Hiroshima in America Paperback – August 1, 1996

This is an excellent and eye opening synopsis of the incredibly difficult times leading to the end of WW II. Very difficult choices and many are polarized on the war-time use of atomic weapons. This book provides an unbiased perspective that will let you decide if the right choices were made. Frankly, it was chaos that led to the bomb drops and there is probably no good hindsight for any of it. Enjoy.

This book is the best information I have seen on this tragic event. Read it, understand what we did.

Some reviewers damn this book because it maintains that the US atomic assault on Hiroshima (and Nagasaki, not specifically approved by Truman) was unnecessary and immoral. This is in fact the position taken by the authors, though they are far less vehement about it than readers who've heard about this book from others might expect. The real point of the book is to criticize the American legend that has built up around "the Bomb", beginning with Gen. Leslie Groves, Harry Truman et al. and ending with the response to the Smithsonian "Enola Gay" exhibit in the Nineties. This legend involves everything from the belief that the atomic attacks were necessary to public attitudes, generally, toward atomic weapons and the nuclear industry. It is true that the authors believe the atomic attacks were a mistake. It is also true that we can excuse these attacks (or at least the first, against Hiroshima), but not the mendaciousness and ignorance we usually encounter when the attacks are discussed in America.

My only substantive criticism, albeit a big one, is that the book is poorly sourced. Thirty-five pages of notes, yet most quotations and facts that I would have liked to follow up are not found in these notes. Also, though it's in the essence of the book that the authors subject American leaders and the general populace to heavy psychoanalysis, it sometimes seems excessive. A prominent example: the authors' reading of Harry Truman's precarious sense of self is plausible, but unprovable, and it seems excessive. The latter parts of the book are scarcely anything more than national psychoanalysis. Horror poetry of the nation, if you will. I'm not unsympathetic, but this stuff tells the reader nothing. The book should have ended with the report on the controversy over the Enola Gay exhibit.

I realize that I have not said anything that other reviewers have not said as well or better. Moreover, by referring to other reviews I have violated Amazon's review guidelines. However, I think the reception of this book is just as interesting as the reception of historical fact that the book describes, and I wanted to put my vote in for it, so to speak. I also strongly recommend the book, part of it anyway, for anyone interested in post-war American history as it describes our culture's difficulty in taking responsibility for history, a difficulty I'm afraid is characteristic of us. The authors do this in as calm and non-perjorative a way as possible. Explosive responses involve, it seems to me, a gross misunderstanding of their intent.

I bought this at a brick and mortar bookstore in 1998. I always felt bad about the bombings and this book justified my feelings with real history and behind-the-scenes planning. In many ways, the U.S. still acts like that. Sensitive topic and I know people that still will not change their minds as they repeat the myths described in this book over and over. Very well done book.

Hiroshima in America, by Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell, is an incisive analysis of the distortions of the Hiroshima narrative and exploration of the implications of such distortions on America's national identity. In doing so, the authors focus not on the fateful day the bomb was dropped, but on the half century that followed, "and our struggles with and against what we call the `official narrative'...What the Hiroshima narrative conveys is the justification, even wisdom, of our use of the atomic bomb to save lives and end the war." Hiroshima in America presents a convincing body of evidence that this narrative is in serious need of revision, and that renewal can only come after such revisions are made. Overall, the authors are successful in reaching their stated aims, and the work as a whole shows how the decisions such as the one to drop the atomic bomb can disrupt a nation's narrative, and how secrecy, concealment, and falsification can be employed to smooth over such disruptions in an effort to reaffirm coherence.
Lifton and Mitchell begin by describing the early reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima, following Truman's announcement on...They argue that all the central aspects of what they call the `official narrative' was contained in Truman's speech. The atomic bomb was discussed in terms of other weapons of the day, it was aimed at a military target, and its use was morally defensible insofar as it was used against an aggressor nation who would have fought to the finish, costing hundreds of thousands of American lives. Any challenges to the official narrative were effectively silenced when Harper's published Henry Stimson's article describing the decision-making process. Stimson's article calmly and dispassionately explained that the atomic bomb would not have been dropped had Japan shown clear signs of willingness to surrender, and most importantly, "the atomic bombings did not merely quicken but caused the end of the war" (108). After establishing the official narrative, the authors go on to describe the historical and psychological factors that led to Truman's decision to use the bomb. Following Roosevelt's death, Truman was thrust into an `atrocity-producing situation,' as he was surrounded by advisors who had already committed themselves to using the bomb (119). Furthermore, like many of those involved in the Manhattan project, Truman was attracted to the sheer power of the atomic bomb. As a man who prided himself on his ability to act decisively, and perhaps feeling the need to establish himself in the wake of Roosevelt's death, Truman's decision is seen as the result of a level of insecurity coupled with countless pressures from all sides.
While Truman stood by his decision throughout his life, those that followed faced an ongoing struggle with the decision, on the part of presidents, journalists and historians, scientists, war veterans, and peace activists. Lifton and Mitchell note that no president has contested Truman's decision while in office, and a number of presidents have expressed their willingness to use the atomic bomb themselves, if need be. The authors conclude this section with a discussion of the Smithsonian's Enola Gay controversy, which pitted scholars and curators against veterans and senators who saw the exhibit's `revisionism' as anti-American. The debate ended in an exhibition that reaffirmed the stability of the official narrative (296). The final section discusses the long-term psychological, moral, and political implications of the decision to drop the atomic bomb. The American public has largely supported the decision while experiencing severe anxiety towards the atomic age. Also, a moral inversion was required to view the catastrophe as a preserver, rather than a destroyer of life; to avoid culpability and invoke virtue in the act (307). Finally, the secrecy and concealment that surrounded the Manhattan Project itself and the long-term effects of radiation, both on Japanese and Americans, set a precedent that authors see echoes of in Vietnam, Watergate, and Iran-Contra (332). Despite the dismal picture previously described, the authors show signs of hope in their conclusion: "Confronting Hiroshima can be a powerful source of renewal. It can enable us to emerge from nuclear entrapment and rediscover our imaginative capacities on behalf of human good" (356).
In the end, what the reader finds in Hiroshima in America is a picture of a nation dealing with an identity crisis. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki disrupts a nationalist narrative grounded on America's moral supremacy, requiring historical distortions, psychological conditioning, and moral inversions to retain a sense of coherence. Lifton and Mitchell suggests that we are experiencing "a `Hiroshima syndrome' that prevents us from taking a truly moral stand on the weaponry, lest our 1945 actions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki become retrospectively unethical and unlawful--in the eyes of the world and, still more troubling, our own eyes as well" (313).

HIROSHIMA IN AMERICA: FIFTY YEARS OF DENIAL is required reading
for a class I am presently taking on Hiroshima, but it should be
required reading for everyone in America. I found the book to be
both interesting and intriguing. The authors, Lifton and Mitchell, give a
very detailed account of how the Americans treated and responded
to the dropping of the A-bomb and its effects on the Japanese people
living there. HIROSHIMA also offers insight into the political
action and reaction of the bombing with unbelievable documentation
and research from the War Department and the White House.
For those in America who may wonder about the events surrounding
the bomb, HIROSHIMA IN AMERICA offers one of the best sources of information by far!