|
Bright L. Riley
HIST 4000
Dr. Morrill
07-02-08
Works Cited
Alperoitz, Gar. Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam. New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
Alperoitz sets off a reassessment of old themes that sparked new
interest in historian’s view of the decision to drop the atomic bomb.
Alperovitz, a revisionist, argues that the motivation to drop the bomb
on Japan was not for military purpose, but rather a political move to
prove America’s power towards the Soviets. This piece of literature
addresses question such as: Why was Japan the target? Where there
alternatives to the bomb? What influence did the bomb have on American
Foreign policy? Was the bomb a direct contributor to the Cold War?
Alperovitz’s manuscript is at the center of this historic debate. His
revisionist work reopened what once seemed like a closed story in the
mid-1960s.
Bernstein, Barton J. The Atomic Bomb: the Critical Issues.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1976.
Barton J. Bernstein focuses his text towards college scholars interested
in the end of the Pacific war and the atomic bomb dropped on Japan. He
divides his work into four categories: “The Official Explanation,” “Was
the bomb necessary?”, “Why was the bomb used?”, Atomic Diplomacy and the
Moral Significance of Hiroshima.” Bernstein is one of the leading
experts on atomic diplomacy as well the decision to drop the bomb.
Bernstein has written numerous texts and articles surrounding the
issue. He continues to contribute to the great debate to this day.
Gordin, Michael D. Five Days in August: How World War II Became a
Nuclear War. Princeton, New Jersey: Priceton UP, 2007.
Michael Gordin looks into a new detail of the decision to drop the bomb,
compelling the idea that the U.S. military did not understand that
bomb’s revolutionary technology. Gordin views that the decision to
drop the bomb as two separate issues: military justification and moral
validations. Gordin looks back on World War II and how “special,
“epoch-making,” and “revolutionary” these weapons were. His analysis of
the bomb gives a very recent explanation to the bomb as well as some
brief historiography about the debate for the paper.
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. The End of the Pacific War: Peappraisals.
Stanford, California: Stanford UP, 2007.
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa writes modern reinterpretations of the reason for
Japan’s surrender, which was the decisive factor that the Atomic bob was
used, as well as the Soviets entering the war in the Pacific. He uses
newly available documents from Japan, the U.S. and the former Soviet
Union. Hasegawa’s text is a collection of five notable historians and
the newest assessment of the decision to drop the bomb. His book is
very constructive for this paper; explaining in detail the three schools
of thought surrounding the bomb, as well as giving more than his own
writing to the piece of work.
Hogan, Michael J. Hiroshima: in History and Memory. Cambridge:
Camridge Uniersity P, 1996.
Michael Hogan’s work is a collection of essays from seven specialists in
the history of American foreign relations. He also contributes a new
introduction and an added essay of his own contribution to the
controversy that surrounded the National Air and Space Museum to
commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hogan’s
introduction is especially helpful to a topic such is this, explaining
in great detail the history of the debate.
Kort, Michael. The Columbia Guide to Hiroshima and the Bomb. New
York: Columbia UP, 2007.
Michael Kort believes that the U.S. decision to drop the bomb was one
of, if not the most critical and controversial decision made in World
War II. Kort’s first and foremost point is that the decision to drop
the bomb was made the day that the decision to build to bomb was made.
Kort also challenges critics who claim racism played a key factor in
determining the bombs use, arguing that the bomb had it been available
would have been used against the Nazis. Kort shows a great
understanding in his theory of why Japan was a legitimate target. His
text is so recent that is gives the most up to the date view point
surrounding the decision.
Maddox, Robert J. Weapons for Victory: the Hiroshima Decision Fifty
Years Later. London: University of Missouri P, 1995.
Robert Maddox published the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the
bombing of Japan. Maddox contends that it is a misleading notion for
someone to theorize that the Japanese would have yielded in June or July
if the U.S. government had made clear that the emperor of Japan would
rest on the throne. Maddox give great detail to how the Japanese
warrior spirit is influenced by their samurai tradition resulted in
their refusal to surrender to “racial inferiors.” His interpretation
gives a great factual argument to the traditionalist interpretation of
this debate.
Possony, Stefan T. "The Atomic Bomb: Political Hopes and Realities."
JSTOR 8 (1946): 147-167. JSTOR. J. Murrey Atkins Library,
Charlotte. 20 June 2008.
Stefan T. Possony’s article “The Atomic Bomb: Political Hopes and
Realities,” describes how the atomic bomb climaxed the “psychological
warfare” against Japan. The primary objective of the text is to
describe how the atomic age threw the world back into a mood of fear and
despair. Possony takes steps back questioning various strategies the
world and U.S. could have take to prevent an “earth-shattering
chain-reaction” of the nuclear arms race. This article is very
interesting to the topic because it concludes were the world is today as
far as the nuclear bombs and the struggles we face for the future.
Sherwin, Martin J. A World Destroyed: the Atomic Bomb and the Grand
Alliance. New York: Alfred-a-Knopf, Inc, 1975.
Martin Sherwin divides his book into three critical topics: The
theoretical development and Roosevelt’s decision to build the bomb, the
second, Roosevelt and he theory of the post-war-world with the bomb, and
last the months between Roosevelt’s death and the deployment of the
bomb. Sherwin a World War II veteran, gives the viewpoint of someone
who actually experienced the war first hand. His ideas and theory add a
great contribution to this debate.
Takaki, Ronald. Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995.
Ronald Takaki revisionist theory is that U.S. President Harry S. Truman
decision to drop the bomb was driven by other factors than to end the
war quickly, such as personal insecurities, racist attitude towards
non-whites, and impressing and intimidating the Soviets. Takaki spends
a complete chapter devoted to Truman and how his childhood and
upbringing may have altered his decision to use the bomb. Takaki a
Hawaiian-born Japanese American adds a new interpretation that may not
be able to be met by these more traditionalist historians.
Walker, J. S. "Historiographical Essay: Recent Literature on Truman's
Atomic Bomb Decision: a Search for Middle Ground." Dipomatic History
29 (2005): 311-334. Diplomatic History. J. Murrey Atkins
Library, Charlotte. 20 June 2008.
J. Samuel Walker’s most recent work is an attempt to deal with what had
clearly become a rather “polarized debate.” Walker contributes his own
opinions of the debate as well as many other renowned historians. His
text also adds some other historians who have worked more closely in the
Japanese archives; specifically studying the Emperor, as well as looking
at a broad view of Pacific War. Walker is one of the leading experts in
this fascinating debate today. His scholarly work is some of the most
recent and descriptive for this paper.
Walker, J. S. Prompt & Utter Destruction. Chapel Hill: The
Univeristy of North Carolina P, 2004.
J. Samuel Walker evaluates the reasons behind President Truman’s most
controversial decision. His text is an expansion of The Decision to
Use the Bomb: A Historiographical Update, published in 1990. Walker
investigates the key dynamics that played in the Presidents decision,
such as U.S.-Soviet relations, Japanese surrender policies, and initial
invasion causality estimations. Walker examines historian’s analyses of
the decision such as: Gar Alperovitz, Barton J. Bernstein, Herbert Feis,
Stanly Goldberg, Robert L. Messer, and many other specialist. Walker is
a historian of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and has published
six other books on the history of American foreign policy and the
history of nuclear energy.
|