Ray Monk is the author of Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, for which he was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize, and a two-volume biography of Bertrand Russell. He is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton.
“Impressive. . . . An extraordinary story.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Judicious, comprehensive and reliable. . . . By far the most
thorough survey yet written of Oppenheimer’s physics. . . . A
convincing portrait.”
—Washington Post
“Compelling.”
—The New Yorker
“Oppenheimer is fortunate to have been given such an exemplary
biographer.”
—New Scientist
“Essential reading for Oppie enthusiasts, even those who don't know
a meson from a cosmic ray (and don't much care).”
—Chicago Tribune
“[Robert Oppenheimer] feels suspiciously like the best biography
I’ve ever read.”
—Bryan Appleyard, New Statesman
“A masterclass in how biography, done well, gets us closer to the
mindset of an age than any other kind of inquiry.”
—The Guardian (London)
“Monk is a levelheaded and congenial guide to Oppenheimer’s life. .
. . [His] discussion of Oppenheimer’s work in physics is one of his
book’s great contributions to the saga, an area of the man’s life
that previous biographies have neglected.”
—The Daily Beast
“Monk’s book is a tour de force. . . . This will, I am sure,
establish itself as the definitive biography.”
—Lisa Jardine, Financial Times
“An enigma to many of his contemporaries, Oppenheimer made enemies
as easily as friends. Monk is at his best when teasing apart
Oppenheimer’s confusing inner life, finding in his ‘enigmatic
elusiveness’ and ‘his inability to make ordinary close contact’
with others the source of his acknowledged genius in leading the
Manhattan Project.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“An extraordinarily rich biography, superbly researched and written
with impressive clarity. It is a considerable achievement of
scholarship.”
—The Times (London)
“Does what nothing so far written on the enigmatic physicist has
attempted: integrating into a seamless whole a profound inquiry
into the formative influences on Oppenheimer’s character, a
definitive account of his complex role in the development of the
atomic bomb and a penetrating analysis of the philosophical
implications of the new physics. It is not just a great biography
but a powerful work of art.”
—New Statesman (London)
“Monk describes and explains Oppenheimer’s contributions to physics
and places them in their historical context. . . . The permutations
of the Oppenheimer enigma are investigated in this nonpareil
biography.”
—The Buffalo News
“It is the epic story of the atomic bomb and Oppenheimer’s fall
from grace in the McCarthyite era that stir the reader. . . .
Science has received short shrift from [Oppenheimer’s] several
biographers. It is this that Ray Monk’s life has set out to
rectify.”
—The Independent (London)
“A triumph of historical investigation. . . . It is the most
personal and sensitive biography of Oppenheimer so far published;
the man himself rises from the pages, a figure worthy at times of
reverence, but often of contempt.”
—The Telegraph (London)
“Monk retells this great 20th-century tragedy magnificently, in
measured English prose, not Time journalese. . . . The
tension between Oppenheimer’s two sides—his need to be at the
centre of power versus his wish to retain his conscience—lie at the
heart of [this] wonderful new biography.”
—The Observer (London)
“[The book paints] a detailed picture of two groups of people who
played an important role in Oppenheimer’s life: the tightly knit
society of wealthy German New York Jews to which his parents
belonged, and the small army of security officers who monitored his
social and political activities when he was engaged in secret work
in Berkeley and Los Alamos. . . . Monk brings these two groups
vividly to life.”
—The New York Review of Books
“It’s not just brilliant, original, and the best biography of
Oppenheimer to date, it’s epic. Also totally gripping and immensely
satisfying. . . . I’ve read so much about Oppenheimer, but this is
the first time I felt I understood why what happened to him
happened.”
—Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind and Grand
Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius
“[Monk is an] inspired philosophical biographer. . . . This is an
eagerly awaited and important book which will explore new
boundaries in the writing of biography itself.”
—Richard Holmes, author of The Age of Wonder
“Oppenheimer alone is a fascinating subject, but Monk provides
copious illuminating detail from the historical surround. . . . [A]
superb biography.”
—London Review of Books
“This grand biography illuminates the genius of a fascinating
scientist as driven by his own research as he was driven to lead
and inspire others.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A highly detailed examination. . . . Monk does full justice to
Oppenheimer’s irreplaceable contribution to the development of
nuclear energy during and after World War II. . . . A top-notch
biography.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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