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

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

This book is huge but it is unlike any other biography I have ever read.  Even though it’s large the book does not read like a dense textbook.  It has a story and it flows.  This book is not just straight facts about Oppenheimers life, at time it also feels like it has an undertone of philosophical understandings.  The idea that Oppenheimer was naieve enough to believe that he creates something that is so destructive and that it might not be used, or change warfare in general.  Then to watch him slowly become disillusioned with the politics and government regarding the issues.  It’s a remarkable book. 
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