Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World

《Countdown 1945》以1945年4月12日罗斯福总统逝世为起点，以8月6日广岛原子弹爆炸为终点，通过116天的倒计时结构，重现了人类历史上zui具争议的军事决策过程。不同于传统二战史的宏大叙事，本书聚焦于关键人物与关键节点，将zhengzhi博弈、科学突破与战争伦理交织在一起，展现了一个充满矛盾与抉择的历史时刻。

书中不仅描写了杜鲁门、奥本海默、格罗夫斯等决策者的复杂心理，也记录了普通人的命运——如参与曼哈顿计划的科学家、制造原子弹的工厂工人，以及广岛爆炸的幸存者。这种多视角叙事让历史不再冰冷，而是充满人性的温度。奥本海默在核试验成功后的那句"我成了死神，世界的毁灭者"，成为科学伦理的永恒拷问。
 
本书揭示了原子弹研发背后的zhengzhi角力：杜鲁门如何在不知情的情况下接任总统并面对这一终极武器？美国如何在战争末期权衡使用核武器的必要性？苏联的潜在威胁又如何影响决策？作者通过解密档案与当事人回忆，还原了历史现场的紧张氛围，让读者仿佛置身于那个充满不确定性的夏天。

克里斯·华莱士的写作兼具记者的严谨与故事讲述者的生动，使得这本历史著作读来毫不枯燥。书中穿插的档案照片、私人信件和亲历者口述，增强了真实感。对于当代读者而言，《Countdown 1945》不仅是一段历史的回顾，更是一次关于科技、权力与人性的深刻反思。
 
书名：Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World

作者：Chris Wallace

简介：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 anchor of Fox News Sunday, 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.