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Benjamin Morris
HIST 4000
Dr. Dan Morrill
24 June 2008
Annotated Bibliography
“Battle of Okinawa.”
Global Security.org. 2005. 22 June 2008.
<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/okinawa-battle.htm>.The
battle of Okinawa is a data filled account about the fight between the
United States and Japanese on the island of Okinawa. Okinawa was a gigantic
military campaign that had taken thousands of American and Japanese and
native Okinawa lives. Okinawa’s was significant in the fact that so many
people and resources (submarines, battleships, and artillery) were involved.
It helped the writer identify how bloody the war was, taking a large toll on
everybody including those encouraging a quick solution to the atrocities to
the atrocities of war.
Frank, Richard B. Downfall:The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire.
New York: Penguin Books,
2001.Downfall:The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, supports the
idea that the invasion was not an alternative to the atomic bomb because of
the Japanese’s overwhelming military front on the island of Kyushu. The text
argues for the use of an atomic bomb to avoid lengthy bloodshed on all
fronts. It contributes to the writer’s support of using a nuclear warhead in
combat because the Japanese argument stating that it was necessary to drop
the bomb because Japan would not surrender before the military would die for
its country.
Gaddis, John Lewis, and Philip H. Gordon. Cold War Statesmen
confront the Bomb. Cold War
Statesmen Confront the Bomb: Nuclear Diplomacy Since 1945.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.The book covers the views of prominent
Cold War Statesmen such as Harry Truman, Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill,
and Nikita Khrushchev. It begins in 1945 where the figures’ stances on
nuclear weaponry are discussed prior to Hiroshima and throughout the Cold
War Era. It gives the writer insight as to what the political figures
outside the United States thought about the prospect of nuclear warheads.
Herring, George C. “Lend
Lease to Russia and the Origins of the Cold War, 144-1945.
“ The Journal of
American History. 56, no. 1 (June, 1969): 16 June 2008. <
http://jstor.org/.
This article examines the
American cut-back of resources for that escalated United States-Soviet
Relations. It study’s the Soviet response to the program that in which they
had taken personally, furthering animosity between the two superpowers. The
tension that had been created by this move played into the meetings of
Potsdam, where the atomic bomb played a vital role in its diplomatic
relationship with Russia.
Hershey, John.
Hiroshima. New York: Vintage Books, a Division of Random House, 1989.11)
The text is fairly
straight forward, it is a story told about six people living in Hiroshima
during the period of the explosion. Their stories are of hardship and
bravery, enlightening the reader of the magnitude of the bomb. John Hershey
revisits the individuals he interviewed within a year of the dropping of the
bomb along with another interview several decades later. Hiroshima is
paramount to the research because it provides evidence to its level of
destruction. It strikes fear into people in the post war era, vying to never
use a Weapon of Mass Destruction again.
Kelly, Cynthia. The
Manhattan Project. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 2007.
This text was a
collection of excerpts of people involved with the research of the atomic
bomb to military officials who oversaw the Manhattan Project, that being,
Leslie Groves. It is an informative chronological book that educates the
reader on how the possible of a nuclear weapon arrived to, to the warning
that Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard sent to President Roosevelt to J.
Robert Oppenheimer persistence in putting together a successful explosion.
It was essential to research related to the decision to use the bomb because
it put pressure on the policy makers to use a weapon they had invested
billions of dollars into that could possibly end a devastating war.
Seldon, Kyoko Iriye;
Seldon. Mark. Voices From Hiroshima. Tokyo: M.E. Sharpe, 1989.
The text notes the
implications that resulted from the United States nuclear attack and the
Japanese attack on China and peoples of Southeast Asia. It describes the
horrific experiences of the victims, providing explicit pictures so the
reader can easier identify how tragic war is capable of being. In writing
about the atrocities the book discusses how the events in World War II,
concluding with the attack of atomic bomb surpassed all notions of morality,
displayed by humiliating rapes and murders of thousands of people. Becoming
educated on these acts helps the writers’ comprehend that type of resentment
that had been built up, which would resort to the United States using the
atomic bomb.
Sherwin, Martin J. A
World Destroyed Hiroshima and Its Legacies. Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 2003.
A World Destroyed
Hiroshima and Its Legacies,
written by Martin Sherwin, examines the impact of the bomb, in addition to
the decision to move forward with the use of Weapon of Mass Destruction. The
author views the bomb as a turning point in history. In the time prior to
the bomb, it was viewed as the “Old World,” and the period that followed was
known as the “New.” The author describes the nuclear warhead as a
catastrophic weapon, but had the potential keys to ending the war and
establishing peace, once the bomb’s calamity had been displayed. A World
Destroyed Hiroshima and Its Legacies is essential to understanding the
global impact the bomb had, physically and mentality. From a research
perspective it is helpful in a sense that it is difficult to assess a
decision after the fact. Martin Sherwin says, “The bomb must scene as both
scientists and policymakers saw it before Hiroshima: as a possible means of
controlling the post war course of world affairs. For this task the view
point of the present is conceptually inadequate.”(3).
Stimson, Henry. “The
Decision to use the Atomic Bomb.” Harper’s Magazine. February, 1947:
97-107. the article
describes the decision making process, by Henry Stimson, Secretary of War
during the World War. It elaborates at length strategic motives in using the
weapon. It diminishes beliefs that the atomic bomb was used out of
resentment, attacking civilians. The author discusses the military targets
that were most sought after in finding the most suitable location. It is a
vital document because it emphasizes the careful consideration by the
Secretary of War in the atomic bomb campaign, reassuring the idea that, the
primary purpose for the bomb was to end the war and save thousands of lives.
Takaki, Ronald.
Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb. Boston: Back Bay Books,
Little and Brown Company,
1995. The Ronald Takaki text examines the motives behind the detonation of a
Little Boy over Hiroshima. Takaki emphasizes on President Truman,
noting his childhood through his presidency where he believed he was plagued
by an “inferiority complex.” In his critique he mentions how Truman was
determined to appear confident in public, to compensate for his
insecurities. A glimpse of this notion is when President Truman rebukes
Prime Minister Molotov for the Soviet Union’s misconduct over Yalta. Takaki
also touches upon issues of racism, from the Japanese internment camps to
its wartime propaganda, to issues dealing with the Soviet Union. In doing
so, he encourages the reader to not to view the decision as a simple one.
That was easily made, that in fact it was an extremely difficult choice. The
monograph does an insightful job of presenting different perspectives of
prominent officials with intricate detail, more specifically, President
Truman.
Tanaka, Toshiyuki.
Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World. Boulder: Westwood Press,
1996.
The title is appropriate for the horrific treatment the Japanese inflicted
on Allied soldiers. It deals with the new forms of punishment that the
Japanese used on Americans punishing them was psychological as well as
physically. It describes the Bataan Death March, which had taken the lives
of several American soldiers. During the march the Prisoners of War were
susceptible to starvation, beatings, and eventually death. They are
atrocities that were in many ways kept “hidden.”In addition it also touched
upon cannibalism and the wretched poison that the Japanese would release on
various people. Eventually, the people responsible for carrying out these
afflictions were convicted for war crimes.
Hidden Horrors: Japanese
War Crimes in World
is powerful book because of its in-depth information of the unethical crimes
against Prisoners of War. It also is helpful because of the questions it
asks, such as who are to blame for directing and carrying out these orders.
The Day After Trinity: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb.
Produced by Martha Olson Muze. 1
Hour 28 minutes.
The movie
celebrates the effort by the United States in the Manhattan Project as it
pursued of an atomic bomb. It focuses much of its work on J. Robert
Oppenheimer and his work on the project. It also draws much attention to
atomic bomb test, at Trinity in New Mexico. Sadly, the movie discusses the
tragedy of atomic bomb against Japan and J. Robert Oppenheimer’s fall with
the United States government under communist suspicion.
Trinity is an important
piece of the research puzzle about the decision to drop the bomb because it
conveyed how much the United States invested into the Manhattan Project. In
realizing the amount of resources committed to this program it was obvious
that the weapon had every intention of being used.
Walker, Samuel J.
Prompt and Utter Destruction
Truman and the use of atomic bombs against
Japan.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.Prompt and Utter
Destruction, is an excellent analytic source regarding President Truman
atomic bomb decision. The author discusses the process leading up to the
atomic bomb decision and the time that followed. He offers extensive
information on the motives of the nuclear attack, had Harry Truman had to
wrestle with finding the best solution to an increasing complex war. The
text it summed up well, noting President Truman’s difficult choices, saying,
“deciding between authorizing an invasion and relying solely on the bombing
and blockading as a better means to bring the war to an end was the hardest
decision to date”(35). The monograph is full of data, helping the reader
grasp the significance of the commander in chief’s decision. Prompt and
Utter Destruction
Truman and the use of atomic bombs against Japan
is also a helpful source because it elaborates on the traditional views of
the bomb destined to end the war. In addition, it also discusses the mission
that revisionist believes was more peril that is the United States
confrontation with Russia.
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