Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II

Best-selling author and historian Thomas (First: Sandra Day O’Connor) presents a nuanced look at the key events leading to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thomas analyzes the actions and decisions of three top-level leaders involved in the decision to use the bomb: Secretary of War Henry Stimson, General Carl Spaatz, head of strategic bombing in the Pacific, and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, who was carefully leading the Japanese government toward surrender. Thomas’s meticulous examination outlines how President Truman eventually agreed with Stimson’s recommendation to drop the bomb. The author draws upon Stimson’s, Spaatz’s, and Togo’s previously unavailable personal diaries, revealing their agonized thoughts as they struggled with the historic decision. Even with countless volumes about this event filling the shelves, Thomas’s exhaustive research into the private thoughts, feelings, motivations, and decision-making of these three people who changed history adds crucial new information that will be of tremendous value to World War II historians. Award-winning narrator Robert Fass brings his impressive skills to bear, offering an engaging and perfectly paced performance of this vital work.