Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World

When the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945,  the Japanese surrendered, but the long-term effects of radiation were not publicly known. The U.S. government, its military and Occupation forces orchestrated a cover-up that blocked Allied reporters from learning the truth. Nearly a year later, journalist John Hersey found a way into Hiroshima and wrote the article “Hiroshima” for The New Yorker. Its publication blew open the secret of nuclear weapons’ devastating capabilities, changing public opinion and transforming the article into a piece of journalism that influences government decisions to this day. Blume tells the dramatic story of this historic scoop.