By the summer of 1945, Japan's cities were burning, its people were starving, and its military leaders were preparing for a final battle on home soil. Even the destruction of Hiroshima did not bring an immediate surrender. Historian James Scott, author of Empire of Ashes, talks with Michael Shermer about why Japan kept fighting and why he believes Nagasaki was decisive. Could the war have ended without the atomic bombs?
A Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller, James M. Scott is the author Black Snow, Rampage, Target Tokyo, The War Below, and The Attack on the Liberty, and co-author, with Jack Carr, of Targeted: Beirut. In addition, Scott, a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, is a sought-after public speaker who leads battlefield tours and lectures at institutions around the world. His new book is Empire of Ashes.
