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Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World Audiobook
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Publisher Description
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 nature of these experimental weapons. The cover-up intensified as Occupation forces closed the atomic cities to Allied reporters, preventing leaks about the horrific long-term effects of radiation which would kill thousands during the months after the blast. 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.
As Hersey and his editors prepared his article for publication, they kept the story secret—even from most of their New Yorker colleagues. 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 75th 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.
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“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.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Quotes
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“Fallout is gripping history. A big, important story; deeply researched and well told.”
— Dan Rather, American broadcast journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author -
“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.”
— Carl Bernstein, American journalist and New York Times bestselling author -
“Fallout is a warning without being a polemic…[with] her clear narrative structure; her compelling stories, subplots, and insights.”
— New York Times -
“Blume skillfully reconstructs the players involved and the hidden history of one of the greatest cover-ups in modern history.”
— Town & Country -
“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.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Fallout serves as an essential reminder of the lessons we once learned from Hersey’s reporting.”
— William J. Perry, nineteenth US Secretary of Defense
Awards
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A New York Times Notable Book of 2020
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A Vanity Fair Magazine Pick of Best Books of the Year
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A Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year selection
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A New York Times Book Review pick of Best Books Now in Paperback
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About Lesley M. M. Blume
Lesley M. M. Blume is a Los Angeles-based journalist, author, and biographer. Her nonfiction books include Everybody Behaves Badly and Fallout, chosen as a best book of the year by the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Publishers Weekly. Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Paris Review.
About Fred Sanders
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.