American Prometheus: Triumph and Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer (Vintage)

Fantastic!

One of the best biographies I've ever read. Oppenheimer was a true genius in every sense of the word (poet, scholar, physicist, philosopher) and was brought down in a vicious smear campaign, run by McCarthyites out for personal power. A fascinating look at physics, war, politics, and ethics. Could not recommend it more highly.

Really enthralling (couldn't stop reading), it made Oppenheimer the person real to me, as well as showed the evils of McCarthysm in a very concrete way (how it affected one person)

Intersting book. Do you realize that by the time we dropped the Atomic bombs in Japan, it was widely believed that we had already won the war. We only dropped it to show off to Russia. Go America! Way to start the cold war. Seriously though, good book. I knocked it down a notch because it was to damn long. I admit I skipped 3-4 chapters.

Oppenheimer's life and contributions are vast, complex and fascinating. But this book does not encompass those attributes. Excruciatingly detailed, unapologetically partisan, over dramatized are a few that come to mind. Every chapter has a catchy hook at the end, but it seems more like the six-o'clock news. The authors are too partisan to present an objective recounting. This has...more

Oppenheimer's life and contributions are vast, complex and fascinating. But this book does not encompass those attributes. Excruciatingly detailed, unapologetically partisan, over dramatized are a few that come to mind. Every chapter has a catchy hook at the end, but it seems more like the six-o'clock news. The authors are too partisan to present an objective recounting. This has black hatted villains and pork pie hat wearing "Opje." It's minutiae dilutes the more interesting descriptions of the evolution through the cold war of a security-crazed State.   hide

A couple coworkers referenced this book within the same week. So, I had to pick it up. JRO was an amazingly complex person. I'm about halfway through.

Loooooooooooooooong but gripping story.

I think that the book should have had a better story line and less jumping around

read 400/600 pages. A pretty good perspective on history of the period. I was more interested in the development of the bomb then the McCarthy era.