Synopses & Reviews
A gripping narrative of the love and betrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer, told through the lives of three unique women.
Set against a dramatic backdrop of war, spies, and nuclear bombs, An Atomic Love Story unveils a vivid new view of a tumultuous era and one of its most important figures. In the early decades of the 20th century, three highly ambitious women found their way to the West Coast, where each was destined to collide with the young Oppenheimer, the enigmatic physicist whose work in creating the atomic bomb would forever impact modern history. His first and most intense love was for Jean Tatlock, though he married the tempestuous Kitty Harrison—both were members of the Communist Party—and was rumored to have had a scandalous affair with the brilliant Ruth Sherman Tolman, ten years his senior and the wife of another celebrated physicist. Although each were connected through their relationship to Oppenheimer, their experiences reflect important changes in the lives of American women in the 20th century: the conflict between career and marriage; the need for a woman to define herself independently; experimentation with sexuality; and the growth of career opportunities.
Beautifully written and superbly researched through a rich collection of firsthand accounts, this intimate portrait shares the tragedies, betrayals, and romances of an alluring man and three bold women, revealing how they pushed to the very forefront of social and cultural changes in a fascinating, volatile era.
Review
"Through diligent research, brilliant insights, and clear, incisive writing, Streshinsky and Klaus have deepened our understanding of Robert Oppenheimer's emotional life and loves. To comprehend his fascinating complexity, readers interested in the 20th century's most intriguing American scientist must now supplement the many biographical Oppenheimer tomes with this marvelous concise and precise book. Anyone with the slightest interest in Oppenheimer's biography will not be able to put it down." —Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning AMERICAN PROMETHEUS: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER
Review
""An Atomic Love Story offers intersecting (and often fascinating) portraits of Jean Tatlock, a troubled psychiatrist whom he had hoped to marry; his wife, the former Katherine ""Kitty"" Puening; and his friend and possible lover, psychologist Ruth Sherman Tolman."" —Chicago Tribune
""Through diligent research, brilliant insights, and clear, incisive writing, Streshinsky and Klaus have deepened our understanding of Robert Oppenheimer's emotional life and loves. To comprehend his fascinating complexity, readers interested in the 20th century's most intriguing American scientist must now supplement the many biographical Oppenheimer tomes with this marvelous concise and precise book. Anyone with the slightest interest in Oppenheimer's biography will not be able to put it down."" —Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
“An Atomic Love Story is a story of many loves. A whole new range of Robert Oppenheimers life emerges, a deeper and richer view of one of the pivotal figures of the 20th century.” —Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
“It is impossible to see Robert Oppenheimer whole without understanding the three great loves of his life. A closed book to most of the world, he opened himself to these three women, showing them the depth and intensity of his longing for the intimacies of the spirit as well as those of the flesh. An Atomic Love Story gives us the missing piece of the man.” —Patricia OToole, author of The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends and When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt after the White House
""An Atomic Love Story tells, in strict chronological order, the stories of the interwoven lives of the four fascinating principals. Each of them was also the center of another universe, so the book also becomes a study of the circles within circles that constituted the tiny elites of California, Massachusetts, New York, Washington—and New Mexico."" —Wally Gordon, New Mexico Mercury
""A deft blend of politics, passion and historical upheaval, An Atomic Love Story is a fresh look at one of the most written-about scientists of the 20th century and the female trinity central to his life and work."" —San Jose Mercury News
Synopsis
PROLOGUE
After Hiroshima and Nagasaki; after Robert Oppenheimer had been splashed on Time magazines cover as the Father of the Atom Bomb; after being excoriated during the McCarthy era as a Communist dupe and probable traitor, humiliated by a bogus hearing, then resurrected by a government that found its conscience, J. Robert Oppenheimer, an elegant puzzle of a man, was left to the historians.
Had he not been married to one Communist Party member and loved another, he might never have become embroiled in the political and social movements of those times. Like many of his peers, he could have fulfilled his destiny in the Second World War, then returned safely to the ivory tower, fading into history.
Three women would give shape to his life; together they would define the promise and the tragedy of their times. Jean Tatlock, Katherine (Kitty) Oppenheimer, and Ruth Tolman exist in the historical accounts—but always in the background, there yet unformed, unexplored. In the 1930s, women were going to college in increasing numbers, but it was the extraordinary woman who chose higher education and a professional career. Jean Tatlock became a medical doctor and a psychiatrist; Kitty Oppenheimer wanted desperately to complete a doctorate in botany; Ruth Tolman had a Ph.D. and was a practicing psychologist.
The three were intellectually engaging and wholly involved in their times, ambitious, earnest, risk-taking women. Each loved Robert until the end of her life; he remained devoted to each until the end of his. Their story would begin just before the turn of the twentieth century and last through two tortuous world wars, a global depression—in all, somewhat more than half of that brutal American century.
About the Author
Kensington (Berkeley), California; Sonoma County, California
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part I: 1620s to 1920s Bloodlines
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Part II: 1920s and 1930s: The Exuberant Years
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Part III: 1939-1945: The War Years
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Part IV: 1945 -1953: The Post-War Years
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Part V: In the Case of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Part VI: The End Game: 1953-1967
Chapter 29
Epilogue: The people who remained
Bibliography
Index