An epic, riveting history based on new interviews and research that elucidates the approval, construction, and fateful decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the Japanese port city of Hiroshima was struck by the world’s first atomic bomb. Built in the US by the top-secret Manhattan Project and delivered by a B-29 Superfortress, a revolutionary long-range bomber, the weapon destroyed large swaths of the city, instantly killing tens of thousands. The world would never be the same.
The Hiroshima Men’s vivid narrative recounts the decade-long journey toward this first atomic attack. It charts the race for the bomb during World War II, as the Allies fought the Axis powers, and is told through several key characters: General Leslie Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project alongside Robert Oppenheimer; pioneering Army Air Force pilot Colonel Paul Tibbets Jr.; the mayor of Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya, who would die alongside eighty thousand fellow citizens; and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer John Hersey, who traveled to Japan for the New Yorker to expose the devastation the bomb inflicted on the city and to describe in unflinching detail the dangers posed by radiation poisoning.
This thrilling account takes the reader from the corridors of power in the White House and the Pentagon to the test sites of New Mexico; from the air war above Germany to the Potsdam Conference of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin; from the savage reconquest of the Pacific to the deadly firebombing air raids across Japan. The Hiroshima Men also includes Japanese perspectives—a vital aspect often missing from Western narratives—to complete Iain MacGregor’s nuanced, deeply human account of the bombing’s meaning and aftermath.
"A well-researched study of how warfare was forever changed with the dropping of Fat Man and Little Boy. . . . deftly chronicles the key figures involved in U.S. government and the military who helped end a war while ushering in the tense nuclear age that followed it.” —Booklist
“The Hiroshima Men is a brilliant, superbly researched story of genius and terrifying destruction.” —Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of Against All Odds: a True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival In World War II
"The atomic bombing that obliterated Hiroshima has not lacked for attention from historians and other writers. But Iain MaGregor’s gripping book vastly expands the cast of characters: politicians and scientists in Japan and the United States; military men on both sides, from generals to pilots and air crews; victims on the ground both dead and alive; writers and journalists covering the story—all portrayed vividly as the story dramatically unfolds." —William Taubman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
"Iain Macgregor’s compelling account impresses in many ways. Unheralded individuals take center stage. Vividly drawn characters spring to life. But it is his expertly managed juxtaposition of science, strategy and visceral horror that stands out." —Joshua Levine, New York Times bestselling author Dunkirk
