He is the author of Saving the Americas (Random House, 2007), The Robots Are Coming (Vintage 2019) and seven other books.

His previous jobs at The Miami Herald included Mexico City bureau chief, foreign correspondent, and business writer.

After a year at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, he obtained a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City in 1978.

Oppenheimer is the co-winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize as a member of The Miami Herald team that uncovered the Iran-Contra scandal.

[citation needed] He was selected by the Forbes Media Guide as one of the “500 most important journalists” of the United States in 1993, and by Poder Magazine as one of the “100 most powerful people” in Latin America in 2002 and 2008.