American Prometheus

Triumph and Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer

By: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin

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Paperback | 11 April 2006

At a Glance

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784 Pages

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19.5 x 12.5 x 4.5

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J. Robert Oppenheimer is 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.

About the Authors

Kai Bird is the author of The Chairman: John J. McCloy, The Making of the American Establishment and The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms. He coedited with Lawrence Lifschultz Hiroshima’s Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy. A contributing editor of The Nation, he lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and son.

Martin J. Sherwin is the Walter S. Dickson Professor of English and American History at Tufts University and author of A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies, which won the Stuart L. Bernath Prize, as well as the American History Book Prize. He and his wife live in Boston and Washington, D.C.

Industry Reviews

"The definitive biography. . . . Oppenheimer's life doesn't influence us. It haunts us." -Newsweek"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"There have been numerous books about Oppenheimer but they can't touch this extraordinary book's impressive breadth and scope." -The Miami Herald"The first biography to give full due to Oppenheimer's extraordinary complexity . . . Stands as an Everest among the mountains of books on the bomb project and Oppenheimer, and is an achievement not likely to be surpassed or equaled."-The Boston Globe

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Preface	p. ix
Prologue	p. 3

"He Received Every New Idea as Perfectly Beautiful"	p. 9
"His Separate Prison"	p. 29
"I Am Having a Pretty Bad Time"	p. 41
"I Find the Work Hard, Thank God, & Almost Pleasant"	p. 56
"I Am Oppenheimer"	p. 68
"Oppie"	p. 80
"The Nim Nim Boys"	p. 94

"In 1936 My Interests Began to Change"	p. 111
"[Frank] Clipped It Out and Sent It In"	p. 128
"More and More Surely"	p. 143
"I'm Going to Marry a Friend of Yours, Steve"	p. 153
"We Were Pulling the New Deal to the Left"	p. 166
"The Coordinator of Rapid Rupture"	p. 179
"The Chevalier Affair"	p. 195

"He'd Become Very Patriotic"	p. 205
"Too Much Secrecy"	p. 223
"Oppenheimer Is Telling the Truth ..."	p. 236
"Suicide, Motive Unknown"	p. 249
"Would You Like to Adopt Her?"	p. 255
"Bohr Was God, and Oppie Was His Prophet"	p. 268
"The Impact of the Gadget on Civilization"	p. 277
"Now We're All Sons-of-Bitches"	p. 290

"Those Poor Little People"	p. 313
"I Feel I Have Blood on My Hands"	p. 323
"People Could Destroy New York"	p. 336
"Oppie Had a Rash and Is Now Immune"	p. 351
"An Intellectual Hotel"	p. 369
"He Couldn't Understand Why He Did It"	p. 391
"I Am Sure That Is Why She Threw Things at Him"	p. 406
"He Never Let On What His Opinion Was"	p. 416
"Dark Words About Oppie"	p. 431
"Scientist X"	p. 454
"The Beast in the Jungle"	p. 462

"It Looks Pretty Bad, Doesn't It?"	p. 487
"I Fear That This Whole Thing Is a Piece of Idiocy"	p. 498
"A Manifestation of Hysteria"	p. 523
"A Black Mark on the Escutcheon of Our Country"	p. 538
"I Can Still Feel the Warm Blood on My Hands"	p. 551
"It Was Really Like a Never-Never-Land"	p. 566
"It Should Have Been Done the Day After Trinity"	p. 574
Epilogue: "There's Only One Robert"	p. 589
Author's Note and Acknowledgments	p. 593
Notes	p. 601
Bibliography	p. 685
Index	p. 700
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

American Prometheus

Triumph and Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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