91É«ÇéƬ

Standing somewhere between traditionalists who hold that President Harry
Truman spared 500 000 American troops by dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, and
revisionists who propose that the bombing was a political move to impress
Stalin, J. Samuel Walker portrays a president keen to end the war at the
earliest opportunity. Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of the
Atomic Bombs against Japan is a very readable account of the climate in which
Truman took his fateful decision. Well researched and referenced, this is a
valuable and cathartic contribution to the history of nuclear weapons. Published
by the University of North Carolina Press, $34.95/$14.95, ISBN
0807846627.