Kai Bird

El libro en el que se basa la nueva película de Christopher Nolan protagonizada por Cillian Murphy. La biografía definitiva de Oppenheimer, el padre de la bomba atómica y una de las figuras más emblematicas del siglo XX.Premio Pulitzer 2006National Book Critics Circle Award 2005Duff Cooper Prize 2008El 16 de julio de 1945, en el desierto de Nuevo Mexico, se detonaba en secreto la primera bomba atomica. Impactado por el poder destructivo de su creacion, J. Robert Oppenheimer, director del Proyecto Manhattan, se comprometeria desde entonces a luchar contra el desarrollo de la bomba de hidrogeno y contra la guerra nuclear. Sospechoso de comunista para los Estados Unidos de la era McCarthy, fue perseguido por el FBI, calumniado como espia de la Union Sovietica y obligado a dimitir de cualquier funcion publica. Su vida privada fue arrastrada del mismo modo hacia el esperpento; su casa fue allanada con microfonos ocultos, y su telefono, intervenido. No seria hasta 1963 que el presidente Kennedy lo rehabilitaria y, con ello, su figura obtendria otro cariz para los ciudadanos del mundo entero.Treinta años de entrevistas a familiares, amigos y colegas; de busqueda en archivos del FBI; de analisis de las cintas con discursos e interrogatorios, y de hallazgos de documentos privados del fisico nuclear dieron como resultado este monumental libro. Una biografia de una enorme minuciosidad que ofrece una vision intima del cientifico mas famoso de su generacion; una de las figuras iconicas del siglo xx para quien el triunfo y la tragedia se unieron en un nudo gordiano.Criticas: Se lee como un thriller, cautivador y aterrador por momentos. Sospecho que este año no aparecera una biografia mas absorbente ni, dados los peligros a los que nos enfrentamos, mas importante que esta. John Carey, Sunday TimesLa biografia definitiva [...] La vida de Oppenheimer no nos influye; nos persigue.NewsweekTodas las obras anteriores sobre este tema quedan, por decirlo de la manera mas amable, despedazadas, frente a este libro que es metaforica y literalmente monumental. Mark Lawson, EsquireEsta imponente biografia, resultado de veinticinco años de investigacion, reevalua la figura de Oppenheimer, y ofrece uno de los retratos mas complejos del fisico hasta la fecha.The New YorkerUn libro esencial.TimeUna obra de voluminosa erudicion y lucida perspicacia que une el retrato del multifacetico Oppenheimer con la aguda comprension de su naturaleza.The New York TimesUn relato magistral del ascenso y la caida de Oppenheimer, situado en el contexto de las turbulentas decadas de la transformacion de Estados Unidos. Es un tour de force.Los Angeles Times Book ReviewLa primera biografia que da cuenta de la extraordinaria complejidad de Oppenheimer. Se erige como un Everest entre las montañas de libros sobre el proyecto de la bomba atomica y Oppenheimer, y es un logro que tal vez no sera superado ni igualado.The Boston GlobeExcepcional y documentada con exhaustividad. Kai Bird y Martin Sherwin no solo explican la deslumbrante, emblematica y denigrante carrera de Oppenheimer, sino que tambien iluminan las tensiones de la cultura estado...

El libro en el que se basa la nueva película de Christopher Nolan protagonizada por Cillian Murphy. La biografía definitiva de Oppenheimer, el padre de la bomba atómica y una de las figuras más emblematicas del siglo XX. Premio Pulitzer 2006National Book Critics Circle Award 2005Duff Cooper Prize 2008 El 16 de julio de 1945, en el desierto de Nuevo Mexico, se detonaba en secreto la primera bomba atomica. Impactado por el poder destructivo de su creacion, J. Robert Oppenheimer, director del Proyecto Manhattan, se comprometeria desde entonces a luchar contra el desarrollo de la bomba de hidrogeno y contra la guerra nuclear. Sospechoso de comunista para los Estados Unidos de la era McCarthy, fue perseguido por el FBI, calumniado como espia de la Union Sovietica y obligado a dimitir de cualquier funcion publica. Su vida privada fue arrastrada del mismo modo hacia el esperpento; su casa fue allanada con microfonos ocultos, y su telefono, intervenido. No seria hasta 1963 que el presidente Kennedy lo rehabilitaria y, con ello, su figura obtendria otro cariz para los ciudadanos del mundo entero. Treinta años de entrevistas a familiares, amigos y colegas; de busqueda en archivos del FBI; de analisis de las cintas con discursos e interrogatorios, y de hallazgos de documentos privados del fisico nuclear dieron como resultado este monumental libro. Una biografia de una enorme minuciosidad que ofrece una vision intima del cientifico mas famoso de su generacion; una de las figuras iconicas del siglo xx para quien el triunfo y la tragedia se unieron en un nudo gordiano.Criticas:Se lee como un thriller, cautivador y aterrador por momentos. Sospecho que este año no aparecera una biografia mas absorbente ni, dados los peligros a los que nos enfrentamos, mas importante que esta.John Carey, Sunday Times La biografia definitiva [...] La vida de Oppenheimer no nos influye; nos persigue.Newsweek Todas las obras anteriores sobre este tema quedan, por decirlo de la manera mas amable, despedazadas, frente a este libro que es metaforica y literalmente monumental.Mark Lawson, Esquire Esta imponente biografia, resultado de veinticinco años de investigacion, reevalua la figura de Oppenheimer, y ofrece uno de los retratos mas complejos del fisico hasta la fecha.The New YorkerUn libro esencial.Time Una obra de voluminosa erudicion y lucida perspicacia que une el retrato del multifacetico Oppenheimer con la aguda comprension de su naturaleza.The New York Times Un relato magistral del ascenso y la caida de Oppenheimer, situado en el contexto de las turbulentas decadas de la transformacion de Estados Unidos. Es un tour de force.Los Angeles Times Book Review La primera biografia que da cuenta de la extraordinaria complejidad de Oppenheimer. Se erige como un Everest entre las montañas de libros sobreel proyecto de la bomba atomica y Oppenheimer, y es un logro que tal vez no sera superado ni igualado.The Boston Globe Excepcional y documentada con exhaustividad. Kai Bird y Martin Sherwin no solo explican la deslumbrante, emblematica y denigrante carrera de Oppenheimer, sino que tambien iluminan las tensiones de la cultura estado...

***THE INSPIRATION FOR OPPENHEIMER WINNER OF 7 OSCARS, INCLUDING BEST PICTURE, BEST DIRECTOR AND BEST ACTOR***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR NONFICTIONReads like a thriller, gripping and terrifyingSunday Times Physicist and polymath, as familiar with Hindu scriptures as he was with quantum mechanics, J. Robert Oppenheimer - director of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb - was the most famous scientist of his generation. In their meticulous and riveting biography, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin reveal a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man, profoundly involved with some of the momentous events of the twentieth century.

Divided City is a vivid memoir of an American boy growing up in the midst of the Arab-Israeli conflict, three major wars and three decades of political upheavals in the Middle East. Set in Jerusalem (1956-1958), Beirut (1970), Saudi Arabia (1962-1965), Amman and Cairo (1965-1967), Bird's book explains through a blend of memoir and history why the Western experience in the Middle East has been so turbulent. Through Bird's Zelig-like presence, the reader experiences the Suez War of 1956, the June 1967 War and the Black September hijackings of 1970 that led to the Jordanian Civil War. Bird's memoir shows how all of these momentous events led to the rise and tragic downfall of a secular Arab nationalist ethos - only to be replaced by the rise of a fundamentalist, politically reactionary Islamist movement. The narrative history tells the stories of such illuminating figures as life-long Jerusalem resident George Antonius, author of The Arab Awakening, and his charismatic wife; Jordan's King Hussein and his CIA connections; the businessman Salem bin Laden, Osama's older brother and a family friend; Saudi kings Faisal and Khalidl; President Nasser of Egypt; and Leila Khaled, the striking young Palestinian radical who hijacked one of the Black September planes.The son of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, Kai Bird spent his formative years with the Arabs, but he ended up marrying the only daughter of two Holocaust survivors. This Shoah survival story becomes a part of Bird's own personal narrative, and provides him with a deeper understanding of the historical relationship between the destruction of European Jewry and the Arab-Israeli conflict. This extraordinary memoir by a Pulitzer-prize-winning historian sheds new light on all the wars of the Middle East fought in the name of identity.

La biographie événement qui a inspiré le film Oppenheimer de Christopher NolanLe génie est parfois une malédiction. Robert Oppenheimer fut lun des plus grands physiciens de son temps. Peu dhommes pouvaient rivaliser avec son intelligence exceptionnelle et sa fantastique intuition scientifique. Ce talent hors norme la mene vers linvention ultime, capable deradiquer la planete : la bombe atomique. Que penser dun don qui conduit a la destruction universelle ? Dune soif de connaissance dont laboutissement est lextinction de la vie elle-meme ? Aucun homme na ete confronte si directement a un tel dilemme. Avec cette biographie, sacree par le prix Pulitzer, Kai Bird et Martin J. Sherwin sondent la vie du pere de la bombe atomique. Ils en explorent toutes les facettes, intimes et professionnelles, pour decrire un destin unique qui, a lui seul, resume toute lhistoire du xxe siecle : la folie de la guerre et la paranoia du maccarthysme, la soif inextinguible de progres et la course vers labime. Ce livre nest en rien un ouvrage de specialiste. Il sadresse a tous et mele la precision historique a la finesse psychologique, la qualite de lenquete au rythme dun grand roman. " Le portrait captivant de lune des figures les plus essentielles et paradoxales de notre histoire contemporaine. " ; Christopher Nolan

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.THE INSPIRATION FOR THE UPCOMING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMERIn this magisterial, acclaimed biography twenty-five years in the making, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin capture Oppenheimers 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 Oppenheimers rise and fall, set in the context of the turbulent decades of Americas own transformation. It is a tour de force. Los Angeles Times Book ReviewA work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimers essential nature.... It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior. The New York Times

*From the Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor of American Prometheusthe inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film Oppenheimer*Now with a new introduction, Kai Birds fascinating memoir of his early years spent in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon provides an original and illuminating perspective into the Arab-Israeli conflict.In 1956, four-year-old Kai Bird, son of a charming American diplomat, moved to Jerusalem with his family. Kai could hear church bells and the Muslim call to prayer and watch as donkeys and camels competed with cars for space on the narrow streets. Each day on his way to school, Kai was driven through Mandelbaum Gate, where armed soldiers guarded the line separating Israeli-controlled West Jerusalem from Arab-controlled East. Bird would spend much of his life crossing such linesas a child in Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, and later, as a young man in Lebanon. In Crossing Mandelbaum Gate, a narrative that rips along like a spy novel (The New York Times Book Review), Birds retelling of events such as Suez in 1956, the Six Day War of 1967, and Black September in 1970 are as clear and fresh as yesterday (The Spectator, UK). Bird vividly portrays emblematic figures like George Antonius, author of The Arab Awakening; Jordans King Hussein; the Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled; Salem bin Laden; Saudi King Faisal; President Nasser of Egypt; and Hillel Kook, the forgotten rescuer of more than 100,000 Jews during World War II. Bird, his parents sympathetic to Palestinian self-determination and his wife the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, has written a kaleidoscopic and captivating (Publishers Weekly) personal history of a troubled region and an indispensable addition to the literature on the modern Middle East.

Exhaustively researched and remarkably evenhanded. The New York TimesAbsorbingthe definitive life story. Kirkus ReviewsA fascinating study. Los Angeles TimesIn The Chairman, the authoritative biography of John J. McCloy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kai Bird chronicles the life of the man labeled the most influential private citizen in America.Against the backgrounds of World War II, the Cold War, the construction of Pax Americana, the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy assassination, and Vietnam, Bird shows us McCloys astonishing rise from self-described chore boy to chairman of the Establishment.His powerful circle shaped the postwar globe. But McCloy stood out among them as a towering figure of achievement: as a Wall Street lawyer who earned the confidence of captains of industry and presidents; as Henry Stimsons right-hand man at the War Department; as president of the World Bank and chairman of the Chase financial empire; and as presidential adviser.Bird captures every facet of this self-made man. We see McCloys commercial acumen as the most in-demand lawyer of Wall Street; his dictatorial will as high commissioner of occupied Germany; and his stoic loyalty as adviser to Presidents FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Ford, and Reagan.Bird brilliantly explores how McCloy came to epitomize the American Establishment and the values of a generation that led the United States through bitter war and unparalleled prosperity.

Crossing Mandelbaum Gate is a vivid memoir of an American boy growing up in the midst of the Arab-Israeli conflict, three major wars and three decades of political upheavals in the Middle East. Set in Jerusalem (1956-1958), Beirut (1970), Saudi Arabia (1962-1965), Amman and Cairo (1965-1967), Birds book explains through a blend of memoir and history why the Western experience in the Middle East has been so turbulent. Through Birds Zelig-like presence, the reader experiences the Suez War of 1956, the June 1967 War and the Black September hijackings of 1970 that led to the Jordanian Civil War. Birds memoir shows how all of these momentous events led to the rise and tragic downfall of a secular Arab nationalist ethos -- only to be replaced by the rise of a fundamentalist, politically reactionary Islamist movement. The narrative history tells the stories of such illuminating figures as life-long Jerusalem resident George Antonius, author of The Arab Awakening, and his charismatic wife; Jordans King Hussein and his CIA connections; the businessman Salem bin Laden, Osamas older brother and a family friend; Saudi kings Faisal and Khalidl; President Nasser of Egypt; and Leila Khaled, the striking young Palestinian radical who hijacked one of the Black September planes. The son of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, Kai Bird spent his formative years with the Arabs, but he ended up marrying the only daughter of two Holocaust survivors. This Shoah survival story becomes a part of Birds own personal narrative, and provides him with a deeper understanding of the historical relationship between the destruction of European Jewry and the Arab-Israeli conflict. This extraordinary memoir by a Pulitzer-prize-winning historian sheds new light on all the wars of the Middle East fought in the name of identity.

From the Pulitzer Prizewinning coauthor of American Prometheusthis biography of the Bundy Brothers inspired the Academy Awardwinning film Oppenheimer.In this definitive biography of McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, two of "the best and the brightest" who advised presidents about peace and war during the most dangerous years of the Cold War, Kai Bird pens a portrait of the fiercely patriotic, brilliant, and brazenly self-confident men who directed a steady escalation of a war they did not believe could be won.Drawing on seven years of research, nearly one hundred interviews, and scores of still-classified top secret documents in a masterful reevaluation of Americas actions throughout the Cold War and Vietnam, The Color of Truth tells the tale of the anti-communist liberals who, despite their grave doubts about sending Americans to fight in Southeast Asia, became key architects of Americas war in Vietnam.Like the bestselling The Wise Men, this dual biography is both an inside account of the making of US foreign policy in an era of nuclear weapons and a stunning group portrait of the heirs of the Wise Menincluding Robert McNamara, George Ball, and Robert Kennedyand the presidents they served.

A young readers edition of the #1 New York Times bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus was the inspiration for the blockbuster film, Oppenheimer.This brand-new edition introduces the next generation to one of the twentieth centurys most iconic and complex global figures.J. Robert Oppenheimer was a brilliant physicist who led the American effort to build the atomic bomb during World War II, and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of the revolutionary weapon he helped create. Readers of all ages will witness the rise and fall of a scientific and historical icon in this masterful new edition. Exploring his childhood, his secret work on the bomb, his central role in the Cold War, and his tragic downfall, this quintessential biography is history at its finest. Filled with dozens of photographs and updated information, this riveting and deeply informative account is now available to a middle and high school audience.

The Good Spy is Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Birds compelling portrait of the remarkable life and death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal the rift between Arabs and the West. On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. The attack was a geopolitical turning point. It marked the beginning of Hezbollah as a political force, but even more important, it eliminated Americas most influential and effective intelligence officer in the Middle East CIA operative Robert Ames. What set Ames apart from his peers was his extraordinary ability to form deep, meaningful connections with key Arab intelligence figures. Some operatives relied on threats and subterfuge, but Ames worked by building friendships and emphasizing shared values never more notably than with Yasir Arafats charismatic intelligence chief and heir apparent Ali Hassan Salameh (aka The Red Prince). Ames deepening relationship with Salameh held the potential for a lasting peace. Within a few years, though, both men were killed by assassins, and Americas relations with the Arab world began heading down a path that culminated in 9/11, the War on Terror, and the current fog of mistrust. Bird, who as a child lived in the Beirut Embassy and knew Ames as a neighbor when he was twelve years old, spent years researching The Good Spy. Not only does the book draw on hours of interviews with Ames widow, and quotes from hundreds of Ames private letters, its woven from interviews with scores of current and former American, Israeli, and Palestinian intelligence officers as well as other players in the Middle East Great Game. What emerges is a masterpiece-level narrative of the making of a CIA officer, a uniquely insightful history of twentieth-century conflict in the Middle East, and an absorbing hour-by-hour account of the Beirut Embassy bombing. Even more impressive, Bird draws on his reporters skills to deliver a full dossier on the bombers and expose the shocking truth of where the attacks mastermind resides today.

Important . . . [a] landmark presidential biography . . . Bird is able to build a persuasive case that the Carter presidency deserves this new look.The New York Times Book ReviewAn essential re-evaluation of the complex triumphs and tragedies of Jimmy Carters presidential legacyfrom the expert biographer and Pulitzer Prizewinning co-author of American PrometheusFour decades after Ronald Reagans landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carters one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prizewinning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.As president, Carter was not merely an outsider; he was an outlier. He was the only president in a century to grow up in the heart of the Deep South, and his born-again Christianity made him the most openly religious president in memory. This outlier brought to the White House a rare mix of humility, candor, and unnerving self-confidence that neither Washington nor America was ready to embrace. Decades before todays public reckoning with the vast gulf between Americas ethos and its actions, Carter looked out on a nation torn by race and demoralized by Watergate and Vietnam and prescribed a radical self-examination from which voters recoiled. The cost of his unshakable belief in doing the right thing would be losing his re-election bidand witnessing the ascendance of Reagan.In these remarkable pages, Bird traces the arc of Carters administration, from his aggressive domestic agenda to his controversial foreign policy record, taking readers inside the Oval Office and through Carters battles with both a political establishment and a Washington press corps that proved as adversarial as any foreign power. Bird shows how issues still hotly debated todayfrom national health care to growing inequality and racism to the Israeli-Palestinian conflictburned at the heart of Carters America, and consumed a president who found a moral duty in solving them.Drawing on interviews with Carter and members of his administration and recently declassified documents, Bird delivers a profound, clear-eyed evaluation of a leader whose legacy has been deeply misunderstood. The Outlier is the definitive account of an enigmatic presidencyboth as it really happened and as it is remembered in the American consciousness.

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMER "A riveting account of one of historys 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.A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the CenturyIn this magisterial, acclaimed biography twenty-five years in the making, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin capture Oppenheimers 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 Oppenheimers rise and fall, set in the context of the turbulent decades of Americas own transformation. It is a tour de force. Los Angeles Times Book ReviewA work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimers essential nature.... It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior. The New York Times

El libro en el que se basa la nueva película de Christopher Nolan protagonizada por Cillian Murphy. La biografía definitiva de Oppenheimer, el padre de la bomba atómica y una de las figuras más emblematicas del siglo XX.Premio Pulitzer 2006National Book Critics Circle Award 2005Duff Cooper Prize 2008El 16 de julio de 1945, en el desierto de Nuevo Mexico, se detonaba en secreto la primera bomba atomica. Impactado por el poder destructivo de su creacion, J. Robert Oppenheimer, director del Proyecto Manhattan, se comprometeria desde entonces a luchar contra el desarrollo de la bomba de hidrogeno y contra la guerra nuclear. Sospechoso de comunista para los Estados Unidos de la era McCarthy, fue perseguido por el FBI, calumniado como espia de la Union Sovietica y obligado a dimitir de cualquier funcion publica. Su vida privada fue arrastrada del mismo modo hacia el esperpento; su casa fue allanada con microfonos ocultos, y su telefono, intervenido. No seria hasta 1963 que el presidente Kennedy lo rehabilitaria y, con ello, su figura obtendria otro cariz para los ciudadanos del mundo entero.Treinta años de entrevistas a familiares, amigos y colegas; de busqueda en archivos del FBI; de analisis de las cintas con discursos e interrogatorios, y de hallazgos de documentos privados del fisico nuclear dieron como resultado este monumental libro. Una biografia de una enorme minuciosidad que ofrece una vision intima del cientifico mas famoso de su generacion; una de las figuras iconicas del siglo xx para quien el triunfo y la tragedia se unieron en un nudo gordiano.Criticas:Se lee como un thriller, cautivador y aterrador por momentos. Sospecho que este año no aparecera una biografia mas absorbente ni, dados los peligros a los que nos enfrentamos, mas importante que esta.John Carey, Sunday TimesLa biografia definitiva [...] La vida de Oppenheimer no nos influye; nos persigue.NewsweekTodas las obras anteriores sobre este tema quedan, por decirlo de la manera mas amable, despedazadas, frente a este libro que es metaforica y literalmente monumental.Mark Lawson, EsquireEsta imponente biografia, resultado de veinticinco años de investigacion, reevalua la figura de Oppenheimer, y ofrece uno de los retratos mas complejos del fisico hasta la fecha.The New YorkerUn libro esencial.TimeUna obra de voluminosa erudicion y lucida perspicacia que une el retrato del multifacetico Oppenheimer con la aguda comprension de su naturaleza.The New York TimesUn relato magistral del ascenso y la caida de Oppenheimer, situado en el contexto de las turbulentas decadas de la transformacion de Estados Unidos. Es un tour de force.Los Angeles Times Book ReviewLa primera biografia que da cuenta de la extraordinaria complejidad de Oppenheimer. Se erige como un Everest entre las montañas de libros sobre el proyecto de la bomba atomica y Oppenheimer, y es un logro que tal vez no sera superado ni igualado.The Boston GlobeExcepcional y documentada con exhaustividad. Kai Bird y Martin Sherwin no solo explican la deslumbrante, emblematica y denigrante carrera de Oppenheimer, sino que tambien iluminan las tensiones de la cultura estadounidense que...

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus, inspiration for the Oscar-winning sensation Oppenheimer, a biography of Roy Cohn arguably the mastermind behind the current arc of American political life, including the ascent of Donald Trump.

From the Pulitzer Prizewinning coauthor of American Prometheus, inspiration for the Oscar-winning sensation Oppenheimer, a biography of Roy Cohnarguably the mastermind behind the current arc of American political life, including the ascent of Donald Trump.From the 1950s to the 1980s, the many dramas of American political life had one common denominator: Roy Cohn. In his twenties, the infamous young prosecutor sent Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair and burned 30,000 books by communist authors, becoming the baby-faced symbol of McCarthyism. By his thirties, Cohn, with a red scar that ran down his nose from a botched childhood operation, was known in New York City as the Mafias hired legal gun. In his forties, he partied with the glitterati at Studio 54 and became friends with Richard Nixon. In his fifties, Cohn was invited to Reagans Oval Office. Nancy Reagan called Cohn often for advice and gossipindeed, Cohn had an almost insatiable interest in gossip, and much of his influence over the years derived from his transactional relationship with gossip columnists. Perhaps most significantly, he mentored the young Donald Trump. The real estate developer, whom Cohn called his best friend, phoned him a dozen times a day.Cohn considered himself the one lawyer in town who could always escape the consequences. Indicted by the Feds on three occasions for bribery, perjury, extortion, and other white-collar crimes, he was acquitted every time. To achieve his ends, he did whatever it took. If you need somebody to get vicious, Trump once said, hire Roy Cohn.Years after his death of AIDS in 1986, Cohn emerged as a central figure in Tony Kushners Pulitzer Prizewinning 1992 play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Cohns feistiness, his surly defianceand, yes, his charmwere frequently flourished to conceal vast insecurities, particularly regarding his sexuality. As his friend Sidney Zion once wrote, Roy lived in a closet that was the oddest in historya closet with neon lightsbut he maintained it fiercely. A streetfighter, self-promoting hustler, and scheming conman, Cohn was a nefarious actor in one unscrupulous tale after another. He was a true Zelig of the dark side.

El libro en el que se basa la nueva película de Christopher Nolan protagonizada por Cillian Murphy. La biografía definitiva de Oppenheimer, el padre de la bomba atómica y una de las figuras más emblematicas del siglo XX. Premio Pulitzer 2006National Book Critics Circle Award 2005Duff Cooper Prize 2008 El 16 de julio de 1945, en el desierto de Nuevo Mexico, se detonaba en secreto la primera bomba atomica. Impactado por el poder destructivo de su creacion, J. Robert Oppenheimer, director del Proyecto Manhattan, se comprometeria desde entonces a luchar contra el desarrollo de la bomba de hidrogeno y contra la guerra nuclear. Sospechoso de comunista para los Estados Unidos de la era McCarthy, fue perseguido por el FBI, calumniado como espia de la Union Sovietica y obligado a dimitir de cualquier funcion publica. Su vida privada fue arrastrada del mismo modo hacia el esperpento; su casa fue allanada con microfonos ocultos, y su telefono, intervenido. No seria hasta 1963 que el presidente Kennedy lo rehabilitaria y, con ello, su figura obtendria otro cariz para los ciudadanos del mundo entero. Treinta años de entrevistas a familiares, amigos y colegas; de busqueda en archivos del FBI; de analisis de las cintas con discursos e interrogatorios, y de hallazgos de documentos privados del fisico nuclear dieron como resultado este monumental libro. Una biografia de una enorme minuciosidad que ofrece una vision intima del cientifico mas famoso de su generacion; una de las figuras iconicas del siglo xx para quien el triunfo y la tragedia se unieron en un nudo gordiano.Criticas:Se lee como un thriller, cautivador y aterrador por momentos. Sospecho que este año no aparecera una biografia mas absorbente ni, dados los peligros a los que nos enfrentamos, mas importante que esta.John Carey, Sunday Times La biografia definitiva [...] La vida de Oppenheimer no nos influye; nos persigue.Newsweek Todas las obras anteriores sobre este tema quedan, por decirlo de la manera mas amable, despedazadas, frente a este libro que es metaforica y literalmente monumental.Mark Lawson, Esquire Esta imponente biografia, resultado de veinticinco años de investigacion, reevalua la figura de Oppenheimer, y ofrece uno de los retratos mas complejos del fisico hasta la fecha.The New YorkerUn libro esencial.Time Una obra de voluminosa erudicion y lucida perspicacia que une el retrato del multifacetico Oppenheimer con la aguda comprension de su naturaleza.The New York Times Un relato magistral del ascenso y la caida de Oppenheimer, situado en el contexto de las turbulentas decadas de la transformacion de Estados Unidos. Es un tour de force.Los Angeles Times Book Review La primera biografia que da cuenta de la extraordinaria complejidad de Oppenheimer. Se erige como un Everest entre las montañas de libros sobreel proyecto de la bomba atomica y Oppenheimer, y es un logro que tal vez no sera superado ni igualado.The Boston Globe Excepcional y documentada con exhaustividad. Kai Bird y Martin Sherwin no solo explican la deslumbrante, emblematica y denigrante carrera de Oppenheimer, sino que tambien iluminan las tensiones de la cultura estado...

Physicist and polymath, as familiar with Hindu scriptures as he was with quantum mechanics, J. Robert Oppenheimer - director of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb - was the most famous scientist of his generation. In their meticulous and riveting biography, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin reveal a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man, profoundly involved with some of the momentous events of the twentieth century.