J. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a 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 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. --From publisher's description.

Originally published: New York : Knopf, 2005.

"He received every new idea as perfectly beautiful" -- "His separate prison" -- " I am having a pretty bad time" -- "I find the work hard, thank God, & almost pleasant" -- "I am Oppenheimer" -- "Oppie" -- "The Nim Nim boys" -- "In 1936 my interests began to change" -- "[Frank] clipped it out and sent it in" -- "More and more surely" -- "I'm going to marry a friend of yours, Steve" -- "We were pulling the New Deal to the left" -- "The coordinator of rapid rupture" -- "The Chevalier affair" -- "He'd become very patriotic" -- "Too much secrecy" -- "Oppenheimer is telling the truth ..." -- "Suicide, motive unknown" -- "Would you like to adopt her?" -- "Bohr was God, and Oppie was his prophet" -- "The impact of the gadget on civilization" -- "Now we're all sons-of-bitches" -- "Those poor little people" -- "I feel I have blood on my hands" -- "People could destroy New York" -- "Oppie had a rash and is now immune" -- "An intellectual hotel" -- "He couldn't understand why he did it" -- "I am sure that is why she threw things at him" -- "He never let on what his opinion was" -- "Dark words about Oppie" -- "Scientist X" -- "The beast in the jungle" -- "It looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" -- "I fear that this whole thing is a piece of idiocy" -- "A manifestation of hysteria" -- "A black mark on the escutcheon of our country" -- "I can still feel the warm blood on my hands" -- "It was really like a never-never land" -- "It should have been done the day after trinity" -- Epilogue: "There's only one Robert."