{"product_id":"five-days-in-august-how-world-war-ii-became-a-nuclear-war-paperback","title":"Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMichael D. Gordin\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eMichael D. Gordin\u003c\/b\u003e (Preface by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost Americans believe that the Second World War ended because the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan forced it to surrender. \u003ci\u003eFive Days in August\u003c\/i\u003e boldly presents a different interpretation: that the military did not clearly understand the atomic bomb's revolutionary strategic potential, that the Allies were almost as stunned by the surrender as the Japanese were by the attack, and that not only had experts planned and fully anticipated the need for a third bomb, they were skeptical about whether the atomic bomb would work at all. With these ideas, Michael Gordin reorients the historical and contemporary conversation about the A-bomb and World War II. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eFive Days in August\u003c\/i\u003e explores these and countless other legacies of the atomic bomb in a glaring new light. Daring and iconoclastic, it will result in far-reaching discussions about the significance of the A-bomb, about World War II, and about the moral issues they have spawned.\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Michael Gordin's \u003ci\u003eFive Days in August\u003c\/i\u003e is a gripping reconsideration of how the atomic bomb figured in the ending of World War II. Gordin recounts how the bomb came to be viewed soon after the unexpectedly swift surrender as a special, revolutionary weapon, and he ruminates upon the implications of that shift for weapons policy in the postwar world. In all, a remarkable, thought-provoking book.\"\u003cb\u003e--Daniel Kevles, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"With stunning details grounded in a myriad of sources, Gordin captures the ethos of the first nuclear war--how it seemed back in the heat of war, before history revised its estimation of the bomb and made the twin bombings of August 1945 into a unique and self-evidently decisive event. No one can fully understand the end of World War II without taking on board Gordin's study.\"\u003cb\u003e--Peter Galison, author of \u003ci\u003eEinstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Map\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Bold and provocative. No one has presented these arguments so coherently, so forcefully, and so intelligently with such gripping, dynamic style.\"\u003cb\u003e--Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, author of \u003ci\u003eRacing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Powerful. \u003ci\u003eFive Days in August\u003c\/i\u003e vigorously proposes new ways of thinking about the World War II atomic bombings, their meanings, and their multiple legacies. It is a book that will provoke controversy and, ideally, help encourage new lines of research, argument, and emphasis. It has a deep critical knowledge and a subtle intelligence. The arguments are arresting and important.\"\u003cb\u003e--Barton Bernstein, Stanford University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael D. Gordin\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of the history of science at Princeton University. He is the author or editor of several books, including \u003ci\u003eRed Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the End of the Atomic Monopoly\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 232\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 9.1 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 18, 2015\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47509426143453,"sku":"9780691168432","price":43.12,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/9867\/8237\/files\/TnZBQWxITm1YV0FjUGF3Uzl3RDR6UT09.webp?v=1772115191","url":"https:\/\/handfulofbooks.com\/products\/five-days-in-august-how-world-war-ii-became-a-nuclear-war-paperback","provider":"Handful of Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}