From the
Common Courage Press:
Fifty-five years after the bombing of Hiroshima, America remains divided by one question: Was the bombing necessary?
This extensively documented work by the foremost historian of the atomic decision and its aftermath provides the indispensable materials and argumentation for any serious attempt to answer that terrible questions.
As it minutely reconstructs the events leading up to Hiroshima, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb reveals what President Truman and his advisors knew about Japan’s willingness to continue fighting; how they viewed the Soviet Union’s declaration of war against Japan; and how they transformed the atomic bomb from a military weapon into an instrument of postwar diplomacy and then effectively rewrote history to rationalize their actions.
Here, at last, is the truth about the most sobering episode in our century, enunciated clearly and with a wealth of supporting evidence, in a powerful, brilliantly organized book that will be read — and debated — for years to come.
About the Author
Gar Alperovitz, a historian and political economist, is president of the National Center for Economic Alternatives. He is also Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, and a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
Formerly a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and of the Institute of Politics at Harvard, he has served as Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, Legislative Director in the U.S. Senate, and Special Assistant in the Department of State.
His books include Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam, and he has written numerous articles for The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic Monthly, and many other academic and popular publications.
Reviews
“A comprehensive and definitive history.”Los Angeles Times
“A massively detailed yet fascinating and readable work of scholarship.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Mr. Alperovitz... has written what will almost certainly serve as a bible for the next generation of revisionist scholars.”
The New York Times Book Review
Related page
Atomic Holocaust of the People of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Related books
A People’s History of the United States:
1492 — Present
by Howard Zinn
Apocalypse 1945:
The Destruction of Dresden
by David Irving
Saving Private Power:
The Hidden History of “The Good War”
by Michael Zezima
Body of Secrets:
Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency
by James Bamford
In 1962, U.S. military leaders had a top-secret plan for committing terrorist attacks on Americans in Miami and Washington D.C., while blaming Cuba. Codenamed “Operation Northwoods”, the plan was intended to provide the propaganda necessary to create popular support for an invasion of Cuba.
Rogue State:
A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower
by William Blum
Blackshirts and Reds:
Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
by Michael Parenti
The Beast Reawakens
by Martin A. Lee
The Hotel Tacloban
by Douglas Valentine
What Uncle Sam Really Wants
by Noam Chomsky
Bloody Hell:
The Price Soldiers Pay
by Daniel Hallock
Killing Hope:
U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since WWII
by William Blum
Lies My Teacher Told Me:
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
by James Loewen
Dumbing Us Down:
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
The American Presidency
by Gore Vidal
The Sword and the Dollar:
Imperialism, Revolution and the Arms Race
by Michael Parenti
Western State Terrorism
Alexander George, editor; essays by Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Gerry O’Sullivan and others
Terrorizing the Neighborhood:
American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era
by Noam Chomsky
Pressure Drop Press, 1991
Pirates and Emperors, Old and New:
International Terrorism in the Real World
by Noam Chomsky
The Culture of Terrorism
by Noam Chomsky
The Fire This Time:
U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf
by Ramsey Clark
Desert Slaughter:
The Imperialist War Against Iraq
by the Workers League
Eyewitness Sudan:
The War of the Future
Video, produced by Ellen Andors
The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media:
Decoding Spin and Lies in Mainstream News
by Norman Solomon
Toxic Sludge is Good for You!:
Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry
by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton
War, Lies & Videotape:
How media monopoly stifles truth
edited by Lenora Foerstel; multiple authors