Shockwave

Countdown to Hiroshima

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Shockwave

By: Stephen Walker

Narrated by: Colin Mace

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About this listen

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

‘A stunning book, among the most immediate and thrilling works of history I have ever read’

At 8:15am on August 6th 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In an instant, the temperature at its core rose to millions of degrees. Sixty-thousand buildings were obliterated. A third of the city’s population died, by heat, by the blast, and by a terrible new weapon in the history of warfare: radiation.

In this riveting account, Stephen Walker follows the stories of real people in the extraordinary weeks leading up to the explosion and in its aftermath. From the atomic engineer who armed the bomb in mid-air to the Japanese doctors treating thousands of burnt bodies on the ground. From the flight crews and scientists to world leaders and civilian victims. With intimate testimony and remarkable stories, this is the startling narrative behind the dawn of the atomic age.

Stephen WalkerColin MaceWilliam Collins

20th Century

Asia

Engineering

Japan

Military

Modern

Weapons & Warfare

Imperial Japan

War

Air Force

20th Century Asia Engineering Japan Military Modern Weapons & Warfare Imperial Japan War Air Force

Critic reviews

‘Shockwave is a stunning book, among the most immediate and thrilling works of history I have ever read.’ Irish Times

‘This is an utterly gripping work of micro-history … [Walker] proves himself a master of dramatic tension.’
Sunday Express

‘The excitement of the time is wonderfully captured in Walker’s Shockwave. Brilliant.’
Financial Times

‘Devastating.’
Daily Mail

‘Timely and harrowing …succeeds in creating a dramatized documentary of the moment that changed history.’
Scotland on Sunday

‘A roller-coaster ride through the memories of American servicemen, Japanese soldiers and civilians…invites comparison with John Hersey’s still-classic Hiroshima.’
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Superb …Walker writes with a sense of urgency and high drama.’
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

‘Uniquely readable, immediate and human …an exceptionally taut and revealing chronicle.’
Booklist (Starred Review)

‘Dramatic …an important page-turner.’
Entertainment Weekly

‘Remarkable. I have been waiting for this book for sixty years.’
Gitta Sereny, author of Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth

‘Electrifying …The tension and concentration of Walker’s thriller-like prose elicits a visceral response.’ Chicago Tribune

Most relevant

This is one of the best researched and narrated audiobooks I have listened to. Science and history are two of my favourite topics and this book is the perfect combination of both, The story is conveyed in chronological order from the "concept" of nuclear fission through to the awful consequences of unleashing atomic energy. There is an indepth biography of those directly and indirectly involved in the development and deployment of the first atomic bomb. The downside to such an incredible example of human determination is the acknowledgment that we are capable of such devastating harm to our own kind and environment.