12 Best Books to Read After Watching Oppenheimer

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Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is finally in theaters, and tells the story of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy). It's not just about Oppenheimer, but about the Manhattan Project—the code name given to the development of the atomic bomb—and of the explosion of the first bomb at what is now known as the Trinity Site.

"My goal when making the film—I don’t make films to send a message, I made it because it’s a fascinating story. But part of that storytelling is getting back to basics about the bomb, stripping away policy statements, philosophy, the geopolitical situation and just looking at raw power that’s about to be unleashed and what that means for the people involved and means for all of us," Nolan told Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Here, 12 books to watch if Oppenheimer peaked your interest in the atomic bomb—including the 700-page biography that Nolan based his film on.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Start with the book that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is based on: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin's American Prometheus, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. There was one scene that hooked Nolan, the director told the Los Angeles Times: "Los Alamos, this place that will always live in history or infamy, was first a place where Oppenheimer and his brother loved to go camping. Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, I’m looking at the most personal possible connection between a character and a massive change to the world that couldn’t be undone." This is the definitive Oppenheimer biography.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Richard Rhodes's The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which also won the Pulitzer Prize, sets out to tell the definitive history of nuclear weapons. As the publisher describes, "From nuclear power’s earliest foreshadowing in the work of H.G. Wells to the bright glare of Trinity at Alamogordo and the arms race of the Cold War, this dread invention forever changed the course of human history, and The Making of The Atomic Bomb provides a panoramic backdrop for that story."

109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos

If you're curious about who lived in the secret city of Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, 109 East Palace is for you. Author Jennet Conant's grandfather James B. Conant, a chemist, was involved in the project, giving her unique insight into the lives of those in Los Alamos. She does not focus on what she calls the "saga of scientific discovery," instead choosing to turn her attention to the personal lives of the key personnel of the Manhattan Project.

Hiroshima

A book list about Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, and the atomic bomb would be incomplete without John Hersey's Hiroshima, which tells the story of the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, through the lens of six survivors.

The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer: And the Birth of the Modern Arms Race

What happened to Oppenheimer after World War II? Priscilla J. McMillan's book focuses on 1949 to 1955, and the trial of Oppenheimer when he was charged with violating national security. As McMillan writes in the introduction, "Oppenheimer's foes used deceit and treachery to humiliate and banish him from public service...His legacy as a public servant willing to raise his voice in dissent is even more significant and inspiring now than it was then."

The First Atomic Bomb: The Trinity Site in New Mexico (America’s Public Lands)

The test of the atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert, three weeks before the bombing of Hiroshima, took place on what is now called the "Trinity Site." One day a year, it is open to the public. Author Janet Farrell Brodie focuses on the place and environment that "carries special historical weight in American memory."

Now It Can Be Told: The Story Of The Manhattan Project

General Leslie Groves was the man who hired Oppenheimer, planned the Los Alamos facilities, and in essence, made the Manhattan Project possible. (Matt Damon plays Groves in Oppenheimer). In this book, Groves tells his story. "I have recorded here only that which I am qualified to write about," he says in the foreword. "My own experiences during the development of atomic energy between September 17, 1942, and December 31, 1946, the period during which I was in charge of the Manhattan Project."

The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer - The Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb

In this dual biography of Graves and Oppenheimer, James Kunetka looks at their unlikely partnership and how they pulled off the creation of the atomic bomb. He focuses in on their three-year collaboration.

Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and Their Aftermath

In Hiroshima Nagasaki, journalist Paul Ham examines the atomic bombings of the two Japanese cities, dismantling the idea that the attacks were justified because they ended the war. Rather, he argues, Japan was already defeated. Publisher's Weekly calls his book "a must-read for those interested in the moral aspects of total war and military strategy in general."

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II

Denise Kiernan's The Girls of Atomic City is the tale of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a secret city founded during World War II for uranium enrichment. Billboards reminded those who lived and worked in Oak Ridge, mainly young women: "What you see here, What you do here, What you hear here, When you leave here, Let it stay here." This book offers the compelling story of little-known part of the Manhattan Project's history.

The Day the Sun Rose Twice: The Story of the Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945

The Day the Sun Rose Twice by Ferenc Morton Szasz is the story of the detonation of the first nuclear bomb in New Mexico. "What happened at Trinity that Monday morning must go down as one of the most significant events in the last thousand years," he writes in the introduction, and sets out to explain why.

The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians

This first-person account of the Manhattan Project, aptly titled The Manhattan Project, is a collection of primary source material on what happened in Los Alamos. It includes contributions from Edward Teller, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Richard Rhodes, Neils Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, among others, and the newest edition also features writings and reflections from atomic bomb survivors.

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