A World Destroyed, Martin J. Sherwin
A World Destroyed, Martin J. Sherwin
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A World Destroyed
Hiroshima and Its Legacies

Author: Martin J. Sherwin

Narrator: Patrick Cullen

Unabridged: 8 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/14/2010

Synopsis

Continuously in demand since its first, prizewinning edition was published in 1975, this is the classic history of Hiroshima and the origins of the arms race, from the development of the American atomic bomb to the decision to use it against Japan and the beginnings of U.S. atomic diplomacy toward the Soviet Union. In the preface to this edition, the author describes and evaluates the lengthening trail of new evidence that has come to light concerning these often emotionally debated subjects. He also invokes his experience as a historical advisor to the controversial, aborted 1995 Enola Gay exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, which leads him to analyze the impact on American democracy of one of the most insidious legacies of Hiroshima: the political control of historical interpretation.

About Martin J. Sherwin

Martin J. Sherwin won the Pulitzer Prize for his book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Stuart L. Bernath Prize and the American History Book Prize for A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies. He is currently a University Professor at George Mason University and professor emeritus at Tufts, where he founded the Nuclear Age History Center.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jason on March 04, 2021

Not a easy book to read but an important one on the history of the atomic bomb, the characters that surrounded the reason to build it and the decision for its use.......more

Goodreads review by Grant on June 02, 2014

A, if not the, classic study of American decision-making leading up to the use of atomic bombs against Japan during World War II. Sherwin's particular strengths are his very balanced tone and the inclusion of the points of view of military, civilian, and scientific leaders. He is also excellent in d......more

Goodreads review by Greg on March 25, 2023

Excellent, if somewhat outdated by being 50 years old. Sherwin provides a brisk look at the fractured decision processes around the bomb's development and use. He skips most of the technical details (read Rhodes' masterpiece for that), cataloging how the changing diplomatic situation shaped the plan......more

Goodreads review by James on February 12, 2016

This is another of the books dealing with the atomic bombing of Japan, but it also relates this to the post-war arms race. Although the book itself is quite good, I'm only going to point out a few things that I found significant. In relation to Secretary of War Stimson and his role: ”By March he was c......more

Goodreads review by Julio on October 20, 2023

For those of you going ga-ga over Christopher Nolan's OPPENHEIMER, or just J. Robert Oppenheimer himself and the agony he supposedly suffered over the dropping of the atom bomb, his atom bomb, over Hiroshima, leaving at least 120,000 civilians dead I urgently recommend this classic by Martin Sherwin......more

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