American Prometheus (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER (Vintage)
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Buy American Prometheus (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER (Vintage) on desertcart.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders Review: A Brilliant, Contradictory, and Sometimes Naive Man - American Prometheus The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer This book, in essence, is about one man’s struggle to define morality and his corollary effort to define responsibilities related to love of country. As such, it is timeless. The struggle between what we can do and what we ought to do continues 78 years since the detonation of atomic bombs over Japanese cities. Robert Oppenheimer’s life is extraordinary. It is also very human story — although with a level of brilliance, contradictory inspiration, and naiveté that surpasses ordinary mortals. This detailed and well-researched biography by authors Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin compels us to consider our own professional, political, and moral standards and contradictions. Oppenheimer in the 1930s was not so much ignorant of politics as indifferent, the authors tell us. As was the case with many who questioned capitalism during the Great Depression, he had many friends who were committed to the Communist Party and leftist ideology, including those who were formal members of the party and those who were sympathetic to many of its ideas. But Oppenheimer never himself became a propagandist for Communist ideas. Later, when Oppenheimer assumed responsibility for the Manhattan Project and was aware of the importance of secrecy, he didn’t cut off socializing with those who were “fellow travelers” or more, but simply insured that he revealed nothing about the project itself. On several occasions he was lackadaisical, failing to report at least one attempt to get him to convey technical secrets to a longstanding friend who he knew to be a Communist. Later interrogated by FBI agent Boris Pash about being approached, he not only refused to name that person but unaccountably suggested two fictitious incidents had occurred. This casual response, taking place without a lawyer, came to haunt him. What Oppenheimer didn’t realize was the extent to which he had been targeted by J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI because of his relationships with those on the left. The authors also explain that formal membership in the Communist Party was usually secret and one’s degree of party commitment was ill-defined. Thus as Hoover’s agents interviewed party members, many assumed that Oppenheimer was “one of us” and stated this belief to the FBI. Many of the FBI’s files contained unverified hearsay. Additional “evidence” against Oppenheimer was collected in illegal wiretaps that the FBI hid from Oppenheimer, his attorneys and shared only with those who would ultimately judge whether he was a security risk. At the end of the war Oppenheimer misjudged Lewis Strauss, who was appointed head of the Atomic Energy Commission. He held Strauss is open contempt and thereby guaranteed that Strauss became an enemy and would dedicate himself to Oppenheimer’s persecution and ultimate loss of a security clearance. The book makes a case that Oppenheimer was man brilliant in many ways, but even more extraordinary as an individual who could rise to new occasions. Thus, this theoretical physicist who never managed a bureaucracy became a practical and charismatic leader who led hundreds of top scientists and thousands of others to develop the atomic bomb. Once having successfully tested the device, Oppenheimer and his fellow scientists had no say in how the bomb would be employed — although they certainly were aware that it could be used against civilian targets. So the actually consequences of their work came as a shock and in Oppenheimer’s case, apparent depression. Immediately after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer drafted a report arguing that 1) It will be impossible for the United States to have a monopoly on bomb technology, 2) No military countermeasures will prevent effective delivery of atomic weapons, and 3) Devices will become bigger and more lethal. Thus there was a critical need to find a way to make future wars impossible. Together with physicist Isidor Rabi, he proposed that the U.S. relinquish control over the bomb and the use of nuclear energy to an international body. If a nation pursued the bomb they would be banned from the peaceful use of atomic energy such as in power plants. Oppenheimer was appointed to a Board of Consultants chaired by Dean Acheson and with General Leslie Groves and other prominent men among the membership. In March, 1946 they produced a report, largely written by Oppenheimer, that called for an international agency that would have sovereignty over uranium mines, nuclear power plants, and laboratories. Oppenheimer also opposed the development of the hydrogen or “Super” bomb, which put him in conflict with Edward Teller, Strauss, and much of the military — particularly the Air Force. Whether the surrender of control over nuclear weapons was ever realistic, events soon scuttled the idea due to the Soviet Union’s control of Eastern Europe and its own development of an atomic bomb. By this time, Oppenheimer realized that the idea of international control would not take place and again shifted his position, accepting that the United States had to defend its own sovereignty against others who possessed nuclear weapons. But in effect he had always been a patriot, arguing as he saw it for what was in U.S. national interest as well as essential to mankind. Bird and Sherwin have written a wonderful book about a complex man and complex problems that we have made little progress in resolving since Oppenheimer’s time. The man was unfairly judged in his time. His warnings are pertinent today. Review: Superb, But Very, Very Long - This superb book on Oppenheimer can be recommended for all, but with a significant caveat. First, it is very, very long—the equivalent of approximately three volumes. I bought it about a year ago and read it in fits and starts, because it is a slow read. It is not a dull read, but rather a dense read. It examines RO’s life in endless detail, on pages dense with text. The focus is squarely on RO’s life, not exclusively on his science, in part because of the complexity of that life, including his many political entanglements. His (self-described) fellow-traveler activities, particularly in his early life, up until the loss of his security clearance (but continuation as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study) are an important part of his life, and thus they occupy a great deal of the text. For those who are principally interested in the Manhattan Project and the development of nuclear weapons this may prove to be distracting. This is a full biography, not a selective one. The research is deep and extensive, the writing very workmanlike, the illustrations very helpful, but remember—in for a dime, in for a dollar. When you pick up this book you are making a significant commitment. I faced the challenge by reading it when I was between shorter books.
| Best Sellers Rank | #34,349 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #3 in Nuclear Physics (Books) #23 in Scientist Biographies #222 in World History (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (13,844) |
| Dimensions | 5.21 x 1.58 x 7.97 inches |
| Edition | Reprint |
| ISBN-10 | 0375726268 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0375726262 |
| Item Weight | 2.31 pounds |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 721 pages |
| Publication date | May 1, 2006 |
| Publisher | Vintage Books |
C**S
A Brilliant, Contradictory, and Sometimes Naive Man
American Prometheus The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer This book, in essence, is about one man’s struggle to define morality and his corollary effort to define responsibilities related to love of country. As such, it is timeless. The struggle between what we can do and what we ought to do continues 78 years since the detonation of atomic bombs over Japanese cities. Robert Oppenheimer’s life is extraordinary. It is also very human story — although with a level of brilliance, contradictory inspiration, and naiveté that surpasses ordinary mortals. This detailed and well-researched biography by authors Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin compels us to consider our own professional, political, and moral standards and contradictions. Oppenheimer in the 1930s was not so much ignorant of politics as indifferent, the authors tell us. As was the case with many who questioned capitalism during the Great Depression, he had many friends who were committed to the Communist Party and leftist ideology, including those who were formal members of the party and those who were sympathetic to many of its ideas. But Oppenheimer never himself became a propagandist for Communist ideas. Later, when Oppenheimer assumed responsibility for the Manhattan Project and was aware of the importance of secrecy, he didn’t cut off socializing with those who were “fellow travelers” or more, but simply insured that he revealed nothing about the project itself. On several occasions he was lackadaisical, failing to report at least one attempt to get him to convey technical secrets to a longstanding friend who he knew to be a Communist. Later interrogated by FBI agent Boris Pash about being approached, he not only refused to name that person but unaccountably suggested two fictitious incidents had occurred. This casual response, taking place without a lawyer, came to haunt him. What Oppenheimer didn’t realize was the extent to which he had been targeted by J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI because of his relationships with those on the left. The authors also explain that formal membership in the Communist Party was usually secret and one’s degree of party commitment was ill-defined. Thus as Hoover’s agents interviewed party members, many assumed that Oppenheimer was “one of us” and stated this belief to the FBI. Many of the FBI’s files contained unverified hearsay. Additional “evidence” against Oppenheimer was collected in illegal wiretaps that the FBI hid from Oppenheimer, his attorneys and shared only with those who would ultimately judge whether he was a security risk. At the end of the war Oppenheimer misjudged Lewis Strauss, who was appointed head of the Atomic Energy Commission. He held Strauss is open contempt and thereby guaranteed that Strauss became an enemy and would dedicate himself to Oppenheimer’s persecution and ultimate loss of a security clearance. The book makes a case that Oppenheimer was man brilliant in many ways, but even more extraordinary as an individual who could rise to new occasions. Thus, this theoretical physicist who never managed a bureaucracy became a practical and charismatic leader who led hundreds of top scientists and thousands of others to develop the atomic bomb. Once having successfully tested the device, Oppenheimer and his fellow scientists had no say in how the bomb would be employed — although they certainly were aware that it could be used against civilian targets. So the actually consequences of their work came as a shock and in Oppenheimer’s case, apparent depression. Immediately after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer drafted a report arguing that 1) It will be impossible for the United States to have a monopoly on bomb technology, 2) No military countermeasures will prevent effective delivery of atomic weapons, and 3) Devices will become bigger and more lethal. Thus there was a critical need to find a way to make future wars impossible. Together with physicist Isidor Rabi, he proposed that the U.S. relinquish control over the bomb and the use of nuclear energy to an international body. If a nation pursued the bomb they would be banned from the peaceful use of atomic energy such as in power plants. Oppenheimer was appointed to a Board of Consultants chaired by Dean Acheson and with General Leslie Groves and other prominent men among the membership. In March, 1946 they produced a report, largely written by Oppenheimer, that called for an international agency that would have sovereignty over uranium mines, nuclear power plants, and laboratories. Oppenheimer also opposed the development of the hydrogen or “Super” bomb, which put him in conflict with Edward Teller, Strauss, and much of the military — particularly the Air Force. Whether the surrender of control over nuclear weapons was ever realistic, events soon scuttled the idea due to the Soviet Union’s control of Eastern Europe and its own development of an atomic bomb. By this time, Oppenheimer realized that the idea of international control would not take place and again shifted his position, accepting that the United States had to defend its own sovereignty against others who possessed nuclear weapons. But in effect he had always been a patriot, arguing as he saw it for what was in U.S. national interest as well as essential to mankind. Bird and Sherwin have written a wonderful book about a complex man and complex problems that we have made little progress in resolving since Oppenheimer’s time. The man was unfairly judged in his time. His warnings are pertinent today.
R**Z
Superb, But Very, Very Long
This superb book on Oppenheimer can be recommended for all, but with a significant caveat. First, it is very, very long—the equivalent of approximately three volumes. I bought it about a year ago and read it in fits and starts, because it is a slow read. It is not a dull read, but rather a dense read. It examines RO’s life in endless detail, on pages dense with text. The focus is squarely on RO’s life, not exclusively on his science, in part because of the complexity of that life, including his many political entanglements. His (self-described) fellow-traveler activities, particularly in his early life, up until the loss of his security clearance (but continuation as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study) are an important part of his life, and thus they occupy a great deal of the text. For those who are principally interested in the Manhattan Project and the development of nuclear weapons this may prove to be distracting. This is a full biography, not a selective one. The research is deep and extensive, the writing very workmanlike, the illustrations very helpful, but remember—in for a dime, in for a dollar. When you pick up this book you are making a significant commitment. I faced the challenge by reading it when I was between shorter books.
K**H
Science, Evolution, and Conscience
Summary Thoughts 1. Deserving winner of a Pulitzer Prize; a true human story of science, evolution, and conscience 2. Knowledge threatens political power; especially when it has a liberal mind that doesn't pander to government 3. Respect (from practitioners) vs. Reprimand (by politicians) - Oppenheimer battled bureaucrats to his grave Content Highlights 1. "Damn it, I happen to love this country." (pg 3) #truth, Oppenheimer wasn't the communist his haters wanted him to be 2. "He received every idea as perfectly beautiful" (pg 9) #objective research defined 3. "Well, neither one of us came over on the Mayflower" (pg 25) on being Jewish, Oppie to his Scotch-Irish friend at #Harvard 4. "The notion that I was travelling down a clear track would be wrong" (pg 29) #honesty about learning (1922 enrolled @Harvard) 5. Proust's "A La Recherche du Temp Perdu" (pg 51) a book that left an impression on him in college #introspection 6. "Becoming a scientist, Oppenheimer later remarked, is like climbing a mountain in a tunnel" (pg 67) #Gottingen 1927 Germany 7. "Quantum mechanics describes nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense" -Feynman (pg 79) #Oppie liked 8. "Oppie" = title of Chapter 6 (Oppenheimer's nickname, humanizes the man as he moved on to teach in California) 9. "How far is it wise to respond to a mood?" -Oppenheimer in #1930 (pg 95), we was 26 yrs old, #mentoring brother Frank 10. "In 1936 my interests began to change" -Oppie (pg 111) met his 1st love, young #communist party member, Jean Tatlock 11. "FBI would never resolve the question of whether or not Robert was a CP member" (pg 142) b/c he wasn't a #communist 12. "devoted to working for social and economic justice... he chose to stand with the left" (pg152) left isn't Russian Communist 13. "By the end of 1939, Oppenheimer's often stormy relationship with Jeadn Tatlock had disintegrated" (pg 153) 14. "I'd had about enough of the Spanish cause... there were more pressing crises in the world" (pg 178) #1941 post Pearl Harbor 15. "Only an atomic bomb could dislodge Hitler from Europe" -Oppenheimer to #Teller in #1942 16. "Groves is a bastard but he's a straightforward one" -Oppenheimer (pg 185) on his boss at #LosAlamos 17. "He's a genius, a real genius" -Groves on Oppenheimer (pg 185) #1942, peer #respect 18. "Robert was beginning a new life. As the Director of a weapons laboratory..." (pg 205) #1942, he was 38 yrs old 19. "No, no, you're crazy... that's nuts" -Dick Feynman (pg 217) Feynman, Bethe, Bohr + Oppenheimer = genius collaboration 20. "Oppenheimer is telling the truth..." (pg 236) people may have not liked the #truth, but he was usually telling it; that's life 21. "I am disgusted with everything" -Jean Tatlock (pg 249), in #1944 Oppenheimer's 1st love committed #suicide 22. "December 1943, Niels Bohr arrived at Los Alamos" (pg 268) Oppie was his #prophet 23. "If Bohr was convinced, then Oppenheimer must have realized that German physicists were in all likelihood far behind" (pg 276) 24. "Everyone sensed Oppie's presence. He drove himself around The Hill in an army jeep" (pg 277) #leader amongst peers 25. "Well, Roosevelt was a great architect, perhaps Truman will be a good carpenter" -Oppenheimer (pg 290) he respected POTUS 26. "I feel I have blood on my hands" -Oppenheimer (pg 323) October 16, #1946 to #Truman (and Truman didn't like the honesty) 27. "Oppenheimer arrived in Princeton in mid-July 1947" (pg 369) he was appointed Director of Einstein's Institute #thinktank 28. "After Einstein, Oppenheimer was undoubtedly the most renowned scientist in the country" (pg 390) #1948 (so he was a #threat) 29. "Our atomic monopoly is like a cake of ice melting in the sun..." -Oppenheimer (cover of Time Magazine 1948) (pg 418) 30. "The Administration now supported a program to build a bomb 1,000x as lethal as the Hiroshima weapon" (pg 430) 31. "You probably don't know to what extent you have become my intellectual conscience" -George Kennan to Oppie #1950 (pg 431) 32. "We may be likened to 2 scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life" -Oppenheimer (pg 462) 33. In 1953 Oppenheimer sent the new Eisenhower Administration a report "urging a policy of candor" (pg 463) #transparency 34. "I must reveal its nature without revealing anything" -Oppenheimer on #nuclear weapons in 1953 #candor (pg 463) 35. "The President had read Oppie's essay and had found himself to be in general accord with its argument" (pg 468) #Strauss was enraged 36. Strauss and the anti-Oppenheimer hawks went after Oppie (ultimately he "collapsed on his bathroom floor") (pg 484) #pressure 1953 37. Einstein, not impressed, thought Oppenheimer "a man who was easily hurt and intimidated" (pg 498) #fair assessment 38. "The Oppenheimer hearing thus represented ... the narrowing of the public forum during the early Cold War" (pg 550) 39. "It achieved just what his opponents wanted to achieve; it destroyed him" -I.I. Rabi (pg 551) #1954 40. "How can the independent experimental mind survive in such an atmosphere?" -The New Statesman (pg 556) #1954 41. "By the early 1960s, with the return of Democrats... Oppenheimer was no longer a political pariah" (pg 574) #JFK 42. "I think it is just possible Mr. President that is has taken some charity and some courage to make his award" (pg 574) 43. "In 1963, Oppenheimer learned that President Kennedy gave him the prestigious Fermi Prize" (pg 575) #validation 44. "In 1965, Oppie visited his doctor for a physical... 2 months later his smoker's cough became noticeably worse" (pg 581) 45. "Robert has cancer" -Kitty (pg 582) #1966 46. Oppenheimer's Memorial Service was in Princeton on February 25, 1967 (pg 588) 47. "Kitty took her husband's ashes in an urn to Hawksnest Bay... and dropped the urn overboard" (pg 588) #St.John 48. "That's where he wanted to be" -Kitty (pg 588) This book typifies the complexity of the human mind but, at the same time, simplifies the predictable behavior of politicians. In many ways Oppenheimer's story reminds us how fragile our freedoms can become. KM
B**A
In every 4-5 pages, one page comes out, not even glued to binding. I thought it is a temporary fault which will be ok further but no, the whole book is flawed.
F**O
Bellissimo libro, molto dettagliato, ripercorre la vita di un grande personaggio fornendo un background chiaro della sia formazione sin da bambino, permettendo di capirne la personalità e i conflitti interni
S**I
# American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. # Triumph and Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer. It's a kind of backward integration for me. I first watched the film Oppenheimer last year and that led me to the book. The movie is an adaptation of this book. The book gives granular details of what was shown in the film but the focus was more on the Manhattan Project. Obviously it's difficult to scope in all that is there in the book in about 3 hours. Considered as the Father of Atom bomb, Oppenheimer fell in the wrong books of President Truman as he opposed deploying atom bomb on Japan. The purpose of the bomb was to destroy Germany. But by the time it was ready, Germany surrendered and Hitler had committed suicide. Oppenheimer was against using it against Japan which was already defeated and ready to surrender. But Truman was determined to show America's might and strength. And there began the problems for Oppenheimer. Subsequently he also opposed the development of the Hydrogen bomb. And the witch hunt begins. Oppenheimer once was a member of the Communist Party but now had completely severed his links but that was enough for the Republican governments to indict and crucify Oppenheimer. He was stripped of all Government positions and security clearances withdrawn. He was holding a key position at Princeton University. US wanted to strip that as well but the scientific community led by Einstein protested strongly and the Government was unsuccessful. Oppenheimer's image was resurrected after the Democrat John F Kennedy was elected US President. Sadly even after Oppenheimer's death, his children continued to suffer. His son didn't use his second name to eke out living doing menial jobs and his daughter committed suicide as she could not secure jobs as security clearances were denied to her. It made for sad reading towards the end. An excellent book provided one has patience to read a 700 page tome in small size print. 5/5.
N**R
Very nice book
H**I
Ich habe mir die original englische Version (American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer) bestellt und empfehle sie auch, weil sie sehr viele Original Zitate aus Briefen und Berichten beinhaltet. Die tatsächliche Biographie umfasst etwa 600 Seiten und weitere 120 Seiten sind Quellenangaben. Das Buch ist sehr gut recherchiert. Es ist ein sehr detaillierter und persönlicher Einblick in das private und berufliche Leben von Oppenheimer: eine komplexe Persönlichkeit, die immer spannend zu verfolgen ist. Man erlebt auch eine historisch bewegende Zeit mit bahnbrechenden Entdeckungen in der Physik (Atomtheorie, Relativitätstheorie, Quantenmechanik), die Zeit des Zweiten Weltkriegs und die folgende McCarthy-Ära mit der Verfolgung von Kommunisten und vermeintlichen Kommunisten. Ich habe selten ein Buch mit 600 Seiten so spannend und interessant empfunden.
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