Hiroshima's Shadow (Writings on the denial of history & the Smithsonian controversy) [Hardcover]

Kai Bird (Editor), Lawrence Lifschultz (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This anthology is representative of the vast literature critical of Truman's use of the atom bomb. Its inspiration is indicated by a section devoted to the 1995 cancellation, under pressure from veterans and journalists, of the Smithsonian's intended display of the Enola Gay. Had Bird and Lifschultz wanted a subtitle, "The Revenge of the Revisionist Historians" would have been apt, for aside from two articles (e.g., Paul Fussell's "Thank God for the Atom Bomb") and some editorials, every selection takes issue with reasons advanced for the atomic bombing of Japan. To be sure, the revisionists represented here (such as Gar Alperovitz and Martin Sherwin) have conducted quality research that challenges "myths" about the bombings--mainly that Japan was not seeking to surrender or that the invasion alternative to bombing would have killed a half million Americans. Still, lowering the estimate of possible casualties to tens of thousands is no solace to such would-be invaders as Fussell. A valuable library resource. Gilbert Taylor

From Kirkus Reviews

An exhaustive, controversial, and moving volume that has its origins in the Smithsonian Institution's cancellation of a planned exhibition in 199495 of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. To be included in the exhibition's script were several scholarly studies and a number of historical documents that questioned the military necessity and moral legitimacy of that act. The book, then, moves along two paths: a painstaking analysis of how and why the bomb came to be used, and a provocative deliberation on what the editors (Bird, a contributing editor of the Nation, and Lifschultz, former South Asia correspondent of the Far Eastern Economic Review) term the ``pathology of denial'' in the US surrounding our use of the bomb. While voices in support of the bombing of Hiroshima are to be found here, most of the contributors in various ways attempt to debunk the myths and assumptions that have built up concerning this act. The first part of the book offers selections by present-day historians. The second part is devoted to essays written shortly after the bombing. Part three focuses on the Smithsonian controversy itself. Part four presents chilling first-person accounts of the day Hiroshima died. The final part is devoted to historical documents, memos, and diary entries of those who participated in the decision to use the bomb and also public statements pleading against this decision. As a century of extreme barbarism draws to a close, the editors ask us to think critically about the US contribution to this barbarism, the unleashing upon the world of atomic and nuclear weapons. Their purpose is not to apportion blame, to point fingers, but rather to allow us to look at our history and perhaps gain what is often so elusive: wisdom. (8 b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 584 pages
• Publisher: Pamphleteers Pr; 1ST edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963058738
• ISBN-13: 978-0963058737
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kai Bird's most recent book is a memoir about the Middle East entitled Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978 (Scribner, April 27, 2010). It is a 2011 Finalist in the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. He is the co-author with Martin J. Sherwin of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2005), which also won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and the Duff Cooper Prize for History in London. He wrote The Chairman: John J. McCloy, the Making of the American Establishment (1992) and The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy & William Bundy, Brothers in Arms (1998). He is also co-editor with Lawrence Lifschultz of Hiroshima\'s Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy (1998). He is the recipient of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation's Study Center, Bellagio, Italy and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC. He is a member of the Society of American Historians and a contributing editor of The Nation. He lives in Kathmandu, Nepal with his wife and son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hiroshima's Shadows presents voices from all sides, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hiroshima's Shadow (Writings on the denial of history & the Smithsonian controversy) (Hardcover)

Here is an extract from my review of 'Hiroshima's Shadows', that appeared in 'New Politics', no. 25 (Summer 1998):

'Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy' is an enormous, and aesthetically handsome work, bringing together nearly 50 essays between between 1945 and 1997 by scholars, military, political and religious leaders, independent intellectuals, and survivors of the atomic bombings. The book is unusual in that, though it has a strong editorial point of view, the editors unflinchingly present voices from all sides of the argument.

The contribors include Albert Camus, Dwight Macdonald, Lewis Mumford, Mary McCarthy, A.J. Muste, among others. Defenders of the bomb include Charles Krauthammer who says that we should "let the Japanese commemorate the catastrophe they brought on themselves" (rather than mourn the use of the bomb), and Paul Fussel, an English professor and ex-front line combatant, who raises the slogan, "thank god for the atomic bomb." An even wider range of ideological positions is represented on the side of the critics: Lifschultz and Bird have recovered an anti-bomb editorial from the paleo-right-wing 'Human Events' and placed it alongside the observations of Mahatma Gandhi and Norman Thomas. As the editors put it, "the usual distinctions of left and right on economic and social issues were not reliable guides which could accurately predt what people thought about Hiroshima."

A substantial section of the book contains memoirs of a few survivors. These memoirs underscore the enduring reality that it was civilians, not military objectives, who were then, and remain, the prime target of nuclear weapons.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most comprehensive and balanced account to date., July 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hiroshima's Shadow (Writings on the denial of history & the Smithsonian controversy) (Hardcover)

Hiroshima's Shadow is perhaps the most comprehensive and balanced collection of essays to date on the decision to use atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

While some insist on a single interpretation of these events and label any reinterpretation as unpatriotic or unAmerican, the New York Times put it best: "The real betrayal of American tradition would be to insist on a single version of history or to make it the property of the state or any group. History in America is based on freedom of inquiry and discussion, which is one reason why Americans have given their lives to defend it."

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hiroshima's Shadows presents voices from all sides, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hiroshima's Shadow (Writings on the denial of history & the Smithsonian controversy) (Hardcover)

Here is an extract from my review of 'Hiroshima's Shadows', that appeared in 'New Politics', no. 25 (Summer 1998):

'Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy' is an enormous, and aesthetically handsome work, bringing together nearly 50 essays between between 1945 and 1997 by scholars, military, political and religious leaders, independent intellectuals, and survivors of the atomic bombings. The book is unusual in that, though it has a strong editorial point of view, the editors unflinchingly present voices from all sides of the argument.

The contribors include Albert Camus, Dwight Macdonald, Lewis Mumford, Mary McCarthy, A.J. Muste, among others. Defenders of the bomb include Charles Krauthammer who says that we should "let the Japanese commemorate the catastrophe they brought on themselves" (rather than mourn the use of the bomb), and Paul Fussel, an English professor and ex-front line combatant, who raises the slogan, "thank god for the atomic bomb." An even wider range of ideological positions is represented on the side of the critics: Lifschultz and Bird have recovered an anti-bomb editorial from the paleo-right-wing 'Human Events' and placed it alongside the observations of Mahatma Gandhi and Norman Thomas. As the editors put it, "the usual distinctions of left and right on economic and social issues were not reliable guides which could accurately predict what people thought about Hiroshima."

A substantial section of the book contains memoirs of a few survivors. These memoirs underscore the enduring reality that it was civilians, not military objectives, who were then, and remain, the prime target of nuclear weapons.