The end of the Second World War in the Pacific was an event of unprecedented barbarity with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. In Road To Surrender, Evan Thomas takes us back to explore, not just the devastating events but the people on both sides of the war impacted on history.
Highlighting areas of this period that many may not have been previously aware of, such as the third bomb that was meant for Tokyo, Thomas puts forward the notion that the bombing was meant as a ‘warning’ to Russia, with whom the USA would shortly commence a decades-long Cold War, yet these bombings were also seen as an attempt to save lives, potentially 1 million USA lives in a projected fear of invasion by Japan. The devastation of the bombing took a toll of approximately 200,000 on the first day, with many more dying in the proceeding months and many more left homeless.
The story of this event is not as clear as many may believe, and it is Thomas’s focus on three figures, namely, Gen. Carl Spaatz, who was assigned to lead the bombing operations, President Truman’s Secretary of War, Henry Stimson and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togi who actively campaigned for Japan’s surrender. It is these mostly unknown to the wider audience that makes Road To Surrender a fascinating and insightful narrative employing diary extracts from these figures along with a wide range of sources, making this account not just a riveting account, but a vital new resource for any reader.
- Road To Surrender by Evan Thomas is published by Elliott & Thompson (£20.00). To order a copy go to eandtbooks.com
Tom Stanger
Founder and Editor of Pilgrim House, currently undertaking a research degree at Bangor University and working on a book on Folklore and early Welsh Christianity. Tom’s other work on music, poetry, health along other writings and images can be found at tomasstanger.com
