HIROSHIMA

One year before the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima comes an overview of the events surrounding the flight of the Enola Gay. Lawton tells the story in a succession of two-page “chapters,” covering an astounding amount of ground in a clear, if necessarily superficial, manner, including such details as Einstein’s letter of warning to Roosevelt, the treatment of Allied POWs by the Japanese, V-E Day, the immediate aftermath of the explosion, the Cold War, and antinuclear protests. Perhaps due to this compression of so many complexities into 48 pages, this offering lacks the focus and power of the author’s earlier piece on Auschwitz (2002). As this stands, liberally illustrated with well-captioned photographs and maps, it is a serviceable introduction to the subject—but, despite a “chapter” on the suffering of the survivors, it fails to deliver an appropriately emotional punch. A timeline and index can be found in the back matter, but—a serious flaw given the introductory nature of the work—there is no bibliography or list of suggested further reading. (Nonfiction. 10+)