Books: “Countdown 1945” by Chris Wallace (review from 2020)

Strange coincidence that on the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima, my request for “Countdown 1945” came through at my local library. Chris Wallace will never be as great a writer as John Hersey was, but he doesn’t have to be: the story of the atomic bomb, from the building of Los Alamos to Oppenheimer’s anguish to the day the nuclear blast killed 139,000 people, has enough drama going for it.

The device here is the countdown till the final hours on August 6, which keeps you turning pages right through to Japan’s unconditional surrender on August 10. For those of you who want to know about what other options existed at the time (e.g. an invasion of Japan planned for 1946), or what the bigwigs thought about dropping the bomb (Truman reluctantly for, Eisenhower against), the book will not disappoint. You also learn the origin of the name “Enola Gay.” No spoilers here. The element of surprise, you know?