Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
Atomic Bomb
American leaders called the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki our 'least abhorrent choice,' but there were alternatives to the nuclear attacks.
When judging the morality of the use of atomic weapons in World War II, observers typically focus on Japanese deaths, while ignoring the far-larger number of non-Japanese casualties.
In the spring of 1945, American bombing raids destroyed much of Tokyo and dozens of other Japanese cities, killing at least 200,000 people, without forcing a surrender.
Editor’s Note: David Dean Barrett is a military historian, specializing in World War II.
The U.S. government managed to hide the magnitude of what happened in Hiroshima until John Hersey’s story appeared in the New Yorker, driving home the truth about America’s new mega-weapon.
Editor's Note: Lesley M.M.
A final interview with the most controversial father of the atomic age, Edward Teller
Stationed near Nagasaki at the close of the war, a young photographer ventured into the devastated city and stayed for months.
Those Yanks of World War II are white-haired now. Great-grandchildren play about their feet. The grand parades and great commemorations are over. Only a few monuments to their achievements are yet to be built.
Recently discovered documents shine a new light on the President’s biggest decision
How the U.S. Air Force came to drop an A-bomb on South Carolina
The super-secret atomic bomb made a giant, bright yellow fireball like a super-sun that hurt the eyes.
In 1945 I was a member of a supersecret Army intelligence unit attached to the Manhattan Project, which produced the atomic bomb.
I played with the knobs and dials, not knowing I might have blown up Chicago.
During World War II, I served aboard USS Alabama in the United States Navy. Al Barkan, a shipmate more than ten years my senior, assumed the role of mentor to me. Al was a graduate of the University of Chicago and a natural teacher.
Truman was Commander in Chief of the American armed forces, and he had a duty to the men under his command not shared by those sitting in moral judgment decades later
On the morning of August 6, 1945, the American B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later another B-29, Bock’s Car , released one over Nagasaki.
In a conflict that saw saturation bombing, Auschwitz, and the atom bomb, poison gas was never used in the field. What prevented it?
Forty years ago, on August 6 and 9, 1945, American B-29s dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing at least 110,000 and possibly 250,000 Japanese and speeding that nation’s surrender.
As three recent films show—one on the atomic bomb, one on women defense workers during the Second World War, one on the government arts projects of the thirties —this history of our times offers film makers arresting opportunities.
The Agony of J. Robert Oppenheimer
In the life of J.
Featured Authors
