Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of
the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World
by Chris Wallace
Read or Download at: http://best.ebookcollection.space/?book=1982143347
“Propulsive.”
—Time * “Reads like a tense thriller.” —The Washington Post * “The most
exciting book I’ve read all year.” —Admiral William H. McRaven
From
Chris Wallace, the veteran journalist and anchor of Fox News Sunday, comes an
electrifying behind-the-scenes account of the 116 days leading up to the
American attack on Hiroshima.
April 12, 1945: After years of
bloody conflict in Europe and the Pacific, America is stunned by news of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death. In an instant, Vice President Harry
Truman, who has been kept out of war planning and knows nothing of the
top-secret Manhattan Project to develop the world’s first atomic bomb, must
assume command of a nation at war on multiple continents—and confront one of
the most consequential decisions in history. Countdown 1945 tells the gripping
true story of the turbulent days, weeks, and months to follow, leading up to
August 6, 1945, when Truman gives the order to drop the bomb on Hiroshima.
In Countdown 1945, Chris
Wallace, the veteran journalist and anchor of Fox News Sunday, takes readers
inside the minds of the iconic and elusive figures who join the quest for the
bomb, each for different reasons: the legendary Albert Einstein, who eventually
calls his vocal support for the atomic bomb “the one great mistake in my life”;
lead researcher J. Robert “Oppie” Oppenheimer and the Soviet spies who secretly
infiltrate his team; the fiercely competitive pilots of the plane selected to
drop the bomb; and many more.
Perhaps most of all, Countdown
1945 is the story of an untested new president confronting a decision that he
knows will change the world forever. Truman’s journey during these 116 days is
a story of high drama: from the shock of learning of the bomb’s existence, to
the conflicting advice he receives from generals like Dwight D. Eisenhower and
George Marshall, to wrestling with the devastating carnage that will result if
he gives the order to use America’s first weapon of mass destruction.
But Countdown 1945 is more than
a book about the atomic bomb. It’s also an unforgettable account of the lives
of ordinary American and Japanese civilians in wartime—from “Calutron Girls”
like Ruth Sisson in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to ten-year-old Hiroshima resident
Hideko Tamura, who survives the blast at ground zero but loses her mother and
later immigrates to the United States, where she lives to this day—as well as
American soldiers fighting in the Pacific, waiting in fear for the order to
launch a possible invasion of Japan.
Told with vigor, intelligence,
and humanity, Countdown 1945 is the definitive account of one of the most
significant moments in history.
No comments:
Post a Comment