Reviews

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird

rebeccaz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

adiatlas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

annchoviereads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

sophieguillas's review against another edition

5.0

The amount of research in this book is really staggering. I was surprised to see how much dialogue from illegal phone taps in the Oppenheimer home made it onto the page. It really made the red scare spying feel that much more immediate. This book weaved together Oppenheimer's personal life with academia, war, politics, and physics and I never felt like any of it was going over my head.

This was an excellent biography but the only thing that keeps it from being a perfect book for me is that I think that by telling the story non sequentially, the 2023 movie did a better job at establishing the consequences of the bomb and anti communist politics. Nevertheless!! I think this book is still a perfect companion piece for anyone who saw the movie and was looking for more information!

kgoody's review against another edition

hopeful informative slow-paced

3.5

dberlekamp's review against another edition

informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

mustarastas's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.5

tablereader234's review against another edition

5.0

This is the kind of history I love. The book was engaging, appropriately small and large scale, and gave a real insight into the life of Oppenheimer. I came away with a greater understanding of the man, his work, and the obstacles he faced in creating the bomb and working against a war-ready government in his efforts to keep the world safe from his creation. This felt comprehensive and professional above all else. Any student of modern history should take the time to read this book, long though it may be.

vishal_moorthy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

sirgavmister's review against another edition

emotional informative slow-paced

3.75

mostly well written, but the security hearing drags and frequently seems tedious & repetitive. Very good description about how the atomic program was run and how his life played out, does show some ambiguity if character but leans heavily on sources that paint him favourably