"American Prometheus: The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin is a book for readers interested in World War I, World War II and the Cold War history in the context of the political anti-communism battles in the United States. This is also an excellent biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer for people who want to know about his leadership in building the atomic bomb.
Kai Bird is a historian, journalist, author and columnist who was born in 1951 in Eugene, Oregon (Notable Names Database, n.d.). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2006 for "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer", the book that inspired the major motion picture, Oppenheimer, released in 2023 by Universal Studios (Bird, 2023; The Nation, n.d.).
Martin Jay Sherwin was an American historian and University Professor, born in Brooklyn, NY. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He received his PhD in U.S. History from UCLA. His scholarship focused on the development of atomic energy, nuclear proliferation, and the resulting geopolitical implications (Sherwin, n.d.; Reynolds, 2021). He died in 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Reynolds, 2021).
The moral debate about the use of the atomic bomb during World War II resulted in a political turmoil in the United States, creating division to define the legacy of Oppenheimer. His life was a mix of triumph and tragedy. Was he a tragic hero, a loyal patriotic American, or a hidden communist enemy of the United States? The public debate lasted many years and resulted in court proceedings at high levels of the American political and judiciary systems.
This book examines the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer in the context of World War I, World War II and the Cold War, highlighting the political debate of the moral dilemmas of the atomic bomb.
The book is divided into five parts and forty chapters. The Illustration Credits includes pictures of Oppenheimer and places where he lived, his family, contemporary physicists, and friends. Some of the pictures show Oppenheimer with prominent American politicians, as well as media and FBI documents highlighting his achievements, and investigations from the United States Department of Justice, respectively.
In addition, the book includes the following sections: Dedication, Praise, Preface, Prologue, Epilogue: - "There's Only One Robert", Acknowledgments, Notes, Bibliography, About the Author, Also by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, and Copyright Page.
The first chapter provides information about the socioeconomic, cultural, political, educational and familiar background that nurtured Robert Oppenheimer. He was born in 1904 from a family of German immigrants who were ethnically and culturally Jewish. Oppenheimer lived and grew up in New York with his wealthy family.
Since his childhood, Oppenheimer was academically outsdanding and received a privileged education. He enrolled the Ethical Culture Society in New York, where he received a progressive education that emphasized being agents of change in society in areas related to labor rights, race, the environment and civil liberties. His graduation from the Etical Culture School was in 1921.
Oppenheimer was attracted to Katherine Page, a married young woman who taught him horseback-riding in a ranch called Los Pinos. In one of the trips with Katherine, Oppenheimer visited Los Alamos.