Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War

226 Pages·2007·1 MB·English

by  Michael D. Gordin

F I V E D AY S
I N A U G U S T
This page intentionally left blank
F I V E D AY S
I N A U G U S T
How
World
War II
Became a
Nuclear
War
Michael D. Gordin
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2007 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street,
Princeton,New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom:
Princeton University Press,
3 Market Place,
Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data
Gordin,Michael D.
Five days in August :how World War II be-
came a nuclear war / Michael D.Gordin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and
index.
ISBN-13:978-0-691-12818-4 (alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-691-12818-9
1. Hiroshima-shi (Japan)—History—
Bombardment,1945. 2. Nagasaki-shi
(Japan)— History—Bombardment,1945.
3. Atomic bomb—United States—History.
4. World War,1939–1945—Japan.
5. Capitulations,Military—Japan—History—
20th century. I. Title.
D767.25.H6G67 2007
940.54'2521954—dc22 2006049337
British Library Cataloging-in-
Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Aldus
Printed on acid-free paper.∞
pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Katie
This page intentionally left blank
The world is what it is,that is,nothing
much.Since yesterday,that is what
everybody knows,thanks to the
tremendous concert which the radio,
newspaper,and information agencies
have just started on this subject of the
atomic bomb.We are informed,in-
deed,in the middle of piles of enthusi-
astic commentaries,that any city of
average size can be totally razed by a
bomb the size of a soccer ball.
—Albert Camus,8 August 1945
In recent years,in classes and special lec-
tures,I’ve had many occasions to de-
scribe to younger people the [Manhat-
tan] project,the [atomic] bomb,and its
use.I’ve found that at the start a very
wide gap separates us.The first thing
most of my listeners learned about
World War II is that we won it.That
is,so to speak,the last thing I learned
about it.The first thing they learned
about the atomic bomb is that we
dropped one on Hiroshima and an-
other on Nagasaki.That is the last
thing I learned about the project.
—Herbert F.York
...for there is nothing either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so...
—Hamlet,II.ii
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Chronology xv
Chapter 1: Endings 5
Chapter 2: Shock 16
Chapter 3: Special 39
Chapter 4: Miracle 59
Chapter 5: Papacy 85
Chapter 6: Revolution 107
Chapter 7: Beginnings 124
Coda: On the Scholarly Literature 141
Abbreviations Used in Notes 145
Notes 147
Index 195