--- product_id: 179160848 title: "Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World" price: "70.33 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/179160848-countdown-1945-the-extraordinary-story-of-the-atomic-bomb-116 store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World **Price:** 70.33 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World - **How much does it cost?** 70.33 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/179160848-countdown-1945-the-extraordinary-story-of-the-atomic-bomb-116) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The #1 national bestselling “riveting” ( The New York Times ), “propulsive” ( Time ) behind-the-scenes account “that reads like a tense thriller” ( The Washington Post ) of the 116 days leading up to the American attack on Hiroshima, by Chris Wallace, veteran journalist and CNN anchor and Max host. April 12, 1945: After years of bloody conflict in Europe and the Pacific, America is stunned by news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death. In an instant, Vice President Harry Truman, who has been kept out of war planning and knows nothing of the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop the world’s first atomic bomb, must assume command of a nation at war on multiple continents—and confront one of the most consequential decisions in history. Countdown 1945 tells the gripping true story of the turbulent days, weeks, and months to follow, leading up to August 6, 1945, when Truman gives the order to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. In Countdown 1945 , Chris Wallace, the veteran journalist and CNN anchor and Max host, takes readers inside the minds of the iconic and elusive figures who join the quest for the bomb, each for different reasons: the legendary Albert Einstein, who eventually calls his vocal support for the atomic bomb “the one great mistake in my life”; lead researcher J. Robert “Oppie” Oppenheimer and the Soviet spies who secretly infiltrate his team; the fiercely competitive pilots of the plane selected to drop the bomb; and many more. Perhaps most of all, Countdown 1945 is the story of an untested new president confronting a decision that he knows will change the world forever. But more than a book about the atomic bomb, Countdown 1945 is also an unforgettable account of the lives of ordinary American and Japanese civilians in wartime—from “Calutron Girls” like Ruth Sisson in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to ten-year-old Hiroshima resident Hideko Tamura, who survives the blast at ground zero but loses her mother and later immigrates to the United States, where she lives to this day—as well as American soldiers fighting in the Pacific, waiting in fear for the order to launch a possible invasion of Japan. Told with vigor, intelligence, and humanity, Countdown 1945 is the definitive account of one of the most significant moments in history. Review: Outstanding Work of Writing! - Although I am very familiar with this story reading many of the books and visiting all the important sites, I purchased this book primarily due to my admiration for Chris Wallace and his contributions. The authors have created a well written concise book that all can easily read. It reads like a spy-novel. This novel has real life people whose lives cascade with the events from FDR’s death to “ Fat Man” over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. This effective and highly descriptive technique certifies and personifies the historical events of the period. The authors allow the reader to peer into these lives which is foreign to usual historical texts. After many years of questioning why the plutonium weapon was tested first at Trinity, I found my answer on page 125. Simple, they did not know it would work! Additionally, on the same page the authors corrected their mistake of where Alamogordo was 230 miles south of Los Alamos (not north as indicated on page 110). This defect in the text is illuminating in it possibly reveals the authors and or the editors have never been to the Manhattan Project Research Sites of Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Hanford and Cannon AFB. I find that interesting. The book indirectly defends Truman’s decision to use the weapon. On page 82 it is stated the Japanese had 4 million soldiers coupled with several million armed civilians to resist a US invasion while the Americans had 2 million in the Pacific at this time. Siege warfare proscribes a 4 to one advantage when assaulting a hardened objective. This means the US would have needed at a minimum 30 million soldiers to neutralize the Japanese regarding a home island invasion. This is double the 14 million the US had under arms at that time! The book reveals the stubbornness of the Japanese to capitulate. The Giulio Douhet Theory of offensive bombing doctrine appears to fail during WW II in Europe and also in Japan even with these super weapons. As described in this text both sides were taken back by the power of the bombs. Little did the Japanese know the US only had two. However, Japanese scientists conveyed to the Emperor the US could produce more of the second weapon for it was created from reactor plutonium. The book’s index is very helpful along with the many timely and appropriate photos which supports this interesting story. This is one of the best written books I have read in years. If you do not know anything about this topic, you will understand the history. Review: Compelling history and moral reflection - This is one of the few books I have purchased and read in the month it was published. It is compelling reading with intimate sketches of key people involved from President Truman who first learned of the atomic bomb project only when he became president to a ten year old girl who lived through the devastating blast that destroyed Hiroshima. The countdown structure of the book made it read like a suspense thriller even though I was well aware of the outcome. The most important feature of the book for me was the insight into the moral issues involved in developing and deploying such a massively destructive weapon. I had always assumed that the scientists who developed the weapon, the president who decided to use it and the soldiers who delivered it had no reservations about its use. The book reveals that many scientists, military leaders, and government officials did have serious questions about the morality and advisability of producing such a terrible weapon. And many thoughtful participants in the making and use of the bomb expressed remorse after the bombs incinerated most of the populations of two Japanese cities. Although President Truman never expressed regrets about his decision to drop the bombs, many others did. Without arguing for one side or the other regarding the morality of using the atom bomb, Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss let the reader reflect on the complex moral issues faced by those who first used this terrifying weapon on civilian populations. And they invite us to ponder the fact that the stockpile of nuclear bombs and warheads on our planet has now grown to almost 50,000. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #353,811 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #36 in Nuclear Weapons & Warfare History (Books) #60 in Japanese History (Books) #329 in World War II History (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 8,946 Reviews | ## Images ![Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81m-dEDjnRL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Outstanding Work of Writing! *by H***E on July 26, 2020* Although I am very familiar with this story reading many of the books and visiting all the important sites, I purchased this book primarily due to my admiration for Chris Wallace and his contributions. The authors have created a well written concise book that all can easily read. It reads like a spy-novel. This novel has real life people whose lives cascade with the events from FDR’s death to “ Fat Man” over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. This effective and highly descriptive technique certifies and personifies the historical events of the period. The authors allow the reader to peer into these lives which is foreign to usual historical texts. After many years of questioning why the plutonium weapon was tested first at Trinity, I found my answer on page 125. Simple, they did not know it would work! Additionally, on the same page the authors corrected their mistake of where Alamogordo was 230 miles south of Los Alamos (not north as indicated on page 110). This defect in the text is illuminating in it possibly reveals the authors and or the editors have never been to the Manhattan Project Research Sites of Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Hanford and Cannon AFB. I find that interesting. The book indirectly defends Truman’s decision to use the weapon. On page 82 it is stated the Japanese had 4 million soldiers coupled with several million armed civilians to resist a US invasion while the Americans had 2 million in the Pacific at this time. Siege warfare proscribes a 4 to one advantage when assaulting a hardened objective. This means the US would have needed at a minimum 30 million soldiers to neutralize the Japanese regarding a home island invasion. This is double the 14 million the US had under arms at that time! The book reveals the stubbornness of the Japanese to capitulate. The Giulio Douhet Theory of offensive bombing doctrine appears to fail during WW II in Europe and also in Japan even with these super weapons. As described in this text both sides were taken back by the power of the bombs. Little did the Japanese know the US only had two. However, Japanese scientists conveyed to the Emperor the US could produce more of the second weapon for it was created from reactor plutonium. The book’s index is very helpful along with the many timely and appropriate photos which supports this interesting story. This is one of the best written books I have read in years. If you do not know anything about this topic, you will understand the history. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Compelling history and moral reflection *by W***F on June 12, 2020* This is one of the few books I have purchased and read in the month it was published. It is compelling reading with intimate sketches of key people involved from President Truman who first learned of the atomic bomb project only when he became president to a ten year old girl who lived through the devastating blast that destroyed Hiroshima. The countdown structure of the book made it read like a suspense thriller even though I was well aware of the outcome. The most important feature of the book for me was the insight into the moral issues involved in developing and deploying such a massively destructive weapon. I had always assumed that the scientists who developed the weapon, the president who decided to use it and the soldiers who delivered it had no reservations about its use. The book reveals that many scientists, military leaders, and government officials did have serious questions about the morality and advisability of producing such a terrible weapon. And many thoughtful participants in the making and use of the bomb expressed remorse after the bombs incinerated most of the populations of two Japanese cities. Although President Truman never expressed regrets about his decision to drop the bombs, many others did. Without arguing for one side or the other regarding the morality of using the atom bomb, Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss let the reader reflect on the complex moral issues faced by those who first used this terrifying weapon on civilian populations. And they invite us to ponder the fact that the stockpile of nuclear bombs and warheads on our planet has now grown to almost 50,000. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fast paced, enjoyable popular history *by W***H on August 18, 2020* Chris Wallace has delivered a highly readable tale that appears well researched and envelopes the reader in the story of the development and delivery of the only two atomic bombs deployed against an enemy. The nice thing about popular histories that appeal to a general reader is that they move quickly like a well written novel. Wallace and co-writer Mitch Weiss apply the formula to the Manhattan Project / atomic bomb use by focusing on Oppenheimer (the chief scientist at Los Alamos), Tibbits (the commander of the bomb group that dropped the bomb) and President Truman. Plenty of other characters appear in the book including a ten year old Japanese girl who would experience the bomb first-hand near ground zero. I only found one factual mistake, but it was minor and involved an aside and not the main thrust of the story (the kamikaze sinking of the USS Callaghan, a destroyer about which the book says "All forty-seven men on board lost their lives." Destroyers had a crew of 300+). The only thing I would have liked to have seen was some introduction of Japanese leadership discussion at this stage of the war. It is a given that Japan was not likely to surrender absent an invasion (some will debate this but the record is convincing I believe that many more Americans and Japanese would perish in an invasion than died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and that it wold have taken an invasion to get Japan to surrender), but there were some discussions internally about how Japan would play their last round of a war they knew they were losing. This given weighed heavily on Truman and American leadership, but the casual reader will have to accept the authors' premise of this given because no evidence is provided. I realize that may have made for a longer book, but I think the book would have been more complete a telling with that perspective. (If you want this perspective, Richard Frank has written a great book on the end of the Japanese empire that covers this, "Downfall.") It does throughout the book state details of movement, action, and thought that were not recorded and provided to improve the novelistic flow of the story (page 65: "Beser twisted his hat I his hands and wondered what the men inside the room were saying." Beser died in 1992, well before this book was conceived.). I'm not a big fan of making things up in popular histories and wish authors would not resort to this colorization of the story, common as it is. Not sure that is worth deducting an entire star in a book I really enjoyed, but there you have it. Note: A really good first person account of the bombing can be had in the book War's End, by Sweeney. Sweeney was the man who piloted the B-29 that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki). ## Frequently Bought Together - Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World (Chris Wallace’s Countdown Series) - Countdown bin Laden: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to Justice (Chris Wallace’s Countdown Series) - Countdown 1960: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the 312 Days that Changed America's Politics Forever --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/179160848-countdown-1945-the-extraordinary-story-of-the-atomic-bomb-116](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/179160848-countdown-1945-the-extraordinary-story-of-the-atomic-bomb-116) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-09-21*