Countdown 1945 (Unabridged) Countdown 1945 (Unabridged)
Chris Wallace’s Countdown Series

Countdown 1945 (Unabridged‪)‬

    • 4.0 • 266 Ratings
    • $16.99

    • $16.99

Publisher Description

The #1 national bestselling “riveting” (The New York Times), “propulsive” (Time) behind-the-scenes account “that reads like a tense thriller” (The Washington Post) of the 116 days leading up to the American attack on Hiroshima, by Chris Wallace, veteran journalist and CNN anchor and Max host.

April 12, 1945: After years of bloody conflict in Europe and the Pacific, America is stunned by news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death. In an instant, Vice President Harry Truman, who has been kept out of war planning and knows nothing of the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop the world’s first atomic bomb, must assume command of a nation at war on multiple continents—and confront one of the most consequential decisions in history. Countdown 1945 tells the gripping true story of the turbulent days, weeks, and months to follow, leading up to August 6, 1945, when Truman gives the order to drop the bomb on Hiroshima.

In Countdown 1945, Chris Wallace, the veteran journalist and CNN anchor and Max host, takes readers inside the minds of the iconic and elusive figures who join the quest for the bomb, each for different reasons: the legendary Albert Einstein, who eventually calls his vocal support for the atomic bomb “the one great mistake in my life”; lead researcher J. Robert “Oppie” Oppenheimer and the Soviet spies who secretly infiltrate his team; the fiercely competitive pilots of the plane selected to drop the bomb; and many more.

Perhaps most of all, Countdown 1945 is the story of an untested new president confronting a decision that he knows will change the world forever. But more than a book about the atomic bomb, Countdown 1945 is also an unforgettable account of the lives of ordinary American and Japanese civilians in wartime—from “Calutron Girls” like Ruth Sisson in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to ten-year-old Hiroshima resident Hideko Tamura, who survives the blast at ground zero but loses her mother and later immigrates to the United States, where she lives to this day—as well as American soldiers fighting in the Pacific, waiting in fear for the order to launch a possible invasion of Japan. Told with vigor, intelligence, and humanity, Countdown 1945 is the definitive account of one of the most significant moments in history.

GENRE
Nonfiction
NARRATOR
CW
Chris Wallace
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
08:40
hr min
RELEASED
2020
June 9
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster Audio
SIZE
407.9
MB

Customer Reviews

B-52 Gooch ,

Countdown 1945

A well written tribute to one of our most incredible moments in history. Wonderfully narrated by my favorite reporter and now one of my favorite authors.

BWJACKETS ,

Outstanding Audiobook, a Must-Read for History Buffs

The book is factual but also delves into the impact of the bomb from a variety of perspectives, the narration by Chris Wallace is pitch-perfect, it gives great detail without being overly verbose. The big debate, which judgment isn’t passed on, is about the morality of using the bomb versus spending American lives not to use it. Great, great book, Should be required reading for every high school class.

Dancing Goose ,

Sorry, but a miss with me.

My third one and my least favorite. He wallows in so much trivial detail that it’s a tad painful.
I really didn’t learn anything substantial that I didn’t know, except for the aforementioned things that I wasn’t interested in.

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