140 Days to Hiroshima, David Dean Barrett
140 Days to Hiroshima, David Dean Barrett
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140 Days to Hiroshima
The Story of Japan’s Last Chance to Avert Armageddon

Author: David Dean Barrett

Narrator: Stephen Graybill

Unabridged: 13 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2020

Synopsis

On the seventy-fifth anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki comes this heart-pounding account of the war-room drama inside the cabinets of the United States and Japan that led to Armageddon on August 6, 1945.Here are the secret strategy sessions, fierce debates, looming assassinations, and planned invasions that resulted in history’s first use of nuclear weapons in combat, and the ensuing chaotic days as the Japanese government struggled to respond to the reality of nuclear war.During the closing months of World War II, as America’s strategic bombing campaign incinerated Japan’s cities, two military giants locked in a death embrace of cultural differences and diplomatic intransigence. The leaders of the United States called for the “unconditional surrender” of the Japanese Empire while developing history’s deadliest weapon and weighing an invasion that would have dwarfed D-Day. Their enemy responded with a last-ditch plan termed Ketsu Go, which called for the suicidal resistance of every able-bodied man and woman in the “Decisive Battle” for the homeland. But had Emperor Hirohito’s generals miscalculated how far the Americans had come in developing the atomic bomb? How close did President Harry Truman come to ordering the invasion of Japan?Within the Japanese Supreme Council at the Direction of War, a.k.a. the “Big Six,” Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo risked assassination in his crusade to convince his dysfunctional government, dominated by militarist fanatics, to save his country from annihilation.Despite Allied warnings of Japan’s “prompt and utter destruction” and that the Allies would “brook no delay,” the Big Six remained defiant. They refused to surrender even after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.How did Japanese leaders come to this impasse? The answers lie in this nearly day-by-day account of the struggle to end the most destructive conflict in history.

About David Dean Barrett

David Dean Barrett is a military historian, specializing in World War II. He has published work in WWII Quarterly magazine, US Military History Review, and Global War Studies. He is the history content consulting producer for Lou Reda Productions’ two-hour documentary on World War II’s US Eighth Air Force, which will air as a prime time global event on National Geographic in late 2020. David has been a frequent guest speaker for more than a decade on the use of the atomic bomb in the final days of WWII and the end of the Pacific War. Mr. Barrett has a master’s degree in history from the University of Colorado, Denver, and owns One With History, Inc. He lives in Littleton, Colorado.

About Stephen Graybill

Stephen Graybill was recently in HBO's Big Little Lies, opposite Shailene Woodley, Reese Witherspoon, and Nicole Kidman; in Framed, opposite Jordi Vilasuso; in the second season of Game Shakers; and opposite Denise Richards in the feature film Altitude. He has been seen in HBO's The Wire, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, Six Degrees, All My Children, As The World Turns, and The Girl's Guide to Depravity. On stage he's appeared with Primary Stages, Drama Dept, NY Theater Workshop, F*It Club (world premieres by Kate Gersten, Mark Schultz, Lucy Boyle, and Nick Jones), Studio 42, Shakespeare Theatre DC, and Woodshed Collective in their acclaimed immersive theater production of The Tenant. He has worked on over fifty audiobooks, was awarded the Readers Choice Award of "Narrator of the Year," and his narrations have fans saying he's "even better than reading the story." He won a Gold Clio Award and a Silver Effie for his work in the award-winning commercial in Vaseline lotion's "Sea of Skin" Campaign (BBH), and his work in promos has included Brian Williams's NBC Nightly News with Edward Snowden. Stephen has produced and written a number of films independently: LA Awake directed by Spencer Grammer and starring Natalie Dreyfuss, On The Hook, Spring Training, and Easter Island. He's written a number of biopics, on topics ranging from Edgar Allan Poe to World War II. He has founded, developed, and financed the producer of a number of other projects as well.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pierce on February 23, 2025

Fascinating inside look at the struggles of the Japanese government in determining how to handle the waning years of the war. The ignorance of some of the big government members in regard to how the war was really going was interesting to learn about. Some still believed they could fight on even aft......more

Goodreads review by Kristi on January 07, 2023

I have a special connection to Japan because I turned 19 in Kyoto in 1967 on the way to Bangkok, Thailand to study at Chulalongkorn University. I was part of the only undergraduate study group in Southeast Asia at the time. I was a student at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota which has / had......more

Goodreads review by Paul on May 01, 2022

It’s the spring and summer of 1945. American troops are mopping up the last pockets of Japanese resistance in the Philippines and are locked in fierce fights to take Okinawa and Iwo Jima. The Imperial Japanese Navy has effectively ceased to exist as a fighting force, and Japanese aircraft are being......more

Goodreads review by Dachokie on August 02, 2021

Interesting Analysis That Covers Both Sides of the Issue … This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine program which included a free copy of the book. The United States’ use of the atomic bomb in World War II is yet another issue that solidifies World War II as one of the most important events in......more

Goodreads review by Sean on May 24, 2021

Heavy political rhetoric behind the scenes of WWII's eastern climax, as Japan does everything in its power to save face, Russia jockeys for post-war spoils, the United States undergoes a change in leadership while readying the bomb, and the rest of the civilized world anxiously watches and waits. The......more

Quotes

“Barrett drops you right into the situation rooms with the most powerful figures in the world during the most critical days of the 20th century—the climax of World War II. Innovatively structured, highly detailed, and well-documented, this book will draw you in from page one.” A.J. Baime, New York Times bestselling author

“A detailed, almost day-by-day account of political debates that preceded Japan’s surrender in World War II…A non-revisionist, reflective, opinionated, intensely researched WWII history.” Kirkus Reviews

“Historian Barrett debuts with an impressively researched chronicle of the months leading up to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima…By capturing both sides of the conflict, Barrett generates drama despite the inevitability of the book’s conclusion. Military history buffs will be riveted.” Publishers Weekly

“140 Days to Hiroshima is a deeply researched and carefully nuanced narrative, especially powerful on U.S. and Japanese decision-making throughout 1945, culminating in Japan’s surrender. David Dean Barrett shrewdly integrates essential military realities with the potent domestic cross currents affecting leaders on both sides of the Pacific.” Richard B. Frank, author of Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire

“Reading like a Tom Clancy thriller, David Dean Barrett’s 140 Days to Hiroshima is a gripping, day-by-day account of the run-up to, and the aftermath of, one of the most cataclysmic and world-changing events of all time—the atomic bombing of two Japanese cities. Here’s the inside story of why the Japanese high command was so determined to continue a war they could not possibly win.” Flint Whitlock, editor of WWII Quarterly magazine and co-author of The Depths of Courage: American Submariners at War with Japan

“David Dean Barrett’s detailing of the ruling militarists’ iron grip on Japanese decision-making—even after two atomic bombs and the Soviet entry into the Pacific War—should finally put to rest any notion that the Japanese were trying to surrender. As 140 Days to Hiroshima clearly shows, it was the bomb that influenced the Emperor to make his historic interventions forcing his government to finally surrender. Yet even then, Japan’s military almost derailed Hirohito’s decree to end the war.” D. M. Giangreco, author of Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945–1947

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