There have been a multitude of coups throughout the past, many of which have monumentally shaped the course of history in bold and dramatic fashion. The
by Tom Lewis
The Decision to Drop the Bomb
This book, aimed at the 75
th anniversary of the Atomic Bombings and the end of World War II in the Pacific, is really out of its time and place. Author Tom Lewis (
The Empire Strikes South) wants to reframe the bombings, picturing them in a positive light. His whole message is really in the title – the bombs “saved” millions of people. There was a time for this argument, in the middle 1990s when the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in the United States sought to put on display the
Enola Gay B-29 aircraft that had dropped the A-Bomb on Hiroshima. Then historians, veterans, politicians, and anti-nuclear activists fought over the terrain of both the act of displaying that airplane and the propriety of using the bomb. Lewis missed that debate. Today, he would have done better to stay out of it.
Kazutoshi Hando, who penned works on Japan s wartime history, dies at 90
Kazutoshi Hando, who wrote a number of works on Japan s wartime history, died of old age in his home in Tokyo on Tuesday, his family said. He was 90.
Hando devoted most of his career as an author to the study of modern Japanese history. He also acted as a storyteller of wartime experiences in an effort to promote peace. File photo taken in December 2018 shows Kazutoshi Hando, who wrote a number of works on Japan s wartime history. Hando died at his home in Tokyo on Jan. 12, 2021, at age 90. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo