The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
Published on 29. December 2010
864 pages
978-0-307-77312-8 (ISBN)
Description
With a new preface by the author
Controversial in nature, this book demonstrates that the United States did not need to use the atomic bomb against Japan. Alperovitz criticizes one of the most hotly debated precursory events to the Cold War, an event that was largely responsible for the evolution of post-World War II American politics and culture.
Controversial in nature, this book demonstrates that the United States did not need to use the atomic bomb against Japan. Alperovitz criticizes one of the most hotly debated precursory events to the Cold War, an event that was largely responsible for the evolution of post-World War II American politics and culture.
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Gar Alperovitz
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
Book
08/1996
Vintage Books
€23.00
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Person
Gar Alperovitz, author of What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution and The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, is the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a former fellow of King's College, Cambridge; a founding fellow of Harvard's Institute of Politics; a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies; and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. also served as a legislative director in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, and as a special assistant in the US Department of State. Alperovitz is a founding principal of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland, and a member of the board of directors for the New Economics Institute (NEI). More information at garalperovitz.com.
Content
- Intro
- About the Author
- Other Books by This Author
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: A Personal Note
- Book One: The Decision
- Chapter 1 - The Trajectory of Japan's Decline
- Chapter 2 - General Efforts to End the War
- Part I - Unconditional Surrender
- Chapter 3 - April-May 1945
- Chapter 4 - To June 18, 1945
- Chapter 5 - June 18, 1945
- Chapter 6 - From June 18 to July 2, 1945
- Part II - The Russian Option
- Chapter 7 - Phase I: From Pearl Harbor to the Death of Roosevelt
- Chapter 8 - Phase II: April 1945
- Chapter 9 - Phase III: The New Reality
- Part III - Atomic Diplomacy
- Chapter 10 - Preliminaries: April and May 1945
- Chapter 11 - Postponing a Confrontation with Stalin
- Chapter 12 - The Interim Committee
- Chapter 13 - The "Second Track" and Asia
- Chapter 14 - The Concerned Scientists
- Part IV - James F. Byrnes
- Chapter 15 - "A Very Machiavellian Character"
- "An Operator"
- Chapter 16 - Sly and Able Policies
- Chapter 17 - The Shadow of Yalta
- Part V - Potsdam
- Chapter 18 - To the Big Three Meeting
- Chapter 19 - Clear Alternatives
- First Decisions
- Chapter 20 - Removing the Soviet Blackout from Europe
- Chapter 21 - Second Decision
- Chapter 22 - The Bomb and Germany
- Chapter 23 - Third Decision
- Chapter 24 - Theories and Choices
- Chapter 25 - Unanswerable Questions
- Part VI - "Military Necessity"
- Chapter 26 - Navy Leaders
- Chapter 27 - Air Force Leaders
- Chapter 28 - Army Leaders
- Chapter 29 - Additional Perspectives
- Part VII - Endgame
- Chapter 30 - Relations of Frankness
- Chapter 31 - Navy Initiatives
- Chapter 32 - "Mokusatsu"
- Chapter 33 - Race to the Finish
- Chapter 34 - The End of the War
- Book Two - The Myth
- Part I - Henry L. Stimson
- Chapter 35 - A Direct Approach to Russia
- Chapter 36 - A Thin Line of Criticism
- Chapter 37 - "A Mere Recital of the Facts"
- Chapter 38 - "An Exact Description"
- Chapter 39 - "We Have Followed the Record"
- Chapter 40 - "Omissions Merely for Brevity"
- Part II - President Harry S. Truman
- Chapter 41 - The Man from Missouri
- Chapter 42 - Main Elements of the Official Rationale
- Chapter 43 - Nagasaki and "Year of Decisions"
- Chapter 44 - Certain Classes of Papers
- Chapter 45 - "The Most Terrible Bomb," "The Most Terrible Thing"
- Part III - James P. Byrnes
- Chapter 46 - Disappearing From-and Revising-History
- Part IV - Managing History
- Chapter 47 - Leslie R. Groves
- Chapter 48 - Censorship and Secrecy: Rules and Exceptions
- Chapter 49 - Final Perspectives
- Conclusion - The Complicity of Silence
- Afterword - Questions, Issues, and Major Theories Concerning the Use of the Atomic Bomb
- Appendix - Byrnes' Activities: April to July 1945
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- Permissions Acknowledgments
