Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World
Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World book cover

Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World

Paperback – August 10, 2021

Price
$10.49
Format
Paperback
Pages
304
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1982128531
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.76 x 8.38 inches
Weight
9 ounces

Description

About the Author Lesley M.M. Blume is a Los Angeles-based journalist, author, and biographer. Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair , The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , and The Paris Review , among many other publications. Her last nonfiction book, Everybody Behaves Badly , was a New York Times bestseller.

Features & Highlights

  • A
  • NEW YORK TIMES
  • NOTABLE BOOK OF 2020
  • New York Times
  • bestselling author Lesley M.M. Blume reveals how one courageous American reporter uncovered one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century—the true effects of the atom bomb—potentially saving millions of lives.
  • Just days after the United States decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. But even before the surrender, the US government and military had begun a secret propaganda and information suppression campaign to hide the devastating nature of these experimental weapons. The cover-up intensified as Occupation forces closed the atomic cities to Allied reporters, preventing leaks about the horrific long-term effects of radiation which would kill thousands during the months after the blast. For nearly a year the cover-up worked—until
  • New Yorker
  • journalist John Hersey got into Hiroshima and managed to report the truth to the world. As Hersey and his editors prepared his article for publication, they kept the story secret—even from most of their
  • New Yorker
  • colleagues. When the magazine published “Hiroshima” in August 1946, it became an instant global sensation, and inspired pervasive horror about the hellish new threat that America had unleashed. Since 1945, no nuclear weapons have ever been deployed in war partly because Hersey alerted the world to their true, devastating impact. This knowledge has remained among the greatest deterrents to using them since the end of World War II. Released on the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing,
  • Fallout
  • is an engrossing detective story, as well as an important piece of hidden history that shows how one heroic scoop saved—and can still save—the world.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(490)
★★★★
25%
(204)
★★★
15%
(123)
★★
7%
(57)
-7%
(-57)

Most Helpful Reviews

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American Bashing

I have a PhD in history and I can say through the research I have done this book is total crap. It seems these liberals blame America for everything, as for the bombs, if we did not drop them and end the war, the Japanese people might have cease to exist. Even the pilot who lead the attack on Pearl Harbor, said he was glad Truman dropped the bombs for it ended the war, the militants of Japan would not surrender. As for her research, poor indeed, she did not talk about the massacre in the Philippines or the fact that there were more lives lost at the battle for Okinawa that both bombs combined. And why does she not mention the massacre of allied of POW's at Palawan. It seems these liberals only want freedom of speech when it applies to them. I checked this book out from the library so glad I did not buy it.
This is the reasons historians/scholars should write books on history and not journalists.
1 people found this helpful
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A very informative history that should remind us all of the importance of freedom of press

When I was a teen looking for things to watch online I came across an animated movie called Barefoot Gen, about the aftermath of the nuclear bombings in Japan. Ever since then I've been an avid supporter of nuclear disarmament. When I heard the interview with the author playing on the radio one day I knew I had to read her book.
Fallout is a wonderful history of reporting and the struggles of reporters wishing to preserve the right of free press. Reading it is a good reminder of what can happen when press is censored and reporters are not allowed to report the facts. To be honest, I don't know why some other reviewers are so upset and think that the book is "America blaming." The book is honestly a wonderful history and a wonderful reminder of what can happen when nuclear weapons are used, what can happen when press is censored, and the amazing work of one journalist to overcome that censorship when he knew what his government (and other governments of the world) were wrong. Totally a must read for anyone interested in history or nuclear disarmament efforts.
1 people found this helpful
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Not fiction

Should be a must read for high schoolers and college.
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Great gift

I bought it as a gift for someone who had always been fascinated by all things relating to Japan. He absolutely loved it!