The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb and the Fateful Decision to Use It
At 8.15am on 6 August 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 Hiroshima Men’s unique narrative recounts the decade-long journey towards this first atomic attack seen through the experiences of several key characters: General Leslie Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project alongside Robert Oppenheimer; pioneering Army Air Force bomber pilot Colonel Paul Tibbetts II; the mayor of Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Hersey, who travelled to post-war Japan to expose the devastation the bomb had inflicted upon the city.
