Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima

By Stephen Walker

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

‘A stunning book, among the most immediate and thrilling works of history I have ever read’

At 8:15am on August 6th 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In an instant, the temperature at its core rose to millions of degrees. Sixty-thousand buildings were obliterated. A third of the city’s population died, by heat, by the blast, and by a terrible new weapon in the history of warfare: radiation.

In this riveting account, Stephen Walker follows the stories of real people in the extraordinary weeks leading up to the explosion and in its aftermath. From the atomic engineer who armed the bomb in mid-air to the Japanese doctors treating thousands of burnt bodies on the ground. From the flight crews and scientists to world leaders and civilian victims. With intimate testimony and remarkable stories, this is the startling narrative behind the dawn of the atomic age.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jul 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9780008372569

Stephen Walker

Stephen Walker was born in London. He has a BA in History from Oxford and an MA in the History of Science from Harvard. His previous book was Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima, a New York Times bestseller. As well as being a writer he is also an award-winning documentary director. His films have won an Emmy, a BAFTA and the Rose d’Or, Europe’s most prestigious documentary award.

Reviews for Shockwave

[renne_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A mind blowing and comprehensive read detailing the three weeks leading up to and including the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. The descriptions both of the first atomic bomb test and what the bomb did to Hiroshima elicited a visceral reaction.

[larryerick · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those books that reminds me, once again, of how much the general media (and school text books) have left out about important events. This particular volume covers multiple characters and perspectives of the people involved in and affected by the assembly and delivery of the first atomic bomb. It includes the scientists, the military personnel, the diplomats, the civilians, from multiple countries, and often reads like a mystery novel chewing through the "facts" of the case. On occasion, it seems almost too detailed, such as when it goes into some of the Japanese living in Hiroshima. I found myself asking, "Do I really care if Sunao had ever kissed or not kissed Reiko?", and similar seemingly incidental people and incidental situations. However, later, after the bomb is actually dropped and the reader has learned what happened with the bomber crew, and Truman, and the rest of the non-Hiroshima characters, the author takes you down to those same "common" folk in Hiroshima that were introduced earlier. Are you a "Walking Dead" or other zombie-type movie fan? Those shows are child's play compared to what actually happened in Hiroshima. Even so, I wonder how much more accepting today's population would be of seeing the after-effects of an atomic bomb blast compared to the 1945 population. The actual human impact of the bomb blast and the rationale given for completing that action is the main reason for reading this book. I should add that there's a scene in the book after the bomb blast in which it starts raining in Hiroshima. In just a few words, the author crafts perhaps the most chilling situation I could possibly image.