Awards
2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"[R]espectful but revealing....A swiftly moving narrative full of morality tales and juicy gossip. One of the best scientific biographies to appear in recent years." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review
"Where Bird and Sherwin are without peer...is in capturing the humanity of the man behind the porkpie hat, both at Los Alamos and in the tragic aftermath....[A] compelling life story." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"This fascinating and thoughtful book brilliantly captures the political and scientific struggles of the early atomic age. Oppenheimer's triumphs and trials show how public policy, scientific genius and private character become interwoven. Bird and Sherwin have triumphed in turning their prodigious research about the father of the bomb into a poignant narrative." Walter Isaacson
Review
"Four decades after his death, J. Robert Oppenheimer has finally received the indepth, insightful, and judicious biography he deserves. This book is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant and tragic life, and of America in the nuclear age." Eric Foner
Review
"This superb biography provides fresh revelations and penetrating insights about the complex and fascinating personality of Robert Oppenheimer. American Prometheus is meticulously researched, eloquently written and a joy to read. The account of his 1954 trial is spellbinding." Robert S. Norris, author of Racing for the Bomb, General Leslie R. Groves the Manhattan Projects Indispensable Man
Review
"American Prometheus is the best most thoroughly researched and most convincingly argued study of J. Robert Oppenheimer to date. It is not only a great biography but also a cautionary tale about the excesses of government in a time of fear. No one interested in 20th-century America can afford to ignore this book." Robert Dallek
About the Author
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.