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

April 12, 1945. After years of bloody conflict in Europe and the Pacific, America is stunned by the news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In an instant, Vice President Harry Truman, who had been removed from war planning and knew nothing of the top-secret Manhattan project to develop the world's first atomic bomb, must assume command of a country at war on several continents and make one of the most important decisions in history. The author tells the gripping story of the tumultuous months, weeks and days leading up to August 6, 1945, when Truman gives the order to drop the bomb on Hiroshima.