Why am I passionate about this?
I’m an emeritus professor of modern American diplomatic history at the University of California, having previously taught at Oberlin, Caltech, and Yale. I’ve also been chairman of the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, where I was the Curator of Military Space. I’ve been fascinated—and concerned—about nuclear weapons and nuclear war since I was 12, when I saw the movie On the Beach. Then, as now, nuclear weapons and the (currently-increasing) danger of nuclear war are the most important things on the planet.
Gregg's book list on who made and thought about using bombs
Why did Gregg love this book?
Although this book is something of a rival to my own and borrows heavily from my book—but with attribution—it is deserving of the Pulitzer Prize it received for its sympathetic portrayal of its main character.
The primary author, Marty Sherwin, was my dissertation advisor; he and I argued for many years, until his death, over the truth about Oppenheimer. Although I yield to no one in my response and admiration for Marty, my book is right.
10 authors picked American Prometheus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Physicist and polymath, 'father of the atom bomb' J. Robert Oppenheimer was the most famous scientist of his generation. Already a notable young physicist before WWII, during the race to split the atom, 'Oppie' galvanized an extraordinary team of international scientists while keeping the FBI at bay. As the man who more than any other inaugurated the atomic age, he became one of the iconic figures of the last century, the embodiment of his own observation that 'physicists have known sin'.
Years later, haunted by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer became a staunch opponent of plans to develop the hydrogen bomb.…