The Day Man Lost: Hiroshima, 6 August 1945

By The Pacific War Research Society

Book Overview

This work offers deep and original research into events in Hiroshima on the 6 August, 1945. The story remains moving because the authors have not forgotten that this is a human story and that it must... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870114719
• ISBN13: 9780870114717
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: Kodansha USA Inc
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 1.0" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

Stunning...Tragic

I recently found this book in a library and purchased it (...). When I saw that its authors was a group called "The Pacific War Research Society" and made up by 14 Japanese researchers, my heart sank thinking that the book would be very biased in Japan's favor. I was completely wrong. The book was very even handed with respect to presenting the story from both sides (the US and the Japanese versions). The writing and the translation was impeccable. The book indicated that the bomb was originally created for use against Nazi Germany. The US and its scientists were concerned that Hitler would use an atom bomb against the Allies. When Germany surrendered, the scientists were no longer excited about the use of the bomb against Japan - a fact I had not known. The authors suggest that the Imperial Army controlled the country and it was the Army which suggested that Japan would fight to the death. The Allied insistence of "unconditional surrender" remained an "...insurmountable stumbling block" and that the Japanese leaders believed that the Army never would have accepted this and that Japan would have been plunged into civil war. The authors suggest that the Emperor knew the war was finished but that Japan could not find an honorable way of surrendering without losing face. The Army continued preaching that they have the spiritual upper hand. Even though the Emperor and his ministers prefered an end of war, the Army won out. The description of the horror of the bomb was absolutely incredible. I commend the Research Society for a very straight forward book on the path to the use of the bomb. They blame both sides for mistakes made which lead to the use of the bomb. And, they neither condemn or praise each side for what happened. A superb book.