Weapons for Victory: The Hiroshima Decision Fifty Years Later

The controversy over the atomic bombing of Japan is heating up as the 50th anniversary approaches. In his well-considered study of the 1945 bombings, Maddox (The United States and World War II) exposes what he feels are distortions. The most outrageous, in his opinion: that President Truman, convinced by advisers that the bomb was not needed to force Japan's surrender, deliberately prolonged the war until he could deploy the new weapon against Japan-to cow the Soviets. Maddox concludes that the President ordered the bomb dropped for the very reasons he stated: to bring the war to an end as soon as possible and thus avoid the massive casualties of an invasion. Commenting on ``the fondness of many academics for tales of conspiracy in high places,'' the author credibly refutes several of the more prevalent theories about the bomb, demonstrating, for instance, that American officials were not aware of the effect radiation fallout would have on the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Sept.)