Hiroshima: Fifty Years of Debate by Robert Young

Looks at both sides of the Atomic Bombing debate

Hiroshima: Fifty Years of Debate is intended for middle and high school students. It is designed to give them both sides of the debate over whether or not the United States should have dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

It offers a short re-cap over the issues involved, including a short synposis of the war. It includes fairly comprehensive arguments from both sides and shows pictures of the results of the bombings.

I would have only added one thing to the arguments: the United States was unwilling to trust its intelligence estimates of Japan's ability to continue the war since it had bungled on the German front the year before and nearly lost everything in the Battle of the Bulge (there were 75,000 American casualties) - a battle that was considered impossible by Allied intelligence since the German's were supposed to be close to surrender by that point.

I will keep this book in my classroom library and it is recommended for students of World War II. If you are a serious reader of World War II literature, this book will offer nothing new but it is a very strong introduction to the topic. It Includes a glossary, a timeline, plenty of big pictures a lot of informative "sidebars".

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on June 14, 2008.