Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World (Chris Wallace’s Countdown Series)

by Chris Wallace

Hardcover, 2020

Genres

History

General Nonfiction

Nonfiction

All Topics

Collection

Diamond Building Library

Publication

Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster (2020), Edition: Illustrated, 320 pages

Description

History. Military. Nonfiction. HTML:The #1 national bestselling "riveting" (The New York Times), "propulsive" (Time) behind-the-scenes account "that reads like a tense thriller" (The Washington Post) of the 116 days leading up to the American attack on Hiroshima by veteran journalist and anchor of Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace. April 12, 1945: After years of bloody conflict in Europe and the Pacific, America is stunned by news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death. In an instant, Vice President Harry Truman, who has been kept out of war planning and knows nothing of the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop the world's first atomic bomb, must assume command of a nation at war on multiple continents�??and confront one of the most consequential decisions in history. Countdown 1945 tells the gripping true story of the turbulent days, weeks, and months to follow, leading up to August 6, 1945, when Truman gives the order to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. In Countdown 1945, Chris Wallace, the veteran journalist and anchor of Fox News Sunday, takes readers inside the minds of the iconic and elusive figures who join the quest for the bomb, each for different reasons: the legendary Albert Einstein, who eventually calls his vocal support for the atomic bomb "the one great mistake in my life"; lead researcher J. Robert "Oppie" Oppenheimer and the Soviet spies who secretly infiltrate his team; the fiercely competitive pilots of the plane selected to drop the bomb; and many more. Perhaps most of all, Countdown 1945 is the story of an untested new president confronting a decision that he knows will change the world forever. But more than a book about the atomic bomb, Countdown 1945 is also an unforgettable account of the lives of ordinary American and Japanese civilians in wartime�??from "Calutron Girls" like Ruth Sisson in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to ten-year-old Hiroshima resident Hideko Tamura, who survives the blast at ground zero but loses her mother and later immigrates to the United States, where she lives to this day�??as well as American soldiers fighting in the Pacific, waiting in fear for the order to launch a possible invasion of Japan. Told with vigor, intelligence, and humanity, Countdown 1945 is the definitive account of one of the most significant moments in… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member maneekuhi

Though I had my general comments fixed in my head prior to putting pen to paper and reviewing Wallace’s “Countdown 1945” (C45), I thought I’d check what other readers had written to see if I could be persuaded to alter what I had in mind. I skimmed many Amazon reviews and they were pretty

much what I expected. Overall, a 4.2 average rating which is a nice solid number but not a rave by any stretch, nor a clunk. The distribution had two humps, a bit unusual. A very high number of 5 stars as expected, but a surprisingly high number of 1 stars as well, with a deeper than usual valley in the middle. So, a case of love it or hate it. And I suspect after looking at some comments, both sides of the coin seemed to be occasionally influenced by political considerations.

I’ve read a fair amount of WWll history, and I didn’t learn much new in this book. I should add that I have also visited some of the key sites described in the book, including the Trinity test area and Los Alamos (a small museum is one of the few reminders of what happened there). I also visited the “reception office” in Santa Fe where new hires were directed before transportation to their new “secret home town”, about 40-50 miles northwest.

C45 is a fast, easy read; it has only 276 pages, and many of those have photos. Wallace skims over several issues, options and key players and teams, including the crew of the bomber, the Enola Gay. Much of the writing is very anecdotal.

Wallace tries to explain why he wrote this book, but that part of the book seemed a bit lame. I read some speculation the this might be the first of a series of “Countdown” books. Maybe Chris is going to school on one of his former Fox colleagues…..? I think this may be a good book for a high school student to read. After all it does cover one of the most critical events of the last century, and one that we still live with today. Overall C45 is a good primer but hardly a noteworthy history book.

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LibraryThing member jmcdbooks

Rated: C+
Loved the "countdown" aspect of the book. Not much new. Timely publication given that we commemorate the 75 year of the first atomic bomb. Praise God that the USA is the only country that has used atomic energy as a weapon. It helped end a war that would have cost more loss of life than

through conventional means of warfare.
"It's really hard to talk about morality and war in the same sentence." (Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, navigator on the Enola Gay)
"Humane warfare is an oxymoran. War by definition is barbaric. To try and distinguish between an acceptable method of killing and an unacceptable method is ludicrous". (Jason Beser, radar specialist on the Enola Gay)

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LibraryThing member Susan.Macura

Kudos to author Chris Wallace. He takes an important time period in our history and describes it from various points of view, putting a human face on history. He also examines how the use of the first nuclear bomb impacted world history. This is a well-written and well-researched tale of how the

atomic bombs that destroyed two cities in Japan during WW II affected so many people as well as our nation's history. I enjoyed reading it and learned a great deal from this book. I hope Wallace finds another topic he is as passionate about.

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LibraryThing member kaulsu

Day by day leading up to detonation? Not quite. But still, interesting to read of the qualms some had prior to detonation. The Japanese professor who taught Japanese history at American University was of the mind that only the second bomb’s detonation ended the war.

I’ve read a bit about WWII,

but never anything about the crew of the Enola Gay. For me, this was a page turner.

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LibraryThing member mainrun

Even though I knew how this ended, the build up was amazing. Very well done, and the countdown to the last few hours was page turning. I do not read many non-fiction books. Even though I enjoyed this one, I suspect I will not start reading more non-fiction. I added this to my 'recommended books'

though, so am interested to see any suggestions LibraryThing makes.
9/8/2020; 86 members; 4.00 average rating

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LibraryThing member cakecop

A quick read that is similar to a screenplay. It has several characters and interesting historical scenes. An interesting approach where all the description and action leads up to the final explosion.

LibraryThing member swmproblems

Incredible and easy to read. I knew Chris Wallace wouldn't bring anything less than 5 stars. Didn't disappoint.

LibraryThing member DeaconBernie

Except for one startling fact, there is not much in this book that hasn't already come to print. The startling fact has nothing to do with the subject manner and everything to do with the author. He spent the night before Mr. Trump's State of the Union address in the special in Sam Rayburn's

hideaway in the Capitol as a guest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. To be an invitee to such a place is to be well thought of by the person who issued the invite.
The prose of this book is good. It moves along. In the end, it dwells on the old question of the morality of using such a weapon. It is surprising how much the morality of using the Atom Bomb parallels our current gun debate. Since World War II, we've fought four significant wars, only one of which was conclusive. We've spent treasure in lives and stuff, but to what purpose? And, unlike the heady days of the late 1940s, elation has eluded us after all of them. I'm not a peacenik, never was and never will be. Still, from where I sit, the only real accomplishment of any of those four wars was the killing of Osama bin Laden, and that was not an immediate effect of us being at war at the time.

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LibraryThing member buffalogr

In the beginning, I almost tossed this book because it was a rehash of what's already been written.....and written...and written. But, I stayed with it and learned a few things about 1945. Author covers subject by vignettes from several perspectives: Truman, Tibbets, a Japanese girl. The prose of

this book is good. It moves along. There was some moralizing; for example "It's really hard to talk about morality and war in the same sentence." (Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, navigator on the Enola Gay) and it wasn't really thought provoking, since morality was already considered many times.

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LibraryThing member dsha67

Countdown by Chris Wallace provides a basic overview of the foundations of the Manhattan Project, but its emphasis is on the last 3 months of World War II. The book covers major participants in the development of the atomic bomb, those involved in the decisions on if, how and where to use it and

those who actually participated in the missions to drop the two atomic bombs.

The book spends time describing the deliberations of the interim committee and advice on if and where to use the bomb. The committee included Henry Stimson, James Connant, Jimmy Byrnes and Vannevar Bush. The book also covers those involved in the dropping if the bomb.

A concise well written book on the controversial topic, it also provides feedback on many involved on their decision/involvement in the dropping of the bomb.

I would recommend this book.

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LibraryThing member stevesbookstuff

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” ― Oppenheimer's translation from the Bhagavad Gita

2020 is seventy-five years removed from 1945, when the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, making us the first and still the only country to use atomic weapons in war.

Countdown 1945 is Chris Wallace's telling of the events during the 116 days from the death of Roosevelt until the atomic bombing at Hiroshima.

The "countdown" structure helps to move the story along and provides a tight focus for the short book (under 250 pages for the book, 8 hours 45 minutes for the audiobook). Wallace uses the structure to move the action back and forth through the main players - President Harry Truman who makes the decision to use the bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer and crew who labor at Los Alamos to perfect it, Paul Tibbets and his team who dropped the bomb, and Hideko Tamura, whose family lives through the atomic blast.

If this is your introduction to the story of the development of the atomic bomb, you won't be disappointed. Wallace's telling is brisk and keeps the pages turning. My problem with the book is that in order to keep it a page turner, much of the background and context of the story is left out. It's a fascinating time in history, and if you like this book I'd encourage you to seek out others like McCullough's Truman, Neiburg's Potsdam, Bird and Sherwin's American Promethius and Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb.

I read the audiobook, narrated by the author, whose confident newsreader's voice lends itself well to this story.

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LibraryThing member B29Museum

Outstanding story telling

LibraryThing member Hedgepeth

This is a well researched and organized account of President Truman learning of and making the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The historical account is free of editorial commentary. That is reserved for the epilogue.

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