Shockwave cover art

Shockwave

Countdown to Hiroshima

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Shockwave

By: Stephen Walker
Narrated by: Colin Mace
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About this listen

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

At 8:15am on August 6th 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In an instant, the temperature at its core rose to millions of degrees. Sixty-thousand buildings were obliterated. A third of the city’s population died, by heat, by the blast, and by a terrible new weapon in the history of warfare: radiation.

In this riveting account, Stephen Walker follows the stories of real people in the extraordinary weeks leading up to the explosion and in its aftermath. From the atomic engineer who armed the bomb in mid-air to the Japanese doctors treating thousands of burnt bodies on the ground. From the flight crews and scientists to world leaders and civilian victims. With intimate testimony and remarkable stories, this is the startling narrative behind the dawn of the atomic age.

©2020 Stephen Walker (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Asia Japan Military Weapons & Warfare Imperial Japan War Air Force

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Critic reviews

‘Shockwave is a stunning book, among the most immediate and thrilling works of history I have ever read.’
Irish Times

‘This is an utterly gripping work of micro-history … [Walker] proves himself a master of dramatic tension.’
Sunday Express

‘The excitement of the time is wonderfully captured in Walker’s Shockwave. Brilliant.’
Financial Times

‘Devastating.’
Daily Mail

‘Timely and harrowing …succeeds in creating a dramatized documentary of the moment that changed history.’
Scotland on Sunday

‘A roller-coaster ride through the memories of American servicemen, Japanese soldiers and civilians…invites comparison with John Hersey’s still-classic Hiroshima.’
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Superb …Walker writes with a sense of urgency and high drama.’
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

‘Uniquely readable, immediate and human …an exceptionally taut and revealing chronicle.’
Booklist (Starred Review)

‘Dramatic …an important page-turner.’
Entertainment Weekly

‘Remarkable. I have been waiting for this book for sixty years.’
Gitta Sereny, author of Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth

‘Electrifying …The tension and concentration of Walker’s thriller-like prose elicits a visceral response.’
Chicago Tribune
All stars
Most relevant  
Honestly this is probably the best book I have ever read and listened to. The detail is gripping, the timeline flows perfectly, it captures a moment in history in mesmerising clarity, its conclusion and synopsis is thought provoking beyond words and the generations that have since passed. When it finished I found myself reflecting in stunned silence for mite than a moment.

Fantastically read also.

Absolutely brilliantly written.

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What a mega book. Hits critical mass quickly and stays there! Educational, enjoyable, horrifying and of course explosive! 5 stars.

Boom!

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A real eye opener into one of the biggest events in the history of humanity.
prepare to be astonished, enlightened, saddened, angry and a whole lot more emotionally while chapter after chapter it unfolds in detail.
A must read

An outstanding read

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I have read a lot of books on world war 2 this book is one of the best i could not put it down i was holding my breath when the bomb was released

What a Great Book

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A horrifyingly fascinating story told from multiple perspectives. A lesson of the woe of humanity's fascination with wielding the power of mother nature.

Multiple Perspectives

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I have listened to over seventy-five audio books in the last two years . This is the first one I have ever reviewed. The book is amazing. The narrator Colin Mace does a superb job aswell. It's moving,informative, gripping and frightening. I urge everyone to listen to this,you will not regret it.

what an amazing book.

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Sheer Brilliance. The best non-technical and story telling account I've heard. Narration made it even better.

Brilliant

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Highly recommend this book. It is thoroughly gripping throughout and really well narrated. I also recommend Beyond by the same author.

Amazing story

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This is one of the best researched and narrated audiobooks I have listened to. Science and history are two of my favourite topics and this book is the perfect combination of both, The story is conveyed in chronological order from the "concept" of nuclear fission through to the awful consequences of unleashing atomic energy. There is an indepth biography of those directly and indirectly involved in the development and deployment of the first atomic bomb. The downside to such an incredible example of human determination is the acknowledgment that we are capable of such devastating harm to our own kind and environment.

Superb account

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Walker picks up the story at the Trinity Test and finishes it shortly after the Japanese surrender. This book is not interested in retreading the biographical details of Groves or Oppenheimer - it cuts to the chase with need to know essentials, and gets down to business - mainly how the bomb works, how it got to Japan, and the devastating impact it made upon the world. The story centres around not only the men behind the bomb, and its deployment, but also the citizens of Hiroshima whose lives would be forever altered and in some cases ended over the course of the book. This book is almost exclusively focused on Hiroshima, the bombing of Nagasaki is little more than a footnote. At the end of the day if you want to put yourself inside the B-29, or if in the city at the moment of impact, this book is for you - if you require expansive detail, look elsewhere.

Dramatic and punchy

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