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Amy Syracuse
History
4000
June 2,
2008
First Book
Review
Ronald Takaki
Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb
Canada: Little, Brown & Company, 1995
193 pg, index, notes, photographs.
Ronald Takaki,
in his book Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb,
discusses the reasons behind why America dropped the bomb and the view
point from different angles. He begins by discussing how military
officials felt about the bomb and if dropping it was even necessary and
then he goes into talking about President Truman and making the final
decision. This book discusses the facts and feelings leading up to the
actual dropping of the bombs, both on Nagasaki and then on Hiroshima.
It also talks about Pearl Harbor and the after effects in the United
States. Takaki supports his thesis by using facts he found in
declassified military documents, memoirs of important policy makers,
files of atomic scientists and writings from President Truman himself.
This book was
real interesting because you get to see different angles and arguments
about the atomic bomb. It is clearly written so it is easy to
understand and easy to follow. It had good points like when it
discussed how the Japanese were acting, with the rape of Nanking and how
they were defeated but not willing to surrender. To prevent a loss of
half a million American lives and many Japanese lives, Truman decided to
make the Japanese surrender. There were some things I did not agree
with however. One being how Takaki was saying that Truman only dropped
the bomb because he was a racist and making up for a poor childhood.
Truman had his reasons to drop the bomb; he felt that “the Japanese
started this war from the air at Pearl Harbor….When you have to deal
with a beast you have to treat him as a beast.” Truman considered this
a “war without mercy”.
Takaki
received a Ph.D. in history from the University of California at
Berkley, where he has been a professor of ethnic studies for over twenty
years. He is also an internationally recognized scholar. He has
written other books discussing different cultural Americans living in
the United States.
This book has
helped me better understand what went into the atomic bomb and how
different people felt about whether dropping it or not was a good idea.
Takaki’s book may be one-sided, but he presents a lot of facts and
brings up some good points. This book is a good read for anyone
interested in the atomic bomb.
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