In Theaters July 21 – Oppenheimer

By Kat La Mantia | July 10 2023 | AdultsGeneralAllPop CultureBlog

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, American Prometheus, Oppenheimer is the true story of the development of the atomic bomb in WWII and the man at the center of it all who found himself destroyed by his own horrific weapons of devastation. Shot in the towering IMAX format, Oppenheimer promises to transport audiences directly into this pulse-pounding moment of world history.

With movie-goers planning their Barbie/Oppenheimer double features and booking tickets for their nearest IMAX cinema, the buzz has already begun for Christopher Nolan’s latest masterpiece. Read the book that started it all, and browse our related titles for more gripping reads about the atomic age, WWII, and the fallout of the pivotal decision to drop the bomb.

Explore More Oppenheimer Related Titles

 

American Prometheus
The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER
978-0-375-72626-2
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE ACADEMY AWARD®-WINNING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMER • "A riveting account of one of history’s 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.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.“A masterful account of Oppenheimer’s rise and fall, set in the context of the turbulent decades of America’s own transformation. It is a tour de force.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review“A work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer’s essential nature.... It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior.” —The New York Times
$25.00 US
Apr 11, 2006
5-3/16 x 8
Paperback
784 Pages
Vintage

Robert Oppenheimer
A Life Inside the Center
978-0-385-72204-9
A comprehensive new biography which solves the enigma that was Robert Oppenheimer and brilliantly illuminates his contributions to the world-changing physics of the twentieth-century.
$24.00 US
Mar 11, 2014
6-1/8 x 9-1/4
Paperback
880 Pages
Anchor

Road to Surrender
Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II
978-0-399-58925-6
A riveting, immersive account of the agonizing decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan—a crucial turning point in World War II and geopolitical history—with you-are-there immediacy by the New York Times bestselling author of Ike's Bluff and Sea of Thunder.
$28.00 US
May 16, 2023
6-1/8 x 9-1/4
Hardcover
336 Pages
Random House

A Girl's Guide to Missiles
Growing Up in America's Secret Desert
978-0-7352-2039-3
A poignant, surreal, and fearlessly honest look at growing up on one of the most secretive weapons installations on earth, by a young woman who came of age with missiles
$17.00 US
Aug 13, 2019
5-5/16 x 8
Paperback
352 Pages
Penguin Books

Nuking the Moon
And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board
978-0-14-313340-7
The International Spy Museum's Historian takes us on a wild tour of missions and schemes that almost happened, but were ultimately deemed too dangerous, expensive, ahead of their time, or even certifiably insane"Compulsively readable laugh out loud history."-Mary Roach
$19.00 US
May 05, 2020
5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Paperback
320 Pages
Penguin Books

Practical Doomsday
A User's Guide to the End of the World
978-1-71850-212-3
Disasters happen. Be prepared. Here’s how.
$24.99 US
Jan 11, 2022
7 x 9-1/4
Paperback
250 Pages
No Starch Press

A Short History of Nuclear Folly
Mad Scientists, Dithering Nazis, Lost Nukes, and Catastrophic Cover-ups
978-1-61219-330-4
From a celebrated young historian, a chronicle of the dumbest things ever done with the atom: a pop book about a fascinating and forgotten history.
$16.95 US
Jun 17, 2014
5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Paperback
256 Pages
Melville House

A Field Guide to Radiation
978-0-14-312127-5
A comprehensive and accessible guide to understanding how radiation affects our everyday livesNuclear energy, X-rays, radon, cell phones . . . radiation is part of the way we live on a daily basis, and yet the sources and repercussions of our exposure to it remain mysterious. Now Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Wayne Biddle offers a first-of-its-kind guide to understanding this fundamental aspect of the universe. From fallout to radiation poisoning, alpha particles to cosmic rays, Biddle illuminates the history, meaning, and health implications of one hundred scientific terms in succinct, witty essays. A Field Guide to Radiation is an essential, engaging handbook that offers wisdom and common sense for today's increasingly nuclear world.
$24.00 US
Jul 31, 2012
5-1/16 x 7-3/4
Paperback
288 Pages
Penguin Books

The Atom
A Visual Tour
978-0-262-03736-5
An accessible and engaging guide to the atom, the smallest, most fundamental constituent of matter.Until now, popular science has relegated the atom to a supporting role in defining the different chemical elements of the periodic table. In this book, Jack Challoner places the atom at center stage. The Atom investigates the quest to identify the smallest, most fundamental constituents of matter—and how that quest helps us to understand what everything is made of and how it all works. Challoner covers a wide range of topics—including the development of scientific thinking about atoms and the basic structure of atoms; how atomic interactions account for the familiar properties of everyday materials; the power of the atomic nucleus; and what the mysterious quantum realm of subatomic particles can tell us about the very nature of reality. Illustrated in color throughout, The Atom offers clear answers to questions we have all pondered, as well as some we have never even dreamed of. It describes the amazing discoveries scientists have made about the fundamental building blocks of matter—from quarks to nuclear fission to the “God particle”—and explains them accessibly and concisely. The Atom is the engaging and straightforward introduction to the topic that we didn't get in school.
$39.95 US
Dec 11, 2018
8-1/4 x 9-1/2
Hardcover
192 Pages
The MIT Press

Hiroshima
978-0-593-08236-2
In trade paperback for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winner John Hersey's seminal work of narrative nonfiction, which has sold more than 3 million copies and defined the way we think about Hiroshima.
$15.00 US
Jun 23, 2020
5-3/16 x 8
Paperback
208 Pages
Vintage

Nagasaki
Life After Nuclear War
978-0-14-310942-6
"A poignant and complex picture of the second atomic bomb's enduring physical and psychological tolls . . ."--The New Yorker
$18.00 US
Aug 02, 2016
5-1/2 x 8-7/16
Paperback
416 Pages
Penguin Books

What Was the Bombing of Hiroshima?
978-1-5247-9265-7
Hiroshima is where the first atomic bomb was dropped. Now readers will learn the reasons why and what it's meant for the world ever since.
$7.99 US
Mar 17, 2020
5-5/16 x 7-5/8
Paperback
112 Pages
Penguin Workshop
Age 8-12 years

Atoms
978-1-78269-343-7
This book will blow your child's mind! Big Science explained simply
$16.95 US
Sep 06, 2022
11-9/16 x 9-3/4
Hardcover
32 Pages
Pushkin Children's Books
Age 2-5 years

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Puffin Modern Classics)
978-0-14-240113-2
 “An extraordinary book, one no reader will fail to find compelling and unforgettable.” —Booklist, starred reviewThe star of her school’s running team, Sadako is lively and athletic…until the dizzy spells start. Then she must face the hardest race of her life—the race against time. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the courage that makes one young woman a heroine in Japan. "[The] story speaks directly to young readers of the tragedy of Sadako's death and, in its simplicity, makes a universal statement for 'peace in the world.” —The Horn Book "The story is told tenderly but with neither a morbid nor a sentimental tone: it is direct and touching."  —BCCB
$7.99 US
Apr 12, 2004
5 x 7
Paperback
80 Pages
Puffin Books
Age 8-12 years

Sadako and the thousand paper cranes
978-0-698-11802-7
Hiroshima-born Sadako is lively and athletic--the star of her school's running team. And then the dizzy spells start. Soon gravely ill with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease," Sadako faces her future with spirit and bravery. Recalling a Japanese legend, Sadako sets to work folding paper cranes. For the legend holds that if a sick person folds one thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the extraordinary courage that made one young woman a heroine in Japan.
$7.99 US
Sep 01, 1987
5-1/16 x 7-3/4
Paperback
80 Pages
Puffin Books
Age 8-12 years

One Thousand Paper Cranes
The Story of Sadako and the Children's Peace Statue
978-0-440-22843-1
The inspirational story of the Japanese national campaign to build the Children's Peace Statue honoring Sadako and hundreds of other children who died as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima.Ten years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki died as a result of atomic bomb disease. Sadako's determination to fold one thousand paper cranes and her courageous struggle with her illness inspired her classmates. After her death, they started a national campaign to build the Children's Peace Statue to remember Sadako and the many other children who were victims of the Hiroshima bombing. On top of the statue is a girl holding a large crane in her outstretched arms. Today in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, this statue of Sadako is beautifully decorated with thousands of paper cranes given by people throughout the world.
$5.99 US
Jan 09, 2001
4-3/16 x 6-7/8
Mass Market Paperback
112 Pages
Laurel Leaf
Age 12 and up