Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World

ONE of THE NEW YORK TIMES'S 100 NOTABLE BOOKS of the YEAR * A VANITY FAIR and TOWN & COUNTRY BEST BOOK of the YEAR * New York Times bestselling author Lesley M.M. Blume reveals how one courageous American reporter uncovered one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century--the true effects of the atom bomb--potentially saving millions of lives. Just days after the United States decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. But even before the surrender, the US government and military had begun a secret propaganda and information suppression campaign to hide the devastating effects of these then-experimental weapons. For nearly a year the cover-up worked--until New Yorker journalist John Hersey got into Hiroshima and managed to report the truth to the world. When the magazine published "Hiroshima" in August 1946, it became an instant global sensation, and inspired pervasive horror about the hellish new threat that America had unleashed. Since 1945, no nuclear weapons have ever been deployed in war partly because Hersey alerted the world to their true, devastating impact. This knowledge has remained among the greatest deterrents to using them since the end of World War II. Released on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Fallout is an engrossing detective story, as well as an important piece of hidden history that shows how one heroic scoop saved--and can still save--the world.

About the Author :
Lesley M.M. Blume is a Los Angeles-based journalist, author, and biographer. Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Paris Review, among many other publications. Her last nonfiction book, Everybody Behaves Badly, was a New York Times bestseller. Fred Sanders, an actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator, has received critics' praise for his audio narrations that range from nonfiction, memoir, and fiction to mystery and suspense. He been seen on Broadway in The Buddy Holly Story, in national tours for Driving Miss Daisy and Big River, and on such television shows as Seinfeld, The West Wing, Will and Grace, Numb3rs, Titus, and Malcolm in the Middle. His films include Sea of Love, The Shadow, and the Oscar-nominated short Culture. He is a native New Yorker and Yale graduate.

Review :

"Fallout serves as an essential reminder of the lessons we once learned from Hersey's reporting."

"Fallout is a warning without being a polemic...[with] her clear narrative structure; her compelling stories, subplots, and insights."

"Fallout is gripping history. A big, important story; deeply researched and well told."

"A thrilling behind-the-scenes account..[that] vividly captures a pre-television era when evidence of the nuclear fallout was suppressed by the US government."

"Blume skillfully reconstructs the players involved and the hidden history of one of the greatest cover-ups in modern history."

"Fascinating...Blume's narrative...never flags in its drama. The author also provides endlessly interesting anecdotes about the aftermath of the publication of 'Hiroshima'...Highly recommended as a work of historical excavation regarding a watershed publication."

"Here, finally discovered, is the dramatic story of how Hersey...produced what is widely regarded as the greatest piece of American journalism of the twentieth century."