Close Modal
Kai Bird, author portrait
© Joshua Bird

Kai Bird

Kai Bird is an award-winning historian and journalist. Executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, he is the acclaimed author of biographies of John J. McCloy, of McGeorge and William Bundy, Robert Ames, and President Jimmy Carter. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (co-authored with Martin J. Sherwin), which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film Oppenheimer. His work has been honored with the BIO Award for his significant contributions to the art and craft of biography. He has also written about the Vietnam War, Hiroshima, nuclear weapons, the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the CIA. He lives in New York City and Washington, D.C., with his wife, Susan Goldmark.
Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb
The Outlier
The Good Spy
American Prometheus

Books

Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb
The Outlier
The Good Spy
American Prometheus

From Page to Screen and Back Again: Award Season Reads

Award show season is upon us! With the Emmys and Golden Globes behind us and the Oscars ahead, now is the perfect time to read the books that inspired your favorite award-winning movies and shows (and vice versa)! Read the true story behind Golden Globe-winning Oppenheimer, or return to the fantastical world of Emmy-winning House

Read more

In Theaters July 21 – Oppenheimer

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

Read more

Blockbuster Books for Blockbuster Season

The second half of 2023 is full of must-see movies! From the Barbenheimer double feature to the stunning animation style of the new TMNT flick to the much-anticipated Haunted Mansion remake, the next few months are set to be dominated by back-to-back blockbusters. With original books that inspired the films, official cookbooks and coloring pages,

Read more