American Prometheus- The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird

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Web ID: 16960389

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMER, "A riveting account of one of history's most essential and paradoxical figures. Christopher Nolan #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, PULITZER PRIZE WINNER, The definitive biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war, and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress. In this magisterial, acclaimed biography twenty-five years in the making, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin capture Oppenheimer's life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War. This is biography and history at its finest, riveting and deeply informative. A masterful account of Oppenheimer's rise and fall, set in the context of the turbulent decades of America's own transformation. It is a tour de force. Los Angeles Times Book Review A work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer's essential nature. . . . It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior. The New York Times.

  • Product Features

    • Suggested age range- Adult
    • Format- Paperback
    • Dimensions- 5.2" W x 8" H x 1.66" D
    • Genre- Science
    • Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
    • Page count- 784
    • ISBN- 9780375726262
    • Kai Bird (Author)
    • Publication Date: 04-11-2006
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Ratings & Reviews

4.9/5

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1 year ago
from NSW

Thoroughly researched

A detailed biography of a fascinating figure in history. Made me dislike him more, but the book is very well written.

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

1 year ago
from Tennessee

Interesting book

I like the first half or so of the book, about Oppenheimer's early years and through his time at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. This was interesting and enlightening about the scientist's family, education, social life, interest in left wing causes, brilliance in physics, being the director of Los Alamos, and so on. (As a side note, one thing that particularly struck me about the story was that - right out in the open - schools, universities. government organizations, etc. restricted the number of Jews allowed in. They'd come right out and say 'we have too many Jews' or something similar.) The second part of the story about Lewis Strasse and his minions doing their best to destroy Oppenheimer is good from a factual and historical POV, but it made me depressed. I felt the venality of these people and the non-stop surveillance, bugging of phones, following people, harassing people, and more was off the charts. And much of it, done by the FBI, was illegal. In any case the book is well researched and well-written.

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

2 years ago
from WI

One of the best books I've read

After seeing the movie, Oppenheimer, this summer (2023) I just had to read this book. The movie was very good but it left me with so many questions and I had to find answers. This is one of the best books I've ever read! Granted, loving a book is very individual and I realize others could think a book I love is a book they hate, but I loved this book. That's saying a lot. I am a slow reader and just looking at a book with this many pages is daunting. But I found "American Prometheus" fascinating. I have recently finished "Death of a President" by William Manchester, another daunting 700 page book and when finished, I was glad to be done. Personally, I thought the writing in "Death of a President" was terrible. So when I started "American Prometheus" I was worried about the writing style but found it very readable. There are hundreds of characters in this book and the authors realized that the reader would not be able to keep track of many of them. So they constantly threw in reminders as to who each character was but were careful not to over do it. This was greatly appreciated. The writing was smooth and understandable. The entire book was a page Turner although I felt the "trial" portion dragged. But the trial portion was a huge part of Oppenheimer's life and that story had to be told. I don't think it could have been told differently. So that's not really a complaint. I do have one negative comment. I felt the authors told the story with a very positive bias towards Oppenheimer but were still willing to show his negative aspects. I feel a biography should simply tell the story as it is. But early on, I formed a positive opinion of Oppenheimer and was perfectly willing to see him in the light that he was portrayed. After reading this book, I am a huge Oppenheimer fan. Great read!

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

2 years ago
from Tucson, AZ

Learning about tis outstanding American scientist

I bought this book after seeing the movie. There was so much I couldn't hear and I wanted to learn more about the persecution of this great man. The legal proceeding against him was outrageous. He, like me, and others were on the side of Spaniards fighting Fascism in Spain in the 30;s. To label him as a Communist is just plain wrong .This was during the McCarthy decades when many good people were unjustly labeled

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

2 years ago
from california

title is prologue

brilliant, foreboding and sad. A man born into a world on fire and asked to put it our with more fire.clearly an exceptional mind . leader . but human. hes my hero in this book, my anti heros were j edgar hoover for chasing the communist rainbow for years,,truman for nor being smart enough to understand what oppi was saying.....

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

3 years ago

Very detailed and interesting

American Prometheus Review “Oppenheimer later said that at the sight of the unearthly mushroom cloud soaring into the heavens above Point Zero, he recalled lines from the Gita. In a 1965 NBC television documentary, he remembered: ‘We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.’” American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin is a a biography of the life of Robert Oppenheimer. He was the lead physicist that helped America with the creation of the atomic bomb. The book tells Oppenheimer’s life in a very thorough way from his childhood until his death. I knew very little vague details about Robert Oppenheimer before reading this book but I was curious. If you feel the same this book will not disappoint. It tells so many fascinating details about who he was and the people he was close too. I never found the book boring and I learned a lot about this man and the time periods he lived through. I will say it is a big read, it took me longer than normal to get through this very detailed book. But overall I do think it was worth it. I give it 4.5 stars. ”In the post-9/11 era, it is worth recalling that at the dawn of the nuclear age, the father of the atomic bomb warned us that it was a weapon of indiscriminate terror that instantly had made America more vulnerable to wanton attack. When he was asked in a closed Senate hearing in 1946 ‘whether three or four men couldn’t smuggle units of an [atomic] bomb into New York and blow up the whole city,’ he responded pointedly, ‘Of course it could be done, and people could destroy New York.’ To the follow-up question of a startled senator, ‘What instrument would you use to detect an atomic bomb hidden somewhere in a city?’ Oppenheimer quipped, ‘A screwdriver [to open each and every crate or suitcase].’ The only defense against nuclear terrorism was the elimination of nuclear weapons.”

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

4 years ago
from San Jose, CA

I am obsessed with this book

Not only is the subject matter intense and complex and true, but the skill of the two authors is superb. It seems seemless despite being written by two different people, kind of like the perfect soup, it is more than the sum of ingredients. This is a book I can open to any page and immediately get sucked into vortex.

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com