American Prometheus (149 page)
Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
AMERICAN PROMETHEUS
Kai Bird is the author of
The Chairman: John J. McCloy, The
Making of the American Establishment
and
The Color of Truth:
McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms.
He coedited with Lawrence Lifschultz
Hiroshima’s Shadow: Writings
on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy
. A contributing editor of The Nation, he lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and son.
Martin J. Sherwin is the Walter S. Dickson Professor of English and American History at Tufts University and author of
A World
Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies, which won the Stuart L. Bernath Prize, as well as the American History Book Prize. He and his wife live in Boston and Washington, D.C.
ALSO BY KAI BIRD
The Chairman: John J. McCloy,
The Making of the American Establishment
(1992)
The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy,
Brothers in Arms
(1998)
Hiroshima’s Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History
and the Smithsonian Controversy
(1998),
edited by Kai Bird and Lawrence Lifschultz
ALSO BY MARTIN J. SHERWIN
A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies
(1975, 1987, 2003)
FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, MAY 2006
Copyright
©
2005 by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
A portion of this work previously appeared in a slightly different form in
The Nation.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Bird, Kai.
American Prometheus: the triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer /
Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904–1967. 2. Physicists—United States—Biography.
3. Atomic bomb—United States—History. 4. Science—Political aspects—United
States—History—20th century. 5. United States—History—20th century.
I. Sherwin, Martin J. II. Title.
QC16.O62B57 2005
530’.092—dc22 2004061535
Author photograph © Claudio Vazquez
eISBN: 978-0-307-42473-0
v3.0_r2
