Oppenheimer: the Man, the Myth, the Movie
The blockbuster film, Oppenheimer, is sweeping the cinema world, and has become an historical event in itself. Professor Philip Nash discusses the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and we analyze his significance. We also review the film. Most importantly, we show how all of this is _extremely_ relevant to today’s fraught political and scientific atmosphere. The dangers shown in the Oppenheimer story can teach us a lot about the dangers we face now. Episode 521.
Kai Bird and David Remnick, “Adapting Oppenheimer’s Life Story to Film,” New Yorker, 24 July 2023 https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/political-scene/adapting-oppenheimers-life-story-to-film-with-the-biographer-kai-bird
Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters
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Buzzkill Bookshelf
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Paperback – May 1, 2006
by Kai Bird (Author), Martin J. Sherwin
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMER • “A riveting account of one of history’s most essential and paradoxical figures.”—Christopher Nolan
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • The definitive biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war, and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress.
In this magisterial, acclaimed biography twenty-five years in the making, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin capture Oppenheimer’s life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War. This is biography and history at its finest, riveting and deeply informative.
“A masterful account of Oppenheimer’s rise and fall, set in the context of the turbulent decades of America’s own transformation. It is a tour de force.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“A work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer’s essential nature…. It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior.” —The New York Times
