5.00 Excellent
More than twenty years in the making, American Prometheus is probably the definitive work on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer. It is extensively researched and draws from thousands of documentary records and personal interviews. And yet is is neither pedantic nor prosaic. It is an eminently readable, personal and engrossing account of the man, his journey and his times.
For anyone with an interest in Oppenheimer, the history of the seminal events of the mid-20th century, the emergence of science as a pivotal determinant of man's fate as well as in the politics of fear, this book is a must. Highly recommended.
For those with a particular interest in the people and events surrounding the development of the atomic bomb, American Prometheus serves as a worthy companion to Richard Rhodes' outstanding history The Making of the Atomic Bomb which, definitive as it is, might leave its reader yerning for more about Oppenheimer.
"We knew that the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."
J. Robert Oppenheimer, NBC interview, 1965 on his thoughts following the successful "Trinity" atomic bomb test at Alamogordo, NM, July, 1945
Some Interesting Links:
Oppenheimer Bio
The Nuclear Files
Oppenheimer Exhibit at UC Berkeley
PBS site "Race for the Super Bomb"
