After a couple of lean years,[citation needed] he became a research associate at the University of Chicago in 1947, and he was made a faculty member in 1950.
Assisted by Erica Reiner, Oppenheim remained editor-in-charge until his sudden death, still at the height of his intellectual powers.
E. A. Speiser once said that Oppenheim had read more cuneiform than any other living person;[1] his deep knowledge of Akkadian informed his discerning view of Mesopotamian daily life and culture.
[2] A. Leo Oppenheim's most famous work is Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization.
Its tone of pessimism at the impossible prospect of reviving a living understanding of Mesopotamian culture belied his personal optimism and sociability.