American Prometheus : the triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer / Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
- Bib ID:
- 3643056
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Bird, Kai
- Online Version:
-
- Sample text
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- Table of contents only
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- Publisher description
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- Contributor biographical information
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- Publisher description
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Description:
-
- New York : A.A. Knopf, 2005
- xiii, 721 p, [32] p. plates. : ill., ports. ; 25 cm.
- ISBN:
- 0375412026
- Summary:
-
"American Prometheus is the first full-scale biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, "father of the atomic bomb," the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to capture the awesome fire of the sun for his country in time of war. Immediately after Hiroshima, he became the most famous scientist of his generation - one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, the embodiment of modern man confronting the consequences of scientific progress."
"He was the author of a radical proposal to place international controls over atomic materials - an idea that is still relevant today. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb and criticized the Air Force's plans to fight an infinitely dangerous nuclear war. In the now almost-forgotten hysteria of the early 1950s, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup, and, in response, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss, Superbomb advocate Edward Teller and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover worked behind the scenes to have a hearing board find that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America's nuclear secrets."
"American Prometheus is an evocation of America at midcentury, a new and compelling portrait of a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man profoundly connected to its major events - the Depression, World War II and the Cold War. It is at once biography and history, and essential to our understanding of our recent past - and of our choices for the future."--BOOK JACKET.
- Full contents:
-
- Machine derived contents note: Preface ix
- Prologue 3
- PART ONE
- 1. "He Received Every New Idea as Perfectly Beautiful" 9
- 2. "His Separate Prison" 29
- 3. "I Am Having a Pretty Bad Time" 41
- 4. "I Find the Work Hard, Thank God, & Almost Pleasant" 56
- 5. "I Am Oppenheimer" 68
- 6. "Oppie" 80
- 7. "The Nim Nim Boys" 94
- PART TWO
- 8. "In 1936 My Interests Began to Change" 111
- 9. "[Frank] Clipped It Out and Sent It In" 128
- 10. "More and More Surely" 143
- 11. "I'm Going to Marry a Friend of Yours, Steve" 153
- 12. "We Were Pulling the New Deal to the Left" 166
- 13. "The Coordinator of Rapid Rupture" 179
- 14. "The Chevalier Affair" 195
- PART THREE
- 15. "He'd Become Very Patriotic" 205
- 16. "Too Much Secrecy" 223
- 17. "Oppenheimer Is Telling the Truth " 236
- 18. "Suicide, Motive Unknown" 249
- 19. "Would You Like to Adopt Her?" 255
- 20. "Bohr Was God, and Oppie Was His Prophet" 268
- 21. "The Impact of the Gadget on Civilization" 277
- 22. "Now We're All Sons-of-Bitches" 290
- PART FOUR
- 23. "Those Poor Little People" 313
- 24. "I Feel I Have Blood on My Hands" 323
- 25. "People Could Destroy New York" 336
- 26. "Oppie Had a Rash and Is Now Immune" 351
- 27. "An Intellectual Hotel" 369
- 28. "He Couldn't Understand Why He Did It" 391
- 29. "I Am Sure That Is Why She Threw Things at Him" 406
- 30. "He Never Let On What His Opinion Was" 416
- 31. "Dark Words About Oppie" 431
- 32. "Scientist X" 454
- 33. "The Beast in the Jungle" 462
- PART FIVE
- 34. "It Looks Pretty Bad, Doesn't It?" 487
- 35. "I Fear That This Whole Thing Is a Piece of Idiocy" 498
- 36. "A Manifestation of Hysteria" 523
- 37. "A Black Mark on the Escutcheon of Our Country" 538
- 38. "I Can Still Feel the Warm Blood on My Hands" 551
- 39. "It Was Really Like a Never-Never-Land" 566
- 40. "It Should Have Been Done the Day After Trinity" 574
- Epilogue: "There's Only One Robert" 589
- Author's Note and Acknowledgments 593
- Notes 601
- Bibliography 685
- Index 700.
- Notes:
-
- Formerly CIP.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [685]-699) and index.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Sherwin, Martin J
- Also Titled:
- Triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2005
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