REVIEWS

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THIS IS WITHOUT DOUBT one of the most important books ever published on the Nuclear Age. The Pamphleteer’s Press is to be applauded for publishing this monumental work.

The Pacific Reader

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A BOOK THAT CONVINCINGLY questions widely held beliefs. It is an astonishing volume. The contributors include six Nobel prizewinners, politicians, scientists, historians and those who survived the attack. The key documentation from the period is reprinted. It is beautifully edited to produce a story that is gripping from start to finish… [It] challenges the reader’s assumptions. [It] has changed my views about the history of the decision to use atomic weapons against Japan . . . a great work that should be read by everyone who cares about historical truth, the morality of war and the workings of government…It is a book to own.

The Times Higher Education Supplement, London

Air Marshal Sir Timothy Garden, RAF

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THE ATOMIC BOMBING of Japan powerfully illustrates the dictum of William Faulkner that the past is never dead, it is not even past. This superb collection of contemporary documents and subsequent commentary and debate will be invaluable for all those who want to learn and teach about the many meanings of the central, terrifying political/military cultural event of this century.

Gaddis Smith

Larned Professor of History, Yale University

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IN 37 YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE which included extensive involvement in planning and training for nuclear war, I was impelled to conclude that nothing could ever justify using these barbaric indiscriminate devices for any military purpose. Hiroshima’s Shadow is the ultimate confirmation of the truth that no civilized nation could ever be exonerated from crimes against humanity if it threatened or resorted to the use of nuclear explosives in warfare. Because there is only one way to insure that atom bombs never fall again, this book provides a compelling case for the abolition of all nuclear weapons forever.

Eugene J. Carroll, Jr., Rear Admiral U.S. Navy (Ret.)

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HIROSHIMA'S SHADOW does more than recall the agony of the victims. It is focused, instead, on something subtler: the long-lasting moral damage to those who choose deliberately to obliterate hundreds of thousands of civilian lives at a single stroke, and then try to justify that choice… [It} is the historian’s answer to what its editors call “one of the great intellectual scandals of American history”… Take the pillars of the official rationale [for the bombings] away, say the authors, and the Hiroshima legend collapses. And taking them away is the very substance of this meticulously documented argument.

The Nation, New York

H. Jack Geiger

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THAT RARE ITEM in intellectual history: a must have for anyone who has explored or wishes to explore why atom bombs were used against Japan.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

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THIS INVALUABLE, COMPRHENSIVE, most timely, and provocative book reminds one of Jefferson’s principle that a people cannot remain both ignorant and free. The Smithsonian controversy demonstrated that some powerful Americans preferred ignorance, but now this volume gives us a second chance to come to terms with, and learn from our history as we move into a century where Asian affairs and U.S. power will predominate.

Walter LaFeber

Noll Professor of History, Cornell University

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. . .AN ILLUMINATING COLLECTION of essays and documents . . . Hiroshima’s Shadow shows how bad history and intellectually dishonest argument marched with nuclear weapons from the beginning.

The Guardian, London

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AN EXHAUSTIVE, controversial and moving volume . . .As a century of extreme barbarism draws to a close, the editors ask us to think critically about the US contribution to this barbarism, the unleashing upon the world of atomic and nuclear weapons. Their purpose is not to apportion blame, to point fingers, but rather to allow us to look at our history and perhaps gain what is often so elusive: wisdom.

Kirkus Review

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. . . A STUNNING AND IMPORTANT collection of essays and memoirs that emerges as the most comprehensive work written to date on the subject…imperative reading for students of history and politics.

The Independent Publisher

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HIROSHIMA'S SHADOW is a deeply impressive book. It is evident that the editors’ intention is to present as diverse a perspective as possible on the atomic bombings in as factually accurate and interpretively plausible framework as possible. This volume accomplishes the task admirably . . . The America that comes through these pages is a society that is open to free inquiry, that dares to question officially sanctioned views of the past, and that sets high standards of scholarly excellence.

Akira Iriye

Professor of History, Harvard University

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THIS IMPORTANT BOOK of essays . . . should be read by all thinking Americans, and the introductory essay by Nobel Laureate Joseph Rotblatt, on the social responsibility of science to benefit humanity, should be required reading for all science courses.

Choice

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. . . AN ENORMOUSLY VALUABLE and long overdue collection that, it is hoped will remain on researchers’ and reporters’ shelves for years to come.

The Los Angeles Times

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. . . AN ASTONISHING ARRAY of voices, past and present, American and Japanese, scientists and humanists, critics and supporters, participants and observers . . . No other book comes close to offering so much insight into the richness of evidence. . . the process of historical scholarship, and the evolution of the perspective on the atomic bombings.

The History Book of the Month Club

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for academic and public libraries.

The Library Journal

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THE EDITORS’ CHOICE FOR THE BEST NON-FICTION [HISTORY CATEGORY]