"Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World" by Lesley M.M. Blume is a riveting and meticulously researched account of one of the most consequential chapters in the aftermath of World War II. Blume delves into the story of John Hersey, a journalist whose groundbreaking reporting exposed the truth about the devastating impact of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and the subsequent efforts to suppress that information. Blume also sheds light on the broader context of the Hiroshima cover-up, exploring the motivations behind the U.S. government's efforts to control the narrative surrounding the atomic bomb. She examines the role of propaganda, censorship, and Cold War politics in shaping public perceptions of the bomb and its aftermath, revealing the extent to which the truth was manipulated and obscured in the name of national security.

I had heard about Hiroshima (the book) in some of my peace studies but it wasn't something we ever read. We also never really got into how it fits into history, why it was so impactful, and everything it ushered into existence, and Fallout does a really good job at doing all of this, and it's an especially important read considering that nuclear war and distortions of the truth are big problems now. Memories are fading

An amazing story behind the story!
Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to review this book pre-publication.

First of all.... lest we forget. Just as Hiroshima, by John Hersey was critical at the time of its publication, Fallout, is now critical as we approach another significant anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. And Blume tells the story of just how Hersey's work came about, revealing much of the politics of the time around the development and use of atom bombs. I hope this will teach a whole new generation about this tragedy and that it will inspire them to read Hersey's work as well.

The book is a smooth and compelling read and while it is obvious that much research went into the book, the reader can choose how deeply she/he wants to dive in thanks to extensive notes and references in the back matter. It should be of interest to anyone who cares about the world we live in and would also make a good text for journalism students.

Knowing what we know today about the nuclear bomb and its devastating consequences, it’s so amazing to read this thoroughly researched report on the man who, against all odds, exposed to the world the true damage of the bomb when it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“New Yorker” journalist John Hersey was able to infiltrate Japan, meet with the victims, witness the carnage and report it without being filtered by propaganda and misinformation. This was an emotionally strenuous task taken at great cost by Hersey, who was accustomed to writing articles about pretty flowers, happy thoughts, and good things, not total annihilation by a cruel and ongoing invisible bomb that makes no sound.
John’s approach to conveying the horror is what made it so effective: he centered his article on six survivors, giving them the personable and human story that they deserved to be shared with the world. It’s no stretch of the imagination to believe that if Hersey had not persevered and printed his findings, the world would have easily seen more nuclear bombs in its future wars.
With the release of this book on the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, it’s a lucrative piece of history for anyone with any desire to learn what happened and how the world was irrevocably changed that day.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for making it available.)

Solid, well - written non-fiction story about the writing by John Hershey and the publication by The New Yorker of Hiroshima. I remember reading Hiroshima as a young boy in the early 60s and the terrible images from that book have stayed with me to this day. Ms. Blume's work caused goosebumps as she recounts the courage of John Hershey in getting his story and the editors in publishing it. Well worth reading.

Powerful History. This is a history not of the actual nuclear detonation at Hiroshima, but of one man's efforts to uncover the coverup of just how horrific that nuclear detonation was. On August 31, 1946 - just over a year after said detonation - John Hersey published a four part expose in The New Yorker about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, and its immediate aftermath. It dominated that month's print issue, supplanting both regular (and popular) cartoons and columns, and it would go on to become its generation's Pentagon Papers or Edward Snowden. This book tells *that* history, the history of how Hersey was able to write the expose and its effects, including a discussion of Hersey's followup piece 40 years later called Hiroshima: The Aftermath. And it does the entire history a great deal of justice in its easy to read narrative and comprehensive approach - this is the singular most well documented book I've ever read, with nearly 40% of the text of the book being its bibliography. That it is publishing the week of the 75 anniversary of the bombing is spot-perfect timing as well. Very much recommended.

Footnote: In 2015, The New Yorker published Hersey's original Hiroshima essay on its website, where it remains at least to the time of the writing of this review. If you've never actually read that essay, or indeed are like me and had never even *heard* of that essay before reading this book, I also very much going to that site and reading this 30K word essay on the horrors of nuclear weapons, as told by some of the only people to have been able to tell the tale.

Journalist Blume tells the story behind John Hersey's scoop of a lifetime, namely, his article for The New Yorker on the effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Well-researched, articulate, and written in an urgent yet engaging tone, Fallout is an important read.

In the Trump era, Americans have become inured to constant lying, misdirection and coverups. But this is not new or unique. Lesley Blume has profiled America’s most egregious coverup and the lies surrounding it in Fallout. It’s the story of the making of the earthshaking magazine article Hiroshima, by John Hersey. It’s a fast-paced thriller of a book, with lessons like no other.

America’s atomic bomb was so secret even Vice President Truman didn’t know about it. When FDR died, it fell to Truman to use it for real. He did, and never looked back. And it wasn’t just Truman. General Douglas MacArthur, who led America’s war with Japan, didn’t know either. He was both surprised and annoyed when he found out. Japan surrendered few days later, and MacArthur moved in, imposing total control. Anyone who wanted to visit Japan had to have army clearance, ie. a good enough reason plus the right attitude. They had to follow his rules, or find themselves without food, transport or gas, and if the army didn’t like what they wrote about MacArthur or the USA, they could face court martial. Everything reporters wrote was steered by Public Relations Officers, ie. minders and spies. And everything published had to be pre-approved. The result was of course, a good, clean, heroic war, as far as American media were concerned. Anything the Japanese got, they deserved.

So the news from Japan was ho-hum. Hiroshima was just a big bomb. General Lesley Groves, who headed up the stifling of information for MacArthur, made sure all journalists toed that line. The pabulum that came out of Japanese war reporting was all Americans could get; it was totally managed. Groves even established the widely known “fact” that death from radiation poisoning was “a very pleasant way to die.” He also spread the lie that there was no such thing as long term effects, that everyone who survived merely picked up and went on with their lives. He maintained there was no such thing as radiation diseases. In 1945, Americans had no other information. They did not know about the long term effects, or even the immediate ones. Nuclear was an unknown to world. There was nothing to question about the news from Japan.

For a year after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this was all Americans knew. MacArthur had the whole thing under wraps. As the first anniversary came up, Groves and company didn’t even think it was news any more, that nothing reported now would hurt them. And so they cockily eased off. When John Hersey applied for access to Hiroshima, he got it. What he did with that access changed everything, worldwide.

Hersey tracked down six survivors and interviewed them at great length. They co-operated and he networked his way through the collapse of their world. Their stories of that day were horrifying, and their ailments resulting from it damaged them for life. A hundred thousand died in Hiroshima alone. Cancers continue to flourish.

When the bomb exploded, 1900 feet up, it produced a blinding flash, but no sound. Instead, the pressure caused roofs to plunge, buildings to collapse, and a hurricane wind of broken glass and wood to fly wildly, stabbing everyone and everything. People were burnt to a crisp, or their skin loosened to where it would fall off. People’s eyes burst and drained down their faces. Then the fires erupted.

Hersey collected the data, and didn’t write it out until he left, saving him from having his notes censored or seized by the American military. When he finally got home a week later, he was polishing a 30,000 word (think 150 page) magazine article. It was for the New Yorker, known for its cartoons and not government or humanitarian scandals. (How the New Yorker ended up with John Hersey and the story is a great tale in itself, well told by Blume). The magazine decided to dedicate an entire issue to just this one story. No cartoons, no Talk of the Town, no features.

In a small irony, the New Yorker used the same tactics as the army. Staff knew nothing of the story. They continued to work on a regular issue that would not be published that week. The chief editors closed their office doors and worked on the story and nothing else, often to 2am. No one questioned them. They carried the dummy up to the Connecticut printers themselves. There was no buzz, no rumors, no expectations and no celebrations the day it hit the stands.

When it broke, it caused a nationwide sensation. Wisely, the magazine allowed other media to reproduce it. It took on a life of its own. The article became a book, was translated into two dozen languages, and was the talk of the world. Used copies sold for 20 times the cover price. Americans wanted to understand what really happened, how they were lied to, and what they didn’t know about nuclear weapons and fallout, now that their own country had suddenly begun deploying it. It became the worldwide best-selling book. Albert Einstein asked for a thousand copies to send to his scientist contacts around the world, and the New Yorker obliged.

What was stunning was the John Hersey and the New Yorker had scooped the world, a full year after the fact. No one thought it was a story worth following up. It was just war, and the war was over. Even the army had no fears that anyone would be interested.

The New Yorker had wisely sent the manuscript directly to General Groves for pre-approval, avoiding the likelihood that some lower rank censor would reduce it to nothing or reject it out of hand. Groves approved it, thinking nothing would be able to overcome the army’s yearlong hammering of the media and indoctrination of the public. And the New Yorker had no national footprint, unlike Time Magazine or the New York Times. The editors’ gamble worked; Groves asked for trivial changes only.

The global effect of the New Yorker story caught the army and the government by surprise. They obfuscated and denied, but then commissioned a blue-ribbon committee to counteract it. McGeorge Bundy and Henry Stimson, both unassailable names, were drafted to lead the counterattack. They pontificated that the atom bomb shortened the war, saved money by sending one bomb where thousands would have been needed to do the same job, and actually saved lives by scaring everyone out of continuing.

Meanwhile, the Russians got approval to send someone to Hiroshima. He reported there was no evidence of anything the article said. It was all just American propaganda. But somehow, Russian support of the army’s position did not mollify the rest of the world. Antinuclear groups formed, the nuclear Armageddon clock was created, and the world became hyper-aware and super-scared of the new nuclear threat hanging over it.

Hiroshima was the largest attack on a civilian population in history, and the US worked hard to cover it up. It almost succeeded. Blume’s message in Fallout is that although the whole world was stunned by the truth about Hiroshima, the world has also long forgotten. She says every generation seems to require a lesson in it. Nuclear war cannot be allowed to happen. Fallout from nuclear weapons will pollute the land, sea and air- and therefore all living things, far beyond human lifetimes. The horrors should not be permitted to fade from memory.

Today, Americans have few qualms about “nuking” another country (lately North Korea or Iran) and starting a nuclear war. Americans suffer from the same disease everyone always has: the farther you are from the front lines, the easier it is to push for the most violent action. As one CBS radio commentator said after reading the Hersey story: If an article like Hiroshima couldn’t save the world, nothing could.

David Wineberg

Shocking and poignant, Fallout is the story of the atomic attack on Hiroshima and the reporter, John Hersey, who uncovered the human cost despite a world-wide cover up. Hersey was able to single handedly humanize the Japanese victims of the bomb attack to the American public when the government refused to acknowledge their wrong-doing - or the tragic long-term effects of the atom. Following from the inception of the article, Hersey's visit to Japan and interviews with the six survivors, the printing of the article in the New Yorker, and the aftermath, Fallout is a must read for a new generation in this post-atomic world.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.