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Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History & the Smithsonian Controversy
Essays and memoirs discuss the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan in 1945
584 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
532 people want to read
About the author
Kai Bird
10 books619 followersKai Bird is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, best known for his biographies of political figures. He has also won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography, the Duff Cooper Prize, a Woodrow Wilson Center Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a Contributing Editor of The Nation magazine.
Bird was born in 1951. His father was a U.S. Foreign Service officer, and he spent his childhood in Jerusalem, Beirut, Dhahran, Cairo and Bombay. He finished high school in 1969 at Kodaikanal International School in Tamil Nadu, South India. He received his BA from Carleton College in 1973 and a M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University in 1975. Bird now lives in Miami Beach, Florida with his wife, Susan Goldmark, and their son, Joshua.
Bird was born in 1951. His father was a U.S. Foreign Service officer, and he spent his childhood in Jerusalem, Beirut, Dhahran, Cairo and Bombay. He finished high school in 1969 at Kodaikanal International School in Tamil Nadu, South India. He received his BA from Carleton College in 1973 and a M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University in 1975. Bird now lives in Miami Beach, Florida with his wife, Susan Goldmark, and their son, Joshua.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 21, 2010
How's this for an endorsement: it's the most depressing book I've ever read. And I read it at the end of my research for Systems out of Balance during which I read many depressing books. The book is a compilation of original documents about the dropping of the atomic bomb, mostly from "people in the know" at the time it occurred. Yet the book is really more about the canceling of an exhibit fifty years later, which I'll get to shortly. I give it five stars because of three things this book reveals directly or indirectly that every citizen should understand.
1. If you were against dropping the bomb in the fifties you were statistically more likely to be a conservative Republican. Of course, in the new millennium you are more likely to be a liberal Democrat. This says volumes about party loyalists and ideologues. If you are a loyal Democrat right now please take this review (or read the book) as a precaution against what you might feel fifty years from now. If you are a loyal Republican wait fifty years first before continuing on.
2. The original documents in the book were to be part of a Smithsonian exhibit for the fifty year anniversary of dropping the bomb. The exhibit got canceled due to pressure from interest groups and corporate media. The editors then felt compelled to put these original documents in the book as a rebellion against censorship. This is a lesson that misinformation is not always about distortion, but also about cherry-picking, cover-ups and noise. Two interest groups leading the charge of silencing the exhibit, under an ironic assault of "revisionist history," were the Air Force Association, a trade group for nuclear weapons, and the American Legion. The American Legion's dalliance with censorship is particularly ironic considering their normal affiliation with the military. I'll get to that point next.
3. The original documents gave opinions and evidence both pro and con in regards to the need for dropping the bomb. Yet the following can be surmised:
A.. The State Department was for dropping the bomb, the Armed Services were against it, with Eisenhower and Leahy declaring quite emphatically in original documents it was not necessary for ending the war.
B.. The State Department's primary motivation was not ending the war with Japan but sending a message to the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Cold War.
After I put down this book I spent the next few months reading Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes anthologies.
1. If you were against dropping the bomb in the fifties you were statistically more likely to be a conservative Republican. Of course, in the new millennium you are more likely to be a liberal Democrat. This says volumes about party loyalists and ideologues. If you are a loyal Democrat right now please take this review (or read the book) as a precaution against what you might feel fifty years from now. If you are a loyal Republican wait fifty years first before continuing on.
2. The original documents in the book were to be part of a Smithsonian exhibit for the fifty year anniversary of dropping the bomb. The exhibit got canceled due to pressure from interest groups and corporate media. The editors then felt compelled to put these original documents in the book as a rebellion against censorship. This is a lesson that misinformation is not always about distortion, but also about cherry-picking, cover-ups and noise. Two interest groups leading the charge of silencing the exhibit, under an ironic assault of "revisionist history," were the Air Force Association, a trade group for nuclear weapons, and the American Legion. The American Legion's dalliance with censorship is particularly ironic considering their normal affiliation with the military. I'll get to that point next.
3. The original documents gave opinions and evidence both pro and con in regards to the need for dropping the bomb. Yet the following can be surmised:
A.. The State Department was for dropping the bomb, the Armed Services were against it, with Eisenhower and Leahy declaring quite emphatically in original documents it was not necessary for ending the war.
B.. The State Department's primary motivation was not ending the war with Japan but sending a message to the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Cold War.
After I put down this book I spent the next few months reading Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes anthologies.
November 21, 2018
Basically even the introduction is enough to destroy the idea that the atomic bombs were dropped to save lives.
January 25, 2013
It's hard to imagine not having all the information presented in this book and not knowing the truth about the dropping of the atomic bombs. The wealth of essays and primary documents provides a lot of insight in to what was going on then and I feel very much wiser having read the entire thing, even though it took forever.
January 27, 2008
This is a bone chilling book. I strongly recommend it.
June 11, 2008
Excellent book, well documented but still has strong personal/individual voices. Also, not for the faint-hearted.
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November 21, 2009None
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January 28, 2016Stunning story. I did not read all the essays, but the introduction alone was an eye opener.
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December 11, 201515c11 RT Watching the Hawks .5 Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation .22 Pope, anti-nuke
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews