Central Question: Is it possible to discover the true story behind the decision to drop the atomic bomb?

Abstract

photographic print, Second atomic bombing of Nagasaki, 1945 August, LOC

Textbooks struggle with the portrayal of the American decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japanese cities in August 1945. Because the subject is both extraordinarily complex and sometimes controversial, textbooks have struck a number of compromises in an attempt to present the story accurately and fairly. Most recently, those compromises involve presenting voices from a variety of perspectives with limited interpretation.

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