American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer is a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2005. Twenty-five years in the making, the book was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. It also won the 2008 Duff Cooper Prize, Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and Discover Magazine Best Science Book of the Year.
The book was compiled and researched for two decades by Martin J. Sherwin before Kai Bird was brought on to put it together in a cohesive and readable format.
The book's title refers to the legend of Prometheus, as mentioned in Scientific Monthly in September 1945:
"Modern Prometheans have raided Mount Olympus again and have brought back for man the very thunderbolts of Zeus."
It is 721 pages from start to finish in the May 2006 paperback edition, …
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer is a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2005. Twenty-five years in the making, the book was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. It also won the 2008 Duff Cooper Prize, Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and Discover Magazine Best Science Book of the Year.
The book was compiled and researched for two decades by Martin J. Sherwin before Kai Bird was brought on to put it together in a cohesive and readable format.
The book's title refers to the legend of Prometheus, as mentioned in Scientific Monthly in September 1945:
"Modern Prometheans have raided Mount Olympus again and have brought back for man the very thunderbolts of Zeus."
It is 721 pages from start to finish in the May 2006 paperback edition, but it also includes 32 pages of photographs.
The first edition also has 721 pages.
The book is set to be adapted into the 2023 biographical film Oppenheimer.
This book took the author 26 years, two advances from the publisher, and the need for a co-author, to be published. The original commissioning editor at Knopff died, requiring a replacement. The author's own family were certain he was going to die before it was published. The amount of detailed research is unsurpassed, and really shows in the text. I loved it, more than the movie, which reduced a number of the people involved to caricatures.
Personally, all that I new about J. Robert Oppenheimer was his time during Project Manhattan and a few details about his show trial in 1954. This book managed to bring a lot more context to these events and show me as close it is possible the real Oppenheimer.
What else can I say, this is probably the best biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer there is and together with Richard Rhodes' Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun makes the penultimate atomic trilogy.
Unlike most of the biographies of the 20th Century Quantum Physicists this book, this book is not about the discoveries of Oppenheimer but what was the character of Robert Oppenheimer and in particular whether he was Communist or not.
As a pre war intellectual he participated in many causes that were organised by the Communist party but it seems that he was either on fringe or carefully hid is membership. It is interesting to remember how many people were active in pro-Communist causes, such as support for the Spanish Civil War.
It seems the Military were aware of this, but felt it was better to have him at Los Alamos than to be outside the project possessing such dangerous knowledge.
During and after the war he led his life under constant surveillance. His letters were read, his phone tapped, he was followed. His associates and family monitored.
At length, the …
Unlike most of the biographies of the 20th Century Quantum Physicists this book, this book is not about the discoveries of Oppenheimer but what was the character of Robert Oppenheimer and in particular whether he was Communist or not.
As a pre war intellectual he participated in many causes that were organised by the Communist party but it seems that he was either on fringe or carefully hid is membership. It is interesting to remember how many people were active in pro-Communist causes, such as support for the Spanish Civil War.
It seems the Military were aware of this, but felt it was better to have him at Los Alamos than to be outside the project possessing such dangerous knowledge.
During and after the war he led his life under constant surveillance. His letters were read, his phone tapped, he was followed. His associates and family monitored.
At length, the book records the atmosphere of the 1930s~1950s where guilt by association was assumed, jobs and academic positions were only available to the untainted.
One of the most interesting developments of this era was of the realization of the consequences of the development of nuclear weapons. The Los Alamos scientists were the first to understand that it was a matter of time before other countries developed them and that a determined enemy could deliver one to American soil by boat, by land or by air. Almost to a man, the scientists were for international monitoring of nuclear proliferation and that the only way to be safe was total nuclear disarmament.
If you want a full picture of Oppenheimer this is probably going to be the reference text. If you are just interested in the Manhattan Project then there is probably too much uninteresting detail and the coverage of the project is over very quickly in comparison with the rest of the book.
As an audiobook, at 26 hrs and 34 mins, this book was a long slog.
