Non-Fiction
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the American Establishment | 1992 | Buy |
| Hiroshima’s Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History & the Smithsonian Controversy | 1996 | Buy |
| The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy:Brothers in Arms | 1998 | Buy |
| American Prometheus | 2005 | Buy |
| Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs & Israelis 1956-78 | 2010 | Buy |
| The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames | 2014 | Buy |
| The Outlier: The Life and Presidency of Jimmy Carter | 2021 | Buy |
| Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb | 2025 | Buy |
Kai Bird is an American historian and biographer whose work focuses on influential figures in twentieth-century politics and national security. His first book, The Chairman (1992), examined John J. McCloy’s role in shaping American foreign policy. He went on to write about the Bundy brothers, the CIA, and the Middle East.
His most widely known work is American Prometheus (2005), co-written with Martin J. Sherwin, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and was adapted into the 2023 film Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan. Bird continued exploring related territory with The Good Spy (2014), about CIA officer Robert Ames, and The Outlier (2021), a reassessment of the Jimmy Carter presidency.