World War II (1931-1945)
“The Second World War presented a mirror to the human condition which blinded anyone who looked into it.” — Norman Mailer, “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster” (1957)
Of the endless ocean of books on the Second World War, we have dozens and dozens of new and carefully chosen titles. I define it as beginning with the Japanese Empire’s invasion of Manchuria and ending with not only V-E and V-J Days but also the immediate crises of displaced people, the Soviet Union’s creation of the Iron Curtain, and the growing revelations of the extent of the Holocaust.
In significant ways the Second World War was the defining crucible of the 20th Century. The First World War was prelude, the legacy of the 19th Century’s imperialism, and the Cold War was the sequel. Of the making of books about it there is no end — but the persistence of good research and good writing, and good publication underscores the war’s centrality of the world we live in today and the world our descendents will live in for the foreseeable future.
What Was the Bombing of Hiroshima? [An Official WhoHQ Book]
What Was the Bombing of Hiroshima? [An Official WhoHQ Book]
Which of these facts are true?
In 1945, an atomic bomb was used for the first time, to destroy the city of Hiroshima
As many as 80,000 people died instantly
Millions of paper cranes hang at the Children’s Peace Monument in memory of young victims of the bombing
Hiroshima is where the first atomic bomb was dropped. Now readers will learn the reasons why and what it’s meant for the world ever since.
By August 1945, World War II was over in Europe, but the fighting continued between American forces and the Japanese, who were losing but determined to fight till the bitter end. And so it fell to a new president–Harry S. Truman–to make the fateful decision to drop two atomic bombs–one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki–and bring the war to rapid close. Now, even seventy years later, can anyone know if this was the right choice? In a thoughtful account of these history-changing events, Jess Brallier explains the leadup to the bombing, what the terrible results of it were, and how the threat of atomic war has colored world events since.