Pseudonymous d'Elder's Reviews > Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II

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I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. --William Tecumseh Sherman

The war in the Pacific seems to be nearing an end, but

>President Roosevelt had previously declared that the U.S. would never accept anything less than Japan’s unconditional surrender.

>Few Japanese officials will accept surrender except under the condition that the Emperor be retained.

>The powerful radical groups in Japan’s army and navy vow to never surrender, to fight to the last man (and last woman and child if necessary).

>The U.S. forces are preparing for an invasion of Japan, but it is estimated that such an invasion could initially cost 500,000 or more American lives.

>The atomic bombs are ready to be deployed, but some U.S. officials oppose using them on civilian populations. Others want to burn every Japanese city to the ground.

>Even after the A-bombs are deployed, secret organizations of Japanese military officers threaten to assassinate officials who advocate surrendering.

If you are interested in WWII beyond the events on the battlefields, this is a book you should read.

Note: In the Epilogue the author builds the case that bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have saved millions of Japanese lives in the long term and millions more lives of Asians who were caught in the brutal occupation of their lands. You be the judge.