Shockwave

Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima (2005) by Stephen Walker. In this painstakingly researched volume, Walker explores a brief period in the summer of 1945, during which the first atomic bomb was tested and the second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. He portrays both the wonder and the horror of this new category of weapon, talking to people who designed and delivered the bomb, and to survivors of the Hiroshima blast. Even though we know what happened, this angle on the history of the bomb makes compelling reading. Grade: B+