American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars | 12,808 ratings

Price: 23.85

Last update: 12-23-2024


About this item

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.

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMER

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.

When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s. They declared that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America’s nuclear secrets.

In this magisterial biography twenty-five years in the making, which won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for biography, the authors capture Oppenheimer’s life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War.


Top reviews from the United States

Margo
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding biography
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2024
I bought this to read after watching Oppenheimer (which is an amazing film btw). I knew it was a big book so wasn’t daunted by the 700 pages (including 150 pages of Notes). The narrative is dense, with 25 years worth of research by the two authors. Oppenheimer was a fascinating man. A genius with a complex emotional skill set. This biography is comprehensive. Tells of his tortured youth, his inability to “fit in.” His obsession with the mysteries of physics, developing from the practical to the theoretical. He was arrogant. He was naive. He was promiscuous. There is so much delicious detail the authors discovered. It is an enthralling read.
I will say, even reading just a couple of chapters at a time, my eyes strained. The print is fairly small. After we watched the film a second time, we wanted to re-read the book. Luckily there is an audio book so we got that too!
This biography won the Pulitzer Prize. It is a wonderful read, not all facts and figures and university lectures. And the 150 pages of Notes are as fascinating as the text. Highly, highly recommend this book.
Vivian T
5.0 out of 5 stars The movie was faithful to the book
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2023
This is not a quick read for sure. The book is so big it’s hard to hold, so probably better to read it on the Kindle. I got it from the library, and it was falling apart to such an extent that when I returned it, it really needed to be re-glued before they could give it to another reader. That being said, I found Oppenheimer a very interesting person. You really couldn’t get that much of a handle on who he was in the movie, compared to reading the book.
Definitely worth the effort and very well done, including his relationship with his wife and children, which is always an interesting part of any book. It certainly helps to know the history of our country during those years. My granddaughter, age 18, went to see it, and I wanted to make sure she knew about the house un-American activities committee and what was going on at that time in our country. My husband, a newspaper journalist in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, back in the day, interviewed Oppenheimer for his newspaper. He mentioned to me that he thought Oppenheimer was haunted by his connection to the bomb, and that made me all the more interested in seeing the film. He was a man who did everything he could to stop the proliferation of the H bomb. He never could’ve dreamed the way things would go. After reading this, I decided that I could no longer defend Harry Truman for the bombing of Nagasaki, especially when one finds out that the Japanese were so close to surrendering. How can you ignore a nation with so many innocent people at risk? I thought Truman was smarter and more sensitive than he turns out to be, according to these authors. All in all, an interesting read and well worth your time.
Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars A very thorough book about a remarkable man
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2023
Oppenheimer was a brilliant, very capable individual but an eccentric personality. The authors go into considerable detail as to his sympathy and association with extreme leftists and even communists in the 30s but conclude Oppenheimer, himself, was never a party member. They don't really delve into why Oppenheimer and many others were at least fellow travelers but the past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. The authors cite what Oppenheimer and others felt about the use of the bomb on Japan, that it was against a country which had been virtually defeated. They fail to acknowledge the recent reputable historians who argue that the Japanese were not prepared to surrender. I had been unaware of Oppenheimer's friendship with George Kennan. The critique of the revocation of Oppenheimer's security clearance is thorough and devastating. Whatever legitimate concerns that there were had been addressed during and immediately after WWII. The 1954 revocation was procedurally flawed, and based on policy disagreements and personal animus on the part of the AEC chairman.
Linda Linguvic
5.0 out of 5 stars The rise and fall of the physicist who helped create the Atomic Bomb
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2009
Subtitled "The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer", this 2005 book won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. This fascinating story of the physicist who oversaw the creation of the atomic bomb is meticulously researched by the authors and offers the reader a comprehensive look at the facts and the political complexities that first held this man in high esteem in 1945 and later turned on him and disgraced him just nine years later in 1954.

Born in 1904 to a Jewish family who had been one of the founders of the Ethical Culture movement in the America, young Robert attended a private Ethical Culture school and grew up inspired by the ideal that the supreme aim of our lives is to create a more humane society. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Cambridge in England and the University of Gottingen in Germany, later becoming a professor at the University of Berkeley in California. This was in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Europe was where the innovations in physics were happening, Hitler was rising to power, Russia was in a state of revolution, the Spanish Civil War was beginning and the work of Karl Marx was being discussed by the segment of American society that believed in making the world a better place. Naturally, Robert Oppenheimer found himself in that world, and contributed money to some humanitarian causes. During this time he had several romances and eventually married a woman whose former husband was a Communist who had died fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

Robert was a brilliant physicist and was chosen to run the project at Los Alamos to create what turned out to be the Atomic Bomb. In this section of the book we meet the other scientists involved in the project and get to understand the kind of isolationist lives they and their families lived during the two years that the project was being developed. Later, when the Atomic Bomb became a reality, there was debate over whether or not it should be used. Originally, it was designed to be used in Europe, but Hitler had already surrendered and Japan was on the verge of surrendering. There were no military targets left that the bomb was suited for. All it would do would be to kill thousands of civilians and wreck havoc in Japan. Some thought at the time that all that would be needed was to call a press conference and do a test in an isolated area so that reporters could report on its strength which might have been enough to push Japan's surrender. This, however, was not to be.

Well, we all know what happened. Two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. Japan surrendered. And Robert Oppenheimer was lauded as one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Things changed however. Atomic power seemed to let the genie out of the bottle. The arms race began with the Soviet Union exploding a bomb of its own and the United States wanting to develop even bigger and bigger bombs. All of a sudden, it seemed as if there would be no end - that the bombs would just get bigger and bigger and the world would blow itself into destruction. Robert Oppenheimer opposed this trend and wrote many articles warning the world of this course of action. Some saw him as un-American and wanted to destroy him. Eventually, in 1954, there was a hearing which would eventually strip him of his top secret security clearance. It was an unfair, kangaroo court which made me cringe as I read the transcripts. How awful for him.

After that, Robert was never the same. A few years later, at the age of 62, he died of throat cancer.

I looked up the myth of Prometheus so that I could better understand the title. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals to use. Zeus then punished him by having him bound to a rock while an eagle ate his liver, only to have it grow back the next day.

This is a fine book. I learned a lot. It is not the kind of book to read in one big gulp though. I read it little by little, a page or two at a time. And during the period I was reading it I was right there in those long-ago years, living and breathing all the influences of the times and understanding the world around me just a little bit better.

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