num_pages: 512
description: In a riveting narrative that includes information from newly declassified documents, acclaimed historian Richard B. Frank gives a scrupulously detailed explanation of the critical months leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb. Frank explains how American leaders learned in the summer of 1945 that their alternate strategy to end the war by invasion had been shattered by the massive Japanese buildup on Kyushu, and that intercepted diplomatic documents also revealed the dismal prospects of negotiation. Here also, for the first time, is a comprehensive account of how Japan's leaders were willing to risk complete annihilation to preserve the nation's existing order. Frank's comprehensive account demolishes long-standing myths with the stark realities of this great historical controversy.
language: English
title: Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
titlecomplete: Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
genres: Asia, Japanese History, Military Fiction, American History, Japan, War, Nonfiction, History, Military History, World War II
ratings_count: 1064
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Harry S. Truman Book Award
publisher: Penguin Books