Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the surrender of Japan

REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND Most of us have an opinion about the two atomic attacks made by the United States on Japan in August 1945, which brought about the end of the Second World War, and most of us probably think we understand more or less what happened. With the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki later this year, debate about the whole subject will surely resurface – not that it has ever really gone away. It is timely, then, for Richard Overy, one of Britain’s most distinguished historians, to present Rain of Ruin, a crisp and brief account of the American strategic bombing campaign against Japan through the entirety of the war. Overy’s purpose with