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.

Comments

Popular posts over the last 30 days

BATMAN - ONE BAD DAY: CLAYFACE (graphic novel) by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing

IN the PRESENCE of MINE ENEMIES: SEVEN YEARS as a POW in NORTH VIETNAM by Howard and Phyllis Rutledge

COMMEMORATIVE HISTORY of the GEORGE ROGERS CLARK BICENTENNIAL EXHIBIT by The Indiana State Museum

FREE FALL (Elvis Cole #4) (audiobook) by Robert Crais

SUPERMAN '78 (graphic novel) by Robert Venditi

THE RED DRAGON (Action Adventures Short Stories Collection #10) by L. Ron Hubbard

DOWN ALONG with THAT DEVIL'S BONES: A RECKONING with MONUMENTS, MEMORY, and the LEGACY of WHITE SUPREMACY (audiobook) by Connor Towne O'Neill

THE INSTINCT for COOPERATION: A GRAPHIC NOVEL CONVERSATION with NOAM CHOMSKY (graphic novel) by Noam Chomsky and Jeffrey Wilson

COMRADES in ARMS (kindle)(short story) by Kevin J. Anderson

BATMAN: ONE BAD DAY - MR. FREEZE (graphic novel) by Gerry Duggan