Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb [Paperback]

Robert K. Wilcox (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Though the United States's use of atomic weapons against Japan has been the subject of much recent debate, Wilcox here contends that the Japanese had successfully assembled and tested its own nuclear device in August 1945 for use in the war. This updated edition includes new information that claims the Japanese spent much more on its atomic program than originally thought. This remains "a story of moral and historical significance" (LJ 3/1/85).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Marlowe & Co; Updated edition (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156924815X
• ISBN-13: 978-1569248157
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #752,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert K. Wilcox is the award-winning, bestselling non-fiction and novel writer of such works as Scream of Eagles, Wings of Fury and Target:Patton: The plot to assassinate Gen. George S. Patton. His latest book is The Truth About the Shroud of Turin. In addition to his writing for film and television, he has reported for The New York Times and written for numerous national and international publications including the Miami Herald's Tropic magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and National Geographic. He started his career as a reporter and editor for the Miami News. During the Vietnam War he was an Air Force Information Officer. He lives in Los Angeles. His website is www.robertkwilcox.com .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book raises disturbing and haunting questions, September 7, 1999

By 

Tom Butler "draftleader" (tallahassee, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb (Paperback)

The author's research shows the Japanese came far closer to cracking the atomic riddle than they have ever let on. After a half-century of stonewalling by the Japanese and loss of records by the United State government, Robert Wilcox couldn't find the definite answers. Much of his research is unfortunately larded with such phrases as "perhaps" or "possibly." Some of the oral accounts of a Japanese bomb experiment are secondhand or possibly repeated versions of a similar rumor. But the records he dug out of the National Archives (cited box by box) show a pattern of frantic wartime expenditures on fission materials by Japan, attempts to build uranium separators, and plans by the Japanese navy and army to use atomic weapons if the scientists could only finish them in time. The Japanese have never admitted to massive wartime atrocities, let alone their own attempt at building a bomb. The biggest riddle of the book is whether the Japanese, as some reports say, test-detonated their own bomb at a site in present-day North Korea just before the Soviet army closed in. The definite answer may be lost forever.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential World War II reading., April 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb (Paperback)

Wilcox's book explains not only how essential it was to finish WWII as soon as humanly possible, it ties up some loose ends. Why did Russia make a beeline to Hungnam when it entered the war, and why was it so antsy to start the invasion? Why was our country so sure that orientals wouldn't ever develop the bomb? And for those who doubt that Japan would have used it, read the definitive, massive, but eminently readable Japan's Imperial Conspiracy by Bergamini.

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Japans Quest for the Atomic Bomb, Hidden History, January 3, 2000

By 

Jeffry P. King (Richland Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb (Paperback)

Bob Wilcox has done an excellent job of telling the story of Japan's quest for the atomic bomb and has provided credible background and references to substantiate it. His account of Japan's progress towards atomic weapon development is consistent with processes that would be logical and recognizable by anyone familiar with the principles of modern day atomic weapons. I have also discussed the contents of Bob's book with my father, who served as an officer in Korea in the early 50's. He remembers Hangnam, which is cited in Bob's book as one of Japans most important atomic bomb development point and having been captured by Russia, as a secret North Korean missile complex. This is consistent with the book's content. A must read book by those who seek the truth and wish to dispell the guilt complex that the anti-nuclear crowd wishes to impose upon America for bombing Hiroshmia and Nagasaki.