COUNTDOWN 1945: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY of the ATOMIC BOMB and the 116 DAYS THAT CHANGED the WORLD (audiobook) by Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss

The mushroom clouds from the bombings of the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)

Published by Simon and Schuster in June of 2020.
Read by one of the authors, Chris Wallace.
Duration: 8 hours, 40 minutes.
Unabridged.

The 116 days referred to in the title is the time between the day that Harry S. Truman became President and the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Chris Wallace quickly catches the reader up on what was going on and then uses a countdown for the chapters to add a sense of drama - will the scientists make it on time?

Of course, we know that they do succeed - the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are one of the most well-known historical facts of the 20th century. Wallace's re-telling of the story is full of facts but not particularly told in an interesting way.

For example, there is a great deal of information about the Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945) that met in Germany. The Conference was important because it included the leaders of the USSR, the United States and the UK and in many ways it paved the path for post-war Europe and the Cold War. But, there was so much detail involved (dinner sets, meals, the weather, the cars they rode in) that it began to feel like filler.

Of course the Potsdam Conference is an important part of the story, but the main story was the construction, testing and deployment of the bombs. If I had been the editor of this book, I would have pushed for more information on the physical results of the bombs and their effects on the residents of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and less on the mundane details of the Potsdam Conference like descriptions of the meals they ate.

Note: I thought the authors did a very good job of explaining both points of view on the atomic bombings of Japan, but eventually settle on the argument that they were horrible weapons, but their use was justified.

The audiobook was read by Chris Wallace, one of the authors. This makes sense considering that Wallace is a nationally known television personality. At first I thought this was a great choice. I enjoy Wallace's Sunday morning political show and I think he is a tough, fair interviewer and I like his style. But, that unique voice of his started to wear on me after a while. Not a bad book - I wouldn't tell someone not to read it or listen to it - but not as good as it could have been.

So, I rate it 3 stars out of 5 because parts of the book felt padded and the narrator's voice wore on me.  This book can be found on Amazon.com here: COUNTDOWN 1945: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY of the ATOMIC BOMB and the 116 DAYS THAT CHANGED the WORLD by Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss.