{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0141001461?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0141001461","authors":["Richard B. Frank"],"book_id":"9780141001463","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/downfall-9780141001463","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780141001463.jpg?v=aa2f5d1cf91eaef4","description":"WINNER OF THE HARRY S. TRUMAN BOOK AWARD • A deeply researched analysis of the last months of World War II and the fall of Japan In a riveting narrative that includes information from declassified documents, acclaimed historian Richard B. Frank gives a scrupulously detailed explanation of the critical months leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb. Frank explains how American leaders learned in the summer of 1945 that their alternate strategy to end the war by invasion had been shattered by the massive Japanese buildup on Kyushu, and that intercepted diplomatic documents also revealed the dismal prospects of negotiation. Here also, for the first time, is a comprehensive account of how Japan's leaders were willing to risk complete annihilation to preserve the nation's existing order. Frank's comprehensive account demolishes long-standing myths with the stark realities of this great historical controversy.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780141001463","publication_date":"20010501","publisher":"Penguin Publishing Group","slug":"downfall","subtitle":"The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire","title":"Downfall"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS027030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Nuclear Warfare","score":0.7781,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS027390","confidence_band":"medium","label":"WWII Pacific Theater","score":0.7711,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS027100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"World War II History","score":0.7639,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS027030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Nuclear Warfare","score":0.7781,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS027390","confidence_band":"medium","label":"WWII Pacific Theater","score":0.7711,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS027100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"World War II History","score":0.7639,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS021000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Japanese History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS027100","confidence_band":"high","label":"World War II History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037070","confidence_band":"high","label":"20th-Century History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Nuclear Warfare","score":0.7781,"slug":"nuclear-warfare"},{"label":"WWII Pacific Theater","score":0.7711,"slug":"wwii-pacific-theater"},{"label":"World War II History","score":0.7639,"slug":"world-war-ii-history"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in the final months of World War II and Japan’s defeat","Readers seeking detailed analysis of the lead-up to the atomic bomb"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["William J. 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