Richard Rhodes wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book about "The Making of" this, which is powered by fission
This sweeping 
account begins in the 19th century, with the discovery of nuclear fission, and 
continues ... From nuclear power's earliest foreshadowing in the work of H.G.... [DOC] [TLE] B Reactor 60th Anniversary Address - B Reactor Museum Association [PAR] PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR Richard Rhodes was the keynote speaker 
... to write about it, rather briefly, in my book The Making of the Atomic Bomb.