Road to Surrender

“A terrifying, heartbreaking account of three men under unimaginable pressure . . . This is history that crackles with journalistic immediacy. I challenge you not to read this book in a single sitting.”—Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Travels with George

“In this meticulously crafted and vivid account, Evan Thomas tells the gripping and terrifying story of the last days of the Second World War in the Pacific. Writing with insight and understanding, he re-creates for us those critical moments when, for better or worse, the decisions, from the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the Japanese surrender, were made.”—Margaret MacMillan, author of War: How Conflict Shaped Us

“With an unerring eye for detail and a deft touch with the dramatic, Evan Thomas tells one of the most important stories of all time with power and grace. Paced like a thriller, replete with fresh historical insight, and driven by new research, Thomas’s book explains how America came to deploy the deadliest weapons ever created. The result is an indispensable portrait of power, anxiety, and moral ambiguity.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of And There Was Light

“This dramatic, in-the-moment masterpiece provides a convincing explanation of one of the great moral questions of twentieth-century history: Was America right to drop the atom bomb on Japan at the end of World War II? This is an indispensable book for those who want to understand the moral issues surrounding the use of great power.”—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

“A taut, thrilling narrative, rich, compassionate, and superbly nuanced.”—Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Revolutionary

“By turns surprising, illuminating, and thought-provoking, Road to Surrender also throws light on the extremities of human power, and the effect on those who wield it.”—Sinclair McKay, author of The Secret Lives of Codebreakers

“In this mesmerizing account of the final weeks of World War II, Evan Thomas provides a haunting, deeply human look at the mental and physical torment of American and Japanese leaders as they confronted the catastrophic reality of the atomic bomb. Thomas reveals in cinematic, nail-biting detail that Japan’s surrender was not a foregone conclusion.”—Lynne Olson, New York Times bestselling author of Madame Fourcade’s Secret War and Citizens of London

“Superbly crafted . . . Drawing on a wide range of sources, including the primary figures’ diaries, Thomas makes the period come vividly alive. This moving account of three men of peace who had to make life or death decisions will interest history lovers everywhere.”—BookPage

“The author’s argument is well taken even though it does nothing to lessen the moral anguish that his principals—to say nothing of Einstein, Oppenheimer, and even Truman as well as generations after them—felt over the decision to unleash nuclear terror on their enemy. An exploration of the moral quandaries that surrounded the atomic bombing of Japan . . . a thoughtful study of nuclear war, its early discontents, and alternate scenarios that might have been worse.”—Kirkus Reviews