Hiroshima: The World's Bomb by Andrew J. Rotter

From the Publisher

The US decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima remains one of the most controversial events of the twentieth century. But as this fascinating new history shows, the bomb dropped by an American pilot that hot August morning was in many ways the world's bomb, in both a technological and a moral sense. And it was the world that would have to face its consequences, strategically, diplomatically, and culturally, in the years ahead.
In this fast-paced and insightful narrative, Andrew J. Rotter tells the international story behind the development of the atom bomb, ranging from the global crises that led to the Second World War to the largely unavailing attempts to control the spread of nuclear weapons and the evolution of the nuclear arms race after the war had ended. He details the growth in the 1930s and '40s of a world-wide community of scientists dedicated to developing a weapon that could undo the evil in Nazi Germany, and he describes the harnessing of their efforts by the US wartime government. Rotter also sheds light on the political and strategic decisions that led to the bombing itself, the impact of the bomb on Hiroshima and the endgame of the Pacific War, the effects of the bombing and the bomb on society and culture, and the state of all things nuclear in the early 21st century world.
Hiroshima: The World's Bomb illuminates a pivotal moment in the development of the modern age. In an era of stateless terrorism, where there are as many as ten nuclear powers, it is a story that remains central to our understanding of the world.

Publishers Weekly

Rotter, a professor of history at Colgate (The Path to Vietnam), proposes to restructure the debate over the atomic bombing of Japan by putting the subject in a global context. His detailed analysis of Japanese reactions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki draws a commonsense conclusion: the nuclear strikes combined with Soviet intervention gave Emperor Hirohito the opening he needed to end a war clearly lost. America alone, however, did not decide to build the bomb; leading scientists in other countries worked on embryonic atomic bomb projects. Nor were Americans alone in considering the bomb's use. In Britain, Germany and Japan, false starts, scarce resources and wartime exigencies limited results. Rotter nevertheless concludes that any other power would have dropped a developed bomb with no more hesitation than the U.S. Ironically, the superpowers' mutual efforts to step away from the abyss in later years were accompanied by increasing and successful efforts by others to join the nuclear club: Britain, France, Israel, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea. The atomic bomb is now "the world's bomb"-as political, cultural and religious contexts increasingly deny that genuine noncombatants exist. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' Doomsday Clock continues to tick. 18 b&w photos. (June)

Ed Goedeken - Library Journal

These two new books provide important perspectives on the continuing debate about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which ultimately concluded the war in the Pacific and World War II. Were these bombings necessary? Rotter's well-written narrative looks at the development of the bomb from an international standpoint and recounts the vigorous competition between the Allies and the Axis powers to come up with an effective atomic weapon that could be used to turn the tide of war. Going beyond the accounts found in such classics as Richard Rhodes's The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Rotter delves into the complex personalities of the numerous military, political, and scientific leaders who were engaged in this enterprise. In so doing, he creates the context-both in military and in diplomatic terms-that led the Americans to use the bomb on the two unsuspecting Japanese cities.

Malloy's study of Henry L. Stimson, who served as secretary of war during World War II, is equally valuable. Stimson, who was in his seventies during the war, was one of the Republican Party's most respected elder statesmen, having been in Hoover's and Taft's cabinets before. He was a deeply moral man who believed in the rule of law to keep international order. Yet despite his fervent belief in moral suasion, he succumbed to the allure of the atomic bomb-and all its attendant horrors-when presented with the possibility that the terrible war could be concluded through its use, even though at the expense of civilian life. Malloy's book, which builds on earlier work by Hodgson (The Colonel) and Morison's classic Turmoil and Tradition, presents us with an updated and exceedinglyinsightful assessment of the aging statesman, perhaps no longer at the top of his game yet faced with one of our country's most challenging decisions during its most awful conflict. Malloy believes Stimson's decision to support the bomb went against his most cherished beliefs and was for many a disappointing conclusion to an outstanding career of public service. Both of these works are highly recommended for all collections.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0192804375
  
• ISBN-13: 9780192804372
• Format: Hardcover, 371pp
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pub. Date: April 2008
• Sales Rank: 339,208
• Series: Making of the Modern World Ser.

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents