Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War

Gordin, Professor Michael D.

ISBN 10: 0691128189 / ISBN 13: 9780691128184

Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2007

About this Item

A nice, clean copy. ; 8vo; 224 pages.

Seller Inventory # 316869

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691128189
• ISBN 13: 9780691128184
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+

About this title

Synopsis

Most Americans believe that the Second World War ended because the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan forced it to surrender. Five Days in August boldly presents a different interpretation: that the military did not clearly understand the atomic bomb's revolutionary strategic potential, that the Allies were almost as stunned by the surrender as the Japanese were by the attack, and that not only had experts planned and fully anticipated the need for a third bomb, they were skeptical about whether the atomic bomb would work at all. With these ideas, Michael Gordin reorients the historical and contemporary conversation about the A-bomb and World War II. Five Days in August explores these and countless other legacies of the atomic bomb in a glaring new light. Daring and iconoclastic, it will result in far-reaching discussions about the significance of the A-bomb, about World War II, and about the moral issues they have spawned.

About the Author

Michael D. Gordin is Assistant Professor of the History of Science at Princeton University. He is the author or editor of several books, including "A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table".