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American Prometheus
The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin


10.0

based on 17 reviews
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based on 2 votes
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"American Prometheus" is perhaps the most detailed biography yet of the scientist known as the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Based on 25 years of research, it focuses not just on the Manhattan Project, but also on the controversies surrounding his later pacifism and political attacks against him.

Knopf, 736 pages
04/05/2005
$35.00

ISBN: 0375412026

Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs

NOTES:
Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Publishers Weekly

The political drama is enhanced by the close attention to Oppenheimer's personal life. [7 Mar 2005, p.63]

Boston Globe Gregg Herken

''American Prometheus" 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.

Chicago Tribune Eric Arnesen

A masterpiece of scholarship and riveting writing. [22 May 2005]

Los Angeles Times Gerald Holton

A masterful account of Oppenheimer's rise and fall. [10 Apr 2005, p.R3]

San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Svoboda

A standout in two genres: biography and social history.

Booklist Bill Ott

[A] compelling life story. [1 Mar 2005, p.1100]

Kirkus Reviews

One of the best scientific biographies to appear in recent years. [15 Feb 2005, p.205]

The New Republic Daniel J. Kevles

Riveting and revealing.... A magisterial biography that is about as close to the whole story--and to a resolution of the contradictions--as we may hope to get.

Bookslut John Detrixhe

A thoughtful and immaculately researched biography.

Library Journal Gregg Sapp

For a readable and well-researched biography of the man, this suffices quite well. However, with so many other biographies available, not to mention histories of the Manhattan Project, it provides little new information here. [15 Apr 2005, p.115]

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Chris Scott

It deepens the mystery of this tormented figure. In awe of their subject, the authors... veer at times toward hagiography. Yet Oppenheimer emerges from their account with a distinctly tarnished halo. [21 May 2005]

The New York Times Janet Maslin

A work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer's essential nature.

Washington Post James Gleick

American Prometheus is comprehensive, finely judged where it most matters and sometimes revelatory.

Slate Peter Galison

Remarkable.

Houston Chronicle Chris Patsilelis

An absorbing, densely detailed biography.

The New Yorker

Delivers the most complex portrait of Oppenheimer to date.

New York Review Of Books Thomas Powers

American Prometheus is clear in its purpose, deeply felt, persuasively argued, disciplined in form, and written with a sustained literary power.

The average user rating for this book is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Michael L gave it a10:
A fantastic book. I couldn't put it down

keith gave it a10:
Especially right now, in a political climate where most critical commentaries on our national policies are dismissed as un-patriotic, this book is a very timely object lesson. It points up the fact that in a democracy we should NEVER be afraid to questions our leaders' motives and policies. But the book is more than that. It is an account of how a brilliant man who made an enormous contribution to his country and had, in hindsight, the guts to question the wisdom his brainchild, the atomic bomb, can be destroyed by the country that he served with such honorable distinction. His main vice seems to have been that he disagreed with the sloppy and xenophobic 'thinking' of shallow and foolish people who were as satyrs to Hyperion. Frightening stuff. The book is admirably researched and beautifully written. It is a fine achievement in itself and a suitablle tribute to its criminally maligned subject. A formidable contribution.

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American Prometheus The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

American Prometheus
The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin