Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan - Couverture rigide

Walker, J. Samuel

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0807823619 ISBN 13 : 9780807823613

Editeur : 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.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

In this concise account of why America used atomic bombs against Japan in 1945, J. Samuel Walker analyzes the reasons behind President Truman's most controversial decision. Delineating what was known and not known by American leaders at the time, Walker evaluates the roles of U.S.-Soviet relations and of American domestic politics. In this new edition, Walker takes into account recent scholarship on the topic, including new information on the Japanese decision to surrender. He has also revised the book to place more emphasis on the effect of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in convincing the emperor and his advisers to quit the war. 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. J. Samuel Walker, historian of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has published six other books on the history of American foreign policy and the history of nuclear energy.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: The University of North Carolina Press
• Date d'édition: 1997
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0807823619
• ISBN 13: 9780807823613
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 160
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible