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In this hard-hitting, thoroughly researched, and crisply argued book, award-winning historian Robert P. Newman offers a fresh perspective on the dispute over President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in World War II. Newman's argument centers on the controversy that erupted around the National Air and Space Museum's (NASM) exhibit of Enola Gay in 1995.
Newman explores the tremendous challenges that NASM faced when trying to construct a narrative that would satisfy American veterans and the Japanese, as well as accurately reflect the current historical research on both the period and the bomb. His full-scale investigation of the historical dispute results in a compelling story of how and why our views about the bombing of Japan have evolved since its occurrence.
Enola Gay and the Court of History is compulsory reading for all those interested in the history of the Pacific war, the morality of war, and the failed NASM exhibition. The book offers the final word on the debate over Truman's decision to drop the bomb.
About the author
The Author: Robert P. Newman is a distinguished historian and writer, and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh. He has published numerous articles and essays on World War II and the Cold War. His first book,
The Cold War Romance of Lillian Hellman and John Melby , received the Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book on Human Rights Award. More recently, his book
Owen Lattimore and the Loss of China was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and reviewed in over forty publications.
