'A searing testament to the power of journalism, truth-telling, and story to help us remember our shared humanity … an urgent read.' -Sarah Sentilles, Author of Draw Your Weapons ' Fallout reveals the inside story of one of history's most astonishing journalistic scoops, the cynical government cover-up it circumvented, and the extraordinary effort it took to bring the terrible costs of the atomic age to light.' -Adam Higginbotham, New York Times Bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl A big, important story deeply researched and well told.' -Dan Rather 'Lesley Blume's Fallout is gripping history. produced what is widely regarded as the greatest piece of American journalism of the 20th century.' -Carl Bernstein 'Lesley Blume brings a reportorial mastery worthy of her subject, compellingly told on every page. Here, finally discovered, is the dramatic story of how Hersey. Released on the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Fallout is an engrossing detective story, as well as an important piece of hidden history that shows how one heroic scoop saved-and can still save-the world. This knowledge has remained among the greatest deterrents to using them since the end of World War II. Since 1945, no nuclear weapons have ever been deployed in war partly because Hersey alerted the world to their true, devastating impact.

When the magazine published 'Hiroshima' in August 1946, it became an instant global sensation, and inspired pervasive horror about the hellish new threat that America had unleashed.

For nearly a year the cover-up worked-until New Yorker journalist John Hersey got into Hiroshima and managed to report the truth to the world.Īs Hersey and his editors prepared his article for publication, they kept the story secret-even from most of their New Yorker colleagues. The cover-up intensified as Occupation forces closed the atomic cities to Allied reporters, preventing leaks about the horrific long-term effects of radiation which would kill thousands during the months after the blast. But even before the surrender, the US government and military had begun a secret propaganda and information suppression campaign to hide the devastating nature of these experimental weapons. Just days after the United States decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally.

Blume reveals how one courageous American reporter uncovered one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century-the true effects of the atom bomb-potentially saving millions of lives.

New York Times bestselling author Lesley M.M.

Fallout by Lesley M.M. Blume