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

4.0

I’m blown away by the life that this fellow had, warts and all, and the telling for the most part was pretty stellar. However, it loses a star from me for eliding over how RO gets past his depression and introversion between his graduate studies and post doc. I wouldn’t have guessed what a bunch of drama queens worked on the Alamogordo gadget. I also shouldn’t have been surprised at how the Military Industrial Complex (a term coined by Dwight Eisenhower, according to the author) wrenched the resultant technology from the pure science guys, many who were far more progressive and understood not only the human cost, but predicted the political ramifications of secrecy than I would have expected. Einstein is not only a physics genius but has an incredibly high emotional IQ. Edward Teller and Harry Truman are bloodthirsty, testosterone addled assholes. RO and his family meet a sad end, to the surprise of exactly no one. I could have used a bit more info about Kitty…Mrs RO, who is both fascinating and infuriating in only the way a brilliant but frustrated, alcohol abusing mid century woman can be. A good listen.