Dawn Over Zero

On August 6, 1945, the world was electrified by the news that an American Army bomber had dropped an atomic bomb, with an explosive power equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT, on the important Japanese military center of Hiroshima. Three days later another bomb, of improved design and even greater power, was dropped on Nagasaki. The following day, Aug. 10, the Japanese sued for peace. Newspapers and magazines throughout the world printed many thousands of words about the new weapon and the scientific developments that had made it possible. These stories were based largely on official War Department releases prepared by William L. Laurence, science reporter for The New York Times. At the request of the War Department, Mr. Laurence had been granted a leave by The Times several months earlier. Mr. William L. Laurence was the only newspaper man permitted by the War Department to go to all the plants and inspect the processes of production of the atomic bomb, the only newspaper man allowed to witness the secret trial of the bomb in New Mexico, and the only newspaper man who witnessed the actual dropping of one of the bombs on Japan, from a plane above Nagasaki. This book, first published in 1946, is the full story, so far as it may yet be revealed, of the atom bomb, written by the man who is unquestionably the best qualified to write it for the layman.

Texte de la jaquette : "This is the full story, so far as it may yet be revealed, of the atom bomb, written by the man who is unquestionably the best qualified to write it for the layman...Mr. Laurence was, to quote his own newspaper, "the only newspaperman permitted by the War Department to go to all the plants and inspect the processed of production to the atomic bomb, the only [one] allowed to witness the secret trial of the bomb in New Mexico, and the only [one] who witnessed the actual dropping of one of the bombs on Japan from a plane above Nagasaki."

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The Paradox of Pearl Harbor -- Fiasco in the Philippines -- Censorship at Sea -- The New Guinea Gang -- The Shroud Slips: Guadalcanal -- Atrocities -- Dress Rehearsal in New Guinea -- Bloody Battles in the Central Pacific -- The CBI -- The Return -- Death in the Pacific -- Toward Tokyo Bay.

Drawing on the latest research on the atomic bomb and its history, the contributors to this provocative collection of eighteen essays set out to answer two key questions: First, how did the atomic bomb, a product of unprecedented technological innovation, rapid industrial-scale manufacturing, and unparalleled military deployment shape U.S. foreign policy, the communities of workers who produced it, and society as a whole? And second, how has American society's perception that the the bomb is a means of military deterrence in the Cold War era evolve under the influence of mass media, scientists, public intellectuals, and even the entertainment industry? In answering these questions, The Atomic Bomb and American Society sheds light on the collaboration of science and the military in creating the bomb; the role of women working at Los Alamos; the transformation of nuclear physicists into public intellectuals as the reality of the bomb came into widespread consciousness; the revolutionary change in military strategy following the invention of the bomb and the development of Cold War ideology; the image of the bomb that was conveyed in the popular media; and the connection of the bomb to the commemoration of World War II. As it illuminates the cultural, social, political, environmental, and historical effects of the creation of the atomic bomb, this volume contributes to our understanding of how democratic institutions can coexist with a technology that affects everyone, even if only a few are empowered to manage it. Rosemary B. Mariner is formerly Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair and Professor of Military Studies for the National War College. She is currently a lecturer in history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. G. Kurt Piehler is associate professor of history and former director of the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which hosted the conference that formed the basis of this volume. He is the author of Remembering War the American Way and World War II in the American Soldiers' Lives Series as well as the coeditor, with John Whiteclay Chambers II, of Major Problems in American Military History.

At once fascinating and horrific, this book details the conception, development and impact of the atomic bombs infamously dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 brought the world to a stand still. This unimaginable shock confirmed to the world that the race to develop a working atomic weapon during World War II had been won by the American-led international effort. Horrific and controversial even today, these first uses of the atomic bomb had intense ramifications not only on the continued development of the bomb, but also on politics and popular culture. As well as the technological development, historian James Delgado also examines how the US Army Air Force had to develop the capacity to deliver the weapons, and examines the sites where development and testing took place, in order to give a comprehensive history of the dawning of the nuclear age.