American Prometheus
The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird
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“One of the more fascinating men that I’ve read about. | Richard Rhodes wrote two important books that partially address espionage related to the Atomic program, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun." And Kai Bird/Martin Sherwin wrote "American Prometheus" on Oppenheimer. 3/ | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →Recommended by 3 notable people, including Linda Xie and John Sipher
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Should I read this?
Recommended by 4 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Science, and History.
American Prometheus is the first fullscale 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 generationone of the iconic figures of th...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 4 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Science, and History.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
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John Sipher
“One of the more fascinating men that I’ve read about. | Richard Rhodes wrote two important books that partially address espionage related to the Atomic program, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun." And Kai Bird/Martin Sherwin wrote "American Prometheus" on Oppenheimer. 3/ | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
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“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
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American Prometheus
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