I pay special attention to the crossroads, those places were monumental decisions were made -- the decision to use the atomic bomb, how we responded to the discovery of the Soviet capacity to launch Sputnik, the beginning of the arms race. 
