Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan - Hardcover

J. Samuel Walker (author)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807823619 ISBN 13: 9780807823613

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997

Synopsis

More than fifty years later, the decision that brought prompt and utter destruction to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues to generate enormous interest and controversy. In this concise and balanced account, J. Samuel Walker offers a new look at the events and circumstances that lay behind President Truman's use of atomic bombs against Japan. Combining extensive documentary research with a critical reading of both American and Japanese scholarship, Walker examines the popular mythology about how the decision was made, delineating what was known and not known by American leaders at the time and evaluating the role of U.S.-Soviet relations and American domestic politics. In part, his findings support the traditional view that Truman authorized the bombings primarily for military reasons: to end the war as soon as possible. He takes issue, however, with the contention that failure to use the bomb would have led inevitably to an invasion of Japan costing hundreds of thousands of American lives. Rising above an often polemical debate, Walker presents an accessible synthesis of previous work and an important, original contribution to our understanding of the events that ushered in the atomic age.

About this title

Review

"Walker's book is the most useful layman's synthesis of the debate in print." - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; "The author's ability to cover the most important issues with economy... make[s] this an excellent addition to the literature, particularly useful for beginning students." - Foreign Affairs"

From the Back Cover

More than fifty years later, the decision that brought prompt and utter destruction to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues to generate enormous interest and controversy. In this concise and balanced account, J. Samuel Walker offers a new look at the events and circumstances that lay behind President Truman's use of atomic bombs against Japan. Combining extensive documentary research with a critical reading of both American and Japanese scholarship, Walker examines the popular mythology about how the decision was made, delineating what was known and not known by American leaders at the time and evaluating the role of U.S.-Soviet relations and American domestic politics. Rising above an often polemical debate, he presents an accessible synthesis of previous work and an important, original contribution to our understanding of the events that ushered in the atomic age.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807823619
• ISBN 13: 9780807823613
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160