SHOCKWAVE

I just finished an outstanding book that recounts the weeks leading up to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I saw it on the library shelf and decided to pick it up because I didn't know much about the bombings. Stephen Walker's Shockwave reveals the thinking of the bomb builders, politicians on both sides of the war, airmen who carried out the missions and some survivors. It is a detailed and gut-wrenching examination of the moral implications of pushing into the atomic age. It shows the horrors of war without being judgemental and explains the reasoning behind the decisions.

I'm also fascinated by the way the scientists who ran The Manhattan Project had sort of split feelings. On one hand, they were conceiving and creating new technology and literally "changing the world". On the other hand, they knew the destructive power of their creation. Some of the men, upon learning that the bomb actually worked, immediately tried to dissuade Truman and his generals from ever using it.

Very cool book about an incredible and sad chapter in US miltary history.