Research Catalog

Title

Prompt and utter destruction : Truman and the use of atomic bombs against Japan / J. Samuel Walker.

Author

Walker, J. Samuel

Publication

• Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2016]
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 142 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

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 options available for ending the war with Japan. In this new edition, Walker incorporates a decade of new research--mostly from Japanese archives only recently made available--that provides fresh insight on the strategic considerations that led to dropping the bomb. From the debate about whether to invade or continue the conventional bombing of Japan to Tokyo's agonizing deliberations over surrender and the effects of both low- and high-level radiation exposure, Walker continues to shed light on one of the most earthshaking moments in history.

Subjects

• Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972
• United States > Foreign relations > 1945-1953
• Atomic bomb
• World War, 1939-1945 > Japan
• World War, 1939-1945 > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [111]-136) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Machine generated contents note: 1. A Categorical Choice? -- 2. The Most Terrible Weapon Ever Known -- 3. The Prospects for Victory, June 1945 -- 4. Paths to Victory -- 5. Truman and the Bomb at Potsdam -- 6. Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- 7. Hiroshima in History.

ISBN

• 146962897X
• 9781469628974
• 9781469628981 (canceled/invalid)

OCLC

• 945745429
• SCSB-11808100

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library