Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age Hardcover – August 6, 2020

ATOMIC DOCTORS is an important work. It is not casual, easy reading, nor can it be given the subject matter. The author tackles the difficult and complicated history behind the development and use of nuclear weapons including huge personalities with conflicting agendas. One of the themes that jumped out was the management of public relations before and after the events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even “facts” can be manipulated to shade the truth and manage the narrative given to the general public. The author uses a great variety of sources, including personal interviews to attempt to balance that narrative of what happened and why.To make matters yet more excruciating to analyze -- his grandfather James F. Nolan MD., unbeknownst to the author until recently, was at the center of it. If you engage with the material and consider its ongoing implications, the reward will be yours. The “reward” however means having to encounter the dilemmas, quandaries, and complexities highlighted in this book. Not only this work however, it will force your consideration of such complexities in your personal life vis-à-vis current events: new technology in all its forms, climate change, beneficial uses of dangerous materials (nuclear and otherwise), mask use in the era of Covid-19, and the mundane everyday choice of your dish soap (petroleum-based or not).Do not speed read this book. To take a clip from page 211, “…pay attention, reason, be patient, read deeply…” This may allow you to gain a new perspective on old events. It did for me.

A fascinating book. It is hard to believe how causally many people treated radiation. It is also shocking to discovery how we treated the islanders in the Pacific on islands such as Bikini. Did we really need dozens of atomic bomb tests? Although the research on the atomic bomb started very early in the war at a time when it was not apparent that we would win, by 1945 we knew that bombing alone was not likely to force a country to surrender. Britain never surrendered, nor would have as long as Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, spite of horrific bombing. Germany never surrendered, despite massive bombing, until the Red Army reached Berlin. If the coup against the Japanese emperor had succeeded, would Japan have surrendered even after two atomic bombs?

The interesting part is an analysis of radioactive fallout after an atomic detonation. In the aftermath of Hiroshima, the US and General Groves in particular, blatantly lied about the effects of radioactive particles on humans. This interesting part is about the first half of the book. The rest is left leaning tripe about technology in general and its ill effects.

I have been studying the Cold War since the 1980s. One can't do that without studying World War 1 & 2 and the Manhattan Project. Mr. Nolan's work does a great job of filling in some of the details and lives of supporting characters in the Manhattan Project with his grandfather's notes & diaries. My only criticism is that he does not present the attacks on Hiroshima & Nagasaki in perspective and falls into the trap that I best describe as, 'The Japanese were just sitting there, next thing they knew, people were nuking them.' It's the same line that the Japanese have been using since they lost the war. They like to point to all the civilian casualties without mentioning why they were nuked in the first place.Although the Empire of Japan ("EOJ") may not have been the made for television bad guys that were the Nazis, they had been racking up an impressive list of atrocities since their invasion of Manchuria in 1931. By 1945, approximately 8000 Asian civilian non-combatants were dying under the thumb of the EOJ per day. Exact figures are hard to come by, but, conservative estimates place deaths due to the EOJ at around 25,000,000.While one can argue that the EOJ had lost the war by perhaps as early as December 1944, they showed no signs of quitting. Burn 3/4 of Tokyo in the spring of 1945, Start ticking cities off the list with fire raids, turn most of the IJN Navy into reefs, etc., etc., they wouldn't quit. The Japanese were Monty Python's Black Knight of World War 2.So how does one get the Emperor's attention and explain that he had been defeated at every turn? Well, having the Marines confront him at gunpoint after a costly land invasion. Or, they could try these new bombs. Yes, there were several hundred thousand casualties; yes, some of them died due to unappreciated/ unexpected effects of radiation. Their deaths had to be put into perspective of the thousands at the hands of the Japanese and the hundreds of thousands that died during the bombing of Japan.So, Mr. Nolan's book is a good read. Well written. I have added it to my library. He also lacks perspective.

I don't find this account to be credible because the author claims the U-235 bomb was delivered to Tinian Island on the same U.S.S. Indianapolis that delivered the Plutonium Implosion Device that was dropped secondly on Nagasaki. How could two different designs, using two different types of fuel be perfected at the exact same time and delivered by the same cruiser? (What a risk that would be! The ship may have been sunk on the way).I have read many books on the subject and NO ONE has described WHEN the first bomb (dropped on Hiroshima) was perfected, tested, and delivered to Tinian Island. It seems to be a top secret. You can see the problem. If the first bomb dropped was ready three months earlier and it wasn't used, people would ask why wasn't the war ended sooner. And where was the U-235 bomb tested, Port Chicago?Why would you drop an untested bomb first on Hiroshima, and only AFTER the Plutonium Trinity Test was a success. This account of the delivery of Little Boy lacks credibility, and that aspect of events is not footnoted.

About a third through this book, I realized the names were coming at me fast and furious with little context and numbing sameness. Accidental radiation exposure, hushed up by supervisors under guise of total security. Some survive, some die agonizing deaths. Skimmed rest of the book, saw same scenario. Put it down.