How long does it take to read Hiroshima?
why America dropped the atomic bomb
Hiroshima by Ronald Takaki takes about 3 hours 32 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 32 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1995. 193 pages, about 53,075 words.
8 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 5 hours 54 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 32 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 13 minutes |
The page count is the median across 3 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The bombing of Hiroshima was one of the pivotal events of the twentieth century, yet this controversial question remains unresolved. At the time, General Dwight Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur, and chief of staff Admiral William Leahy all agreed that an atomic attack on Japanese cities was unnecessary. All of them believed that Japan had already been beaten and that the war would soon end. Was the bomb dropped to end the war more quickly? Or did it herald the start of the Cold War? In his probing new study, prizewinning historian Ronald Takaki explores these factors and more. He considers the cultural context of race - the ways in which stereotypes of the Japanese influenced public opinion and policymakers - and also probes the human dimension. Relying on top secret military reports, diaries, and personal letters, Takaki relates international policies to the individuals involved: Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer, Secretary of State James Byrnes, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and others... but above all, Harry Truman.
Subjects: Atomic bomb, Campaigns, History, Japan, Politics and government, Strategy
