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‘Iain MacGregor’s impeccably researched account of the first use of nuclear weapons in war is a timely reminder of the horrors they unleash on the world.’ÌýThe Spectator

An epic,Ìýriveting history based on new interviews and research that elucidates the approval, construction, and fateful decision to drop the atomic bombÌýon Hiroshima.

At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the Japanese port city of Hiroshima was struck by the world’s first atomic bomb. Built in the US by the top-secret Manhattan Project and delivered by a B-29 Superfortress, a revolutionary long-range bomber, the weapon destroyed large swaths of the city, instantly killing tens of thousands. The world would never be the same.

ÌýThe Hiroshima Men’sÌývividÌýnarrative recounts the decade-long journey toward this first atomic attack. It charts the race forÌýthe bombÌýduring World War II, as the Allies fought the Axis powers, and is told through several key characters: General Leslie Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project alongside Robert Oppenheimer; pioneering Army Air Force pilot Colonel Paul Tibbets Jr.; the mayor of Hiroshima, SenkichiÌýAwaya, who would die alongside eightyÌýthousandÌýfellow citizens; and Pulitzer Prize–winning writerÌýJohn Hersey, who travelled to JapanÌýfor theÌýNew YorkerÌýto expose the devastation the bomb inflicted on the city andÌýtoÌýdescribe in unflinching detail the dangers posed by radiation poisoning.

This thrilling account takes the reader from the corridors of power in the White House and the Pentagon to the test sites of New Mexico; from theÌýair war above Germany to the Potsdam Conference of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin; fromÌýthe savage reconquest of the Pacific to the deadly firebombing air raids across Japan.ÌýThe Hiroshima Men also includes Japanese perspectives—a vital aspect often missing from Western narratives—to complete Iain MacGregor’s nuanced, deeply human account of the bombing’s meaning and aftermath.

Ìýis a highly successful publisher of history, a writer, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His latest book is a vivid account of one of history’s most significant events: the race for nuclear technology, and the fateful decision by the USA to drop the world’s first atomic bomb that would bring about the end of the war with Japan. Based on new research and interviews with eyewitnesses on both sides, Iain’s powerful narrative charts the story of how WWII in the Pacific ushered in the nuclear age we live in today – all through the lives of key individuals.