Standing somewhere between traditionalists who hold that President Harry
Truman spared 500 000 American troops by dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, and
revisionists who propose that the bombing was a political move to impress
Stalin, J. Samuel Walker portrays a president keen to end the war at the
earliest opportunity. Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of the
Atomic Bombs against Japan is a very readable account of the climate in which
Truman took his fateful decision. Well researched and referenced, this is a
valuable and cathartic contribution to the history of nuclear weapons. Published
by the University of North Carolina Press, $34.95/$14.95, ISBN
0807846627.
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