A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies, Third Edition / Edition 3

by Martin J. Sherwin, Robert J. Lifton

Overview

Continuously in demand since its first, prize-winning edition was published in 1975, this is the classic history of the development of the American atomic bomb, the decision to use it against Japan, and the origins of U.S. atomic diplomacy toward the Soviet Union.

In his Preface to this new edition, the author describes and evaluates the lengthening trail of new evidence that has come to light concerning these often emotionally debated subjects. The author also invokes his experience as a historical advisor to the controversial, aborted 1995 Enola Gay exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. This leads him to analyze the impact on American democracy of one of the most insidious of the legacies of Hiroshima: the political control of historical interpretation.

Reviews of Previous Editions

"The quality of Sherwin's research and the strength of his argument are far superior to previous accounts."

—New York Times Book Review

"Probably the definitive account for a long time to come. . . . Sherwin has tackled some of the critical questions of the Cold War's origins—and has settled them, in my opinion."

—Walter LaFeber,

Cornell University

"One of those rare achievements of conscientious scholarship, a book at once graceful and luminous, yet loyal to its documentation and restrained in its speculations."

—Boston Globe

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804739573
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	08/19/2003
Series:	Stanford Nuclear Age Series
Edition description:	1
Pages:	424
Sales rank:	1,049,880
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Pulitzer Prize–winner Martin J. Sherwin is Professor of History at Tufts University, where he founded the Nuclear Age History Center.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xi
	Preface to the Third Edition	xv
	Introduction to the 1987 Edition	xxi
	Notes to the Introduction to the 1987 Edition	xxxvii
	Acknowledgments	xxxix
	Introduction	3
I	The Secret Site
1	The End of the Beginning	13
2	Soldiers Out of Uniform	40
II	The Road not Taken
3	The Atomic Bomb and the Postwar World	67
4	The Two Policemen	90
5	A Quid Pro Quo	115
III	Fire and Ice
6	The New President	143
7	Persuading Russia to Play Ball	165
8	The Bomb, the War, and the Russians	193
9	Diplomacy--and Destruction	220
	Notes	241
	On Primary Sources in the Field: A Bibliographical Essay	273
Appendices	Selected Documents	281
	Index	365

Editorial Reviews

"The quality of Sherwin's research and the strength of his argument are far superior to previous accounts."—New York Times Book Review

"Probably the definitive account for a long time to come. . . . Sherwin has tackled some of the critical questions of the Cold War's origins—and has settled them, in my opinion."—Walter LaFeber, Cornell University

"Sure to be the definitive study of these particular questions."—Noam Chomsky

From the Publisher

"Probably the definitive account for a long time to come. . . . Sherwin has tackled some of the critical questions of the Cold War's origins—and has settled them, in my opinion."

Cornell University - Walter LaFeber

"The quality of Sherwin's research and the strength of his argument are far superior to previous accounts."

New York Times Book Review

"Sure to be the definitive study of these particular questions."

Noam Chomsky

"Probably the definitive account for a long time to come. . . . Sherwin has tackled some of the critical questions of the Cold War's origins—and has settled them, in my opinion."

Walter LaFeber

"Sure to be the definitive study of these particular questions."—Noam Chomsky