Fighting to a Finish

Library Journal

When the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, most Americans rejoiced that the strategy hastened the surrender of Japan. Shortly thereafter questions emerged about the necessity and morality of the nuclear attacks and whether the bombings should be seen as the end of World War II or more aptly as the beginning of the Cold War. The author skillfully untangles the bureaucratic conflicts in the U.S. and Japanese governments to show how U.S. demands for unconditional surrender and the agonized Japanese response delayed the war's end. For general readers and scholars. John H. Boyle, California State Univ., Chico