New Book: "Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki"

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In my latest book (print or e-book) "Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and The Greatest Movie Never Made," I probe a turning point in U.S. history: the suppression of film footage, for decades, shot by a U.S. Army unit in the atomic cities -- a wrong turn with staggering consequences even today. This is a detective story, a profile of two remarkable military officers, and one of the last little-told stories of World War II. The cover-up even extended to MGM and Hollywood--and to President Truman. And there was no WikiLeaks to get the film aired.

Print book at $13. Or E-book version just $3.99 (for Kindle, all phones, iPads, Blackberry, PCs) at Amazon here: http://amzn.to/omgBsE You do NOT need a KIndle. My email: epic1934@aol.com

As co-author of the classic "Hiroshima in America" and eleven other books, I've written about elements of this story for leading newspapers and magazines, but now I tell the full saga here, based on new research -- from the Truman Library to Nagasaki.

Praise for my "Hiroshima in America" book: "A great book" -- Los Angeles Times. "Compelling reading." -- The New York Times. "Excellent." -- The Washington Post. All front page reviews.

The new book opens this way: "This is the story of twenty hours of film footage, blazing with color, shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early 1946 by a U.S. military crew, that would change the lives of many people, including two American soldiers, and me. Its effect on us, and others, is deep and mysterious, because the film was hidden for decades and almost no one could see it, although that is also why its influence on each of us was so profound. While this unique and disturbing color film languished in obscurity, the atomic bombings nearly fell into 'a hole in human history,' as the writer Mary McCarthy observed, and a costly nuclear arms race ensued. A myriad of nuclear threats plague us to this day."

How did this happen? Why? And what did the two military officers, Daniel McGovern and Herbert Sussan, try to do about it, for decades? "Atomic Cover-up" answers all of these questions in a quick-paced but often surprising narrative.

Robert Jay Lifton, author of "Death in Life" (winner of the National Book Award) and numerous other acclaimed books, writes: "Greg Mitchell has been a leading chronicler for many years of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and American behavior toward them. Now he has written the first book devoted to the suppression of historic film footage shot by Japanese and Americans in the atomic cities in 1945 and 1946. This cover-up paved the way for the costly and dangerous nuclear arms race and contributed to the widespread reliance on nuclear power."

Trailer for the book created an edited by Andrew Mitchell. Music, of course, by Beethoven, from piano sonata no. 7.

• Category

  News & Politics

[Chibi Mie]

It is not "history" (if you mean past, irrelevant, unnecessary) because in fact children in the U.S. are not taught this reality. Recently declassified documents have helped clarify just how the dropping of these two atomic bombs had not much to do with hastening the end of war or saving lives (on both sides), but of having invested heavily in a technology the U.S. leadership was eager to "test" on live civilian populations (how else to refer to two cities?) and to make a statement to Russia.

[trdelta38]

"BUY MY E-Book!" Learn how monstrous Americans were to the JAPS! Yeah, if you have the guts, fly down here and try selling that to the countries on the Pacific Rim! We who fought the monstrous SOBs or who were occupied and/or had grand mothers raped as "comfort women", mates used for bayonet practice or were publicly beheaded,POW's starved & worked to death. No, it is you & your socialist loony logic, blind to realityYOUR SOCIALIST mass movements became mass murdering dictatorships & WW II.

[publicmario17]

No, it won't work. After the Hiroshima bombing, the Japanese cabinets were informed it was an A-bomb yet they voted to continue the war despite of it. Demonstration would have never worked.

[supercrisp]

All this is unnecessary guesswork about the diplomacy and strategy behind the decision to use nuclear weapons. The diplomatic cables and conversations are largely no longer classified as secret. One easy way to get them is in the book Hiroshima's Shadow, which gathers all the resources together. However, do note that the book seeks to debunk some of the popular beliefs about the decision.

[rivetgunner]

Half-truth. "Japs Offer to Surrender if Hirohito Keeps Throne" well before Hiroshima. Google it.

[qeynoshills]

The ultimate lesson is about how we treat one another as human race rather than a game of blame between 2 different perceptions. Logic fails when it involves killing people, so a debate like this will never end and that's why a solution based on killing people is a bad idea. I don't know what a better solution is, but I suspect this history will repeat itself given our dependence on logic to find solutions to this sort of problem.

[Heatman6266]

at what cost I'll tell you. Millions would have died if we started a invasion and do you think dropping a atomic bomb on wasteland will make Japan surrender. Japan would call us cowards and say we don't have the guts to drop the bomb. What are you implying that soldiers are savages and don't have a family.

[Heatman6266]

Thats bullshit. Japan would not surrender even after the two bombs fell until two weeks later.

[MsMishaSmith]

This is Soooo history