The Hiroshima Men
The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It
Author: Iain MacGregor
A vivid account of one of history's most significant events: the approval, construction, and fateful decision to drop the atomic bomb - based on new research and interviews, timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack.
9th June 2025
Paperback
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
A vivid account of one of history's most significant events: the approval, construction, and fateful decision to drop the atomic bomb - based on new research and interviews, timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack.
Description
At 8:15 a.m. on August 6th, 1945, the Japanese port city of Hiroshima was struck by the world's first atomic bomb. Built in the US by the top-secret Manhattan Project and delivered by a B-29 Superfortress, a revolutionary long-range bomber, the weapon destroyed large swaths of the city, instantly killing tens of thousands. The world would never be the same again.
The Hiroshima Men's unique narrative recounts the decade-long journey towards this first atomic attack. It charts the race for nuclear technology before, and during the Second World War, as the allies fought the axis powers in Europe, North Africa, China, and across the vastness of the Pacific, and is seen through the experiences of several key characters: General Leslie Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project alongside Robert Oppenheimer; pioneering Army Air Force bomber pilot Colonel Paul Tibbetts II; the mayor of Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya, who would die alongside over eighty-thousand of his fellow citizens; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Hersey, who travelled to post-war Japan to expose the devastation the bomb had inflicted upon the city, and in a historic New Yorker article, described in unflinching detail the dangers posed by its deadly after-effect, radiation poisoning.
This thrilling account takes the reader from the corridors of the White House to the laboratories and test sites of New Mexico; from the air war above Nazi Germany and the savage reconquest of the Pacific to the deadly firebombing air raids across the Japanese Home Islands. The Hiroshima Men also includes Japanese perspectives - a vital aspect often missing from Western narratives - to complete MacGregor's nuanced, deeply human account of the bombing's meaning and aftermath.
Critic Reviews
I can think of no more important book for our time. Written with moral clarity, tremendous verve, and the ability of a truly great historian to render the immensity of a moment through the smaller voices as well as being faithful to the facts. I recommend this magisterial, haunting book to all generations -- Fergal Keane
Iain Macgregor's compelling account impresses in many ways. Unheralded individuals take centre stage. Vividly drawn characters spring to life. But it is his expertly managed juxtaposition of science, strategy and visceral horror that stands out -- Joshua Levine, author of Sunday Times bestselling Dunkirk
The nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was one of the most iconic moments of the twentieth century. Yet little has been written about the individuals whose actions led to Japan's unconditional surrender. Iain MacGregor's The Hiroshima Men is epic in scale yet intimate in detail, its pages filled with mavericks and geniuses who forever changed our world. A meticulously researched and compellingly written tour-de-force -- Giles Milton, author of The Stalin Affair
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9th June 2025
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