图书作者与内容简介

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.

我的观点

As the film "Oppenheimer" became the talk of town, the book that inspired it came into the spotlight. 「American Prometheus」 tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a figure revered but controversial, a man shrouded in enigma. Some described him as irresistibly charming, while others regarded him as an inadequate leader, overly idealistic and impractical. Still others called him morally corrupt, pointing out how he betrayed his wife and possibly his own country, not to mention his role in creating the atomic bomb and its deadly consequences. Ultimately, it is up to the reader to come up with their own conclusion. 
 
As I read the book, I found myself repeatedly asking, "What kind of man is Oppenheimer?" It was a question I struggled to answer myself. Oppenheimer had many facets, often contradictory. Some remember him as a patriot, but they couldn't forget his involvement with Communism in dangerous times around the Cold War era. He once told his brother that he "needs physics more than friends," and one may think that he wasn't particularly adept at interpersonal relationships. Yet he was quite the opposite. His charisma pierced the pages of the books to the extent that I found it almost unsettling. At thirty-eight, an age relatively young in academia, he charmed his way into taking charge of the Manhattan Project despite having no prior administrative experience. A colleague at Berkeley thought Oppenheimer was ill-suited for the role, saying he "couldn't run a hamburger stand." The more I learned about him, the more bewildered I became. I do not know what to think of this man. Adding to my internal conflict, he pushed the development of the deadliest weapon humanity had ever seen, fully aware that it would result in the loss of countless lives, but continued his work regardless. However, I could not label him as a man without morals. During a meeting with President Truman, who was accountable for the final decision to detonate the bomb, Oppenheimer famously said, "I feel I have blood on my hands." After the war, he chaired the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and advocated for policies promoting international control of nuclear weapons. In essence, these actions appeared conflicted to me.
 
As I continued to think about Oppenheimer and his life, it became clear that the issue lay with me. As an avid reader my entire life, I have developed a habit of trying to fit individuals into predefined molds, whether fictional or real. Oppenheimer was more complicated than that. He didn't fit the stereotypical scientist, wholly consumed by their work, nor was he the calculating manipulator solely concerned with his own interests. At the same time, he was all these characters: A brilliant and charismatic scientist with a worldview that drove him to work toward aligning the world with his ideals. A patriot but also an open-minded intellectual willing to explore the controversial concepts of Communism. Even a politician; beyond his scientific pursuits, he adeptly navigated the realm of politics, advocating for policies and maneuvering through intricate political landscapes, only to fall victim to the McCarthyism by individuals who saw him as a threat—or so the prevailing belief goes. Until today, there is evidence of Oppenheimer's alleged contact with Soviet intelligence during his time on the Manhattan Project, even though the authenticity of these sources remains unproven. Nonetheless, there is no documented evidence that he disclosed critical information that would have given the Soviets an advantage in the Cold War. Oppenheimer's life and legacy were laced with controversies, marked by an interplay of ideals, responsibilities, and the harsh realities of his era. His story serves as a reminder that people cannot be reduced to a single label and that one can have contrasting attitudes in different aspects of their life without it necessarily implying misconduct. This versatile nature is, after all, a fundamental aspect of our humanity.
 
A major part of my internal conflict with Oppenheimer stemmed from his involvement in creating the atomic bomb. Ever since the catastrophe in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world questioned whether it had been the right choice. I had an easy answer: no. Countless lives were lost, and we still witness the aftermath today. In retrospect, the United State's argument, building the bomb for self-defense, is invalid. Historical evidence proved that Germany wasn't developing nuclear weapons as they had assumed, and Japan was already planning to surrender by that time. Determined to prove my point, I sought more books on this subject. This was when I began to see the other side of this controversy – the side of families, American and Japanese, who would give anything for the safe return of their children, husbands, and fathers. As historian Tami Biddle puts it, "Those are really unresolvable questions. I hope I never have to face the circumstances that my grandmother faced having two sons in a war and having to maybe hope for the kinds of things that she was hoping for...I’m reluctant to judge the people who feel that way." Given these points, I ought to refrain from passing judgment. Historical events are too complicated to be categorized as either right or wrong. Rather, we should focus on addressing contemporary issues, such as preventing the looming threat of nuclear conflict.
 
Likewise, humans are not either good or evil. Indeed, retrospects are objective, but only for us who look back from the present moment. Oppenheimer does not deserve all the blame. He was a theorist, after all, predicting the future with numbers and graphs, except the power of the atomic bomb turned out greater than he or anyone else expected. As the director of the film 「Oppenheimer,」 Christopher Nolan says, 「Like it or not, J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived. He made the world we live in, for better or for worse.」 Oppenheimer's story is a paragon of the intricate dance between science and morality, highlighting men's ceaseless search for objective truths, which, as one must keep in mind, is not always present.