| American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer | 
 enlarge | Author: Kai Bird; Martin J. Sherwin
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $44.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 1742877
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 2
Pages: 200
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1433200120
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.092
EAN: 9781433200120
ASIN: 1433200120
Publication Date: February 1, 2007
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| Customer Reviews:
 American Prometheus November 19, 2008
November 18, 2008
Ardsley, PA
I don't know how a biography of Oppenheimer can be written without any real discussion of Physics or the engineering achievements of the Manhattan Project, but that's what this did. I assume the authors decided technical discussions would not appeal to readers. I found this omission disappointing.
I saw the book quite differently than most of the other reviewers. The man revealed in this biography is hardly a man I would label great or near great. Shockingly, over the course of his life Oppenheimer attempted to murder one of his teachers, was at least an enthusiastic near communist, encouraged his troubled wife's alcoholism, was a serial liar, was a multiple adulterer, had an affair with the wife of a close friend, offered his infant daughter to a friend for adoption because he was too busy with work and more. Call me old fashion, but this was too much for me.
The authors repeatedly point out Oppenheimer's sense of social justice, often equating communism with the fight for social justice. (It is curious that I never got that social justice = communism formula when reading "Gulag Archipelago.") Do 1930 American supporters of communism bear any responsibility for the atrocities of Stalinist Russia? Didn't all those great minds of the 1930's have some responsibility to investigate the reality of life in the Soviet Union?
Oppenheimer is lauded in the book for his depth of knowledge. In the 1930's and 1940's he supported the communists in the Spanish Civil War and regaled those veterans. Did he never read Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia?" It was released soon after Orwell's return from Spain.
Multiple times in this biography the question is asked: Why did we drop the bomb on an essentially defeated enemy?" Have the authors not read Eugene Sledge's gripping autobiography "With the Old Breed" about his nightmarish experiences on Okinawa with the USMC? If you have the courage, read of this Alabaman's experiences fighting that same "defeated" Japanese foe.
I believe the authors allowed their sympathy for Oppenheimer to cloud their vision. They excused horrible behavior and judgment. They were quick to slander General Groves, President Truman and others. These men were unjustly represented and given a one dimensional mention, all negative.
There is much to learn of the tragic figure of Oppenheimer in this book. It is a worthwhile book, but I do not believe worthy of either a Pulitzer prize or space on your bookshelf.
Semper Fi,
Joe Rooney
 First rate biography August 28, 2008
This is an excellent biography of Oppenheimer.While it seems likely the authors started out sympathetic towards their subject it seems to be a fairly well balanced book which tends to focus on his associations and his friends and whether he could be considered a national security threat as he was eventually found to be. In that sense the book can be considered to be political in nature. However it is very well researched and written and the authours conclusions seem reasonable. From its first pages the book makes clear that the ultimate issue the book will consider is the reasonableness of the governments decision to pull Oppenheimers security clearance. The actions of the goverment seem almost ridiculous now but a weakness of the book is the failure to consider the "tenor of the times". It is always easy to Monday morning quarterback. Even given this the conclusions of the authors that pulling Oppenheimers clearance was unsupported by the facts should have been obvious even under the then existing political climate. All in all a very good book.
 A brilliant presentation of history August 22, 2008
The wife purchased this book for me as a Christmas present. What she didn't know is it is arguably one of the finest examples of biography, writing, and history. This book delivers. It is the type of work most historians wish they were capable of writing.
It has taken years to research and write. In many cases first-hand accounts and personal interviews with some of the keenest minds of the time were used to present Oppenheimer's story in a clear and fascinating way.
This work starts with the early life of Oppenhemier and chronicles his parents desire to make his life better than theirs. It shows how they struggled to provide him with an education and helped cultivate a keen mind. The book continues to show his early life, choice in collegiate education, and an impressive foundation in academia. It obviously follows his time in service to our nation and his post war activities.
Interestingly enough, a reader will find his work to be contemporary to the finest minds in the study of cosmology and physics at the time.
Oppenheimer was a man of brilliance. He was also a man plagued by rights and wrongs he struggled with his entire life. His bomb saved thousands of lives by killing thousands. His science changed the world and we live with the ramifications of the post atomic age today.
His name remains inescapably associated with these conundrums and puzzles that have plagued 20th century history ever since. Some of the most interesting reading consisted of information regarding his affiliations with known communists and socialist organizers before and after the war. Especially, interesting information on how he was treated in the McCarthy era.
I think in a way, the authors point out Oppenheimer's own personal failures and faults, as duplication of the historical record. As much of a place he holds as critical mind of the 20th century...he was a hard drinker, a smoker, and eventually the reader can develop a sense that he was a flawed and challenged person much like the rest of us. I would, however, say he was a far more tortured soul than most of us ever know.
A review of this book simply doesn't do it justice. This is awesome work worthy of the awards it has received and more. It is truly a magnum opus in the area of history. It is easy to read and hard to put down. This book is arguably one of the finest books I've ever read.
Missing book June 19, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
I cannot find this book. It came with one other book that I am now reading. I can't remember if this book was actually including in the package (as indicating by the packing statement)and it got immediately misplaced or accidentally thrown out with the package or if it was inadvertently not included in the package when it was sent to me.
Do you remember when Gulliver woke on the beach bound and helpless? April 20, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Just imagine, an American kid, rich for the times, with a saintly brother, the mind of a polymath, and a knack for atomic physics. Sounds like trouble? It wouldn't have been if he had proceeded down the Nobelist path making his name a household word in thirty other academic households. Fortune would have it that he be associated with an Army General from the Corps of Engineers who had just constructed the Pentagon. This unlikely pair were charged with creating a nuclear bomb. (Thank God Hitler didn't couple Klaus Werner Heisenberg with Albert Speer giving the Germans a bomb in 1941) Oppenheimer and Groves got together the world's best talent in a pasture in New Mexico and with branches all over the place and made the bomb. It worked!
What a nice story. One would hope that Oppenheimer would find a sinecure and while away the rest of his life teaching, further extending his education, and becoming a scientist statesman. An immortal victory.
But there was a problem. In the thirties both brothers had feelings about social justice for the working class in California. Neither of them seriously considered armed overthrow of the government, direct action, sabotage or traitorous conspiracies. They were simply parlor pink in the midst of the depression. Sadly, J. Edgar Hoover (in addition to his other activities with the ubiquitous Clyde) took on the issue of spying on American citizens whom he thought were security risks. Worse still, Oppenheimer's wife had lost a previous husband in the Spanish Civil War and both she and he had been dues paying members of the Communist Party. Since Hoover's illegal spying efforts were in no way conclusive, he bided his time. After the war, the government was replete with advisory groups divided between the grossly incompetent political favorites and a minority of real experts. The age of Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn. One of the Republican forms was a financial type far better known as a fund raiser than a nuclear physicist. Lewis Strauss, a close friend of the advertising executive (Lasker) who named Kotex and Kleenex. Strauss developed a real hate for Oppenheimer and set out to destroy him by removing all of his security clearances.
Strauss was remarkable in that he never finished college or university but convinced Eisenhower he would be a good member of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Oppenheimer, Director of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, looked on this insult to him as a deeply personal wound that never healed. Strauss was later rejected as Secretary of Commerce in part because of his own little scandals and in part because of the injustice delt to J. Robert.
This story would be sad and humiliating to any American Scientist. Coming as it does, in the midst of an administration so studiously ignorant of personal justice with abundant evidence that it could be repeated at any time will not inhibit the courage and steadfastness that scientists must also have.
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