Don's Reviews > Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and Their Aftermath

A stunning, complete treatment of the only two nuclear weapons ever used on people. What makes this book unusual is the two-sided view -- A British historian investigating both the American and Japanese perspectives, as well as at least part of the Russian side, too.

The book left me with several takeaways:

--Civilization must never forget the inhuman devastation of these weapons. The graphic descriptions of the immediate and delayed human carnage make for nightmarish, heavy reading. Yet, 70 years later, the generally sanitized understanding most people seem to have of these bombs' effects makes me concerned about their potential use in the future.

--The reflections of President Truman and his advisers (particularly Secretary of State Byrne) were cooly politically charged. They never took their eyes off of public opinion, and revenge for Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and Japanese war atrocities drove their use of the bombs more than strategy or necessity.

--The continuing argument among Japanese leadership about how and when to surrender is sad and depressing in their general dismissiveness of civilian suffering.

--So much of what I thought I knew about the bombs and their use was pure propaganda... For instance, the "million American casualties" saved by precluding the planned invasion? The actual estimates were 30,000-50,000 ... And even that is capricious, because it was not seriously considered; the naval blockade was working effectively and had drastically weakened the Japanese war effort.

Also, "we only had two devices," is laughably accurate. It's true: but the assembly line was pumping out several more within 10 days.

The targets were by no means military targets. At all.

Perhaps most remarkably, all of the deliberations among the Japanese leadership were focused on the entrance of Russia into the Asian war -- just 2 days before the first bomb was dropped; that Manchurian invasion is what REALLY got their attention, rather than the continued destruction of Japanese cities.

Mostly these bombs were dropped because they could be dropped, and all that damn time and money and achievement was not going to go to waste ... That, and Joe Stalin needed a wake-up call.

Such a momentous event in human history demands such critical thinking and analysis, but I am reminded that hindsight is 20-20, and it is always easier to criticize a decision and recreate the circumstances of history outside the binding vise of a crisis. And more than anything else, this book reminds me that history is messy... and that monumental decisions are not made in a vacuum. Unfortunately, they are often made for specious reasons.