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kunalsen 's review for:
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird
Anyone can guess why I chose to read this book and why now. I started it a little before I saw the film, and my intention was to read it first. However, then I realized that by the time I finished it, the film could be gone from the theaters. I was wrong again. I watched it more than two weeks ago, and I just finished reading it, but the film's box office has anything but cooled down.
The film, as you can imagine, is a condensed version of the book. After all, it is impossible to cover all the details of a 700 page, fact-filled book. Therefore, reading the book first would have been helpful to fully comprehend the film, but they were independently enjoyable, though that is not the adjective I wanted to use, experiences.
The power of this book is in laying out all the facts that can be known about this moment in history and all the characters that played any role, without necessarily interpreting it for the reader. Most of the moral interpretation is left up to us. It makes us realize that people are far more complex than we would like to see. There is not a single character in the book that has a clean, linear character. Throughout the story, we encounter these complex characters being thrown into history's one of the biggest moral dilemmas. There is no simple right or wrong position. It also constantly reminded me that right and wrong in history is a time-based notion. Our moral positions today are most likely to change over time. Therefore, it is extremely hard to judge historical characters without considering the times they lived in. Looking back, almost anyone who ever lived may seem morally guilty.
A great read!
The film, as you can imagine, is a condensed version of the book. After all, it is impossible to cover all the details of a 700 page, fact-filled book. Therefore, reading the book first would have been helpful to fully comprehend the film, but they were independently enjoyable, though that is not the adjective I wanted to use, experiences.
The power of this book is in laying out all the facts that can be known about this moment in history and all the characters that played any role, without necessarily interpreting it for the reader. Most of the moral interpretation is left up to us. It makes us realize that people are far more complex than we would like to see. There is not a single character in the book that has a clean, linear character. Throughout the story, we encounter these complex characters being thrown into history's one of the biggest moral dilemmas. There is no simple right or wrong position. It also constantly reminded me that right and wrong in history is a time-based notion. Our moral positions today are most likely to change over time. Therefore, it is extremely hard to judge historical characters without considering the times they lived in. Looking back, almost anyone who ever lived may seem morally guilty.
A great read!