Oppenheimers talent and drive secured him a place in the pantheon of great physicists and carried him to the laboratories where the secrets of the universe revealed themselves. But they also led him to contribute to the development of the deadliest weapon on earth, a discovery he soon came to fear. His attempts to resist the escalation of the Cold War arms racecoupled with political leanings at odds with post-war Americaled many to question his loyalties, and brought down upon him the full force of McCarthyite anti-communism. Digging deeply into Oppenheimers past to solve the enigma of his motivations and his complex personality, Ray Monk uncovers the extraordinary, charming, tortured manand the remarkable mindwho fundamentally reshaped the world.