Enola Gay

Mission to Hiroshima

By: Gordon Thomas, Max Morgan-Witts

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

From the New York Times best-selling coauthors comes a "fascinating...unrivaled" history of the B-29 and its fateful mission to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima (New York Times Book Review).

Painstakingly researched, the story behind the decision to send the Enola Gay to bomb Hiroshima is told through firsthand sources. From diplomatic moves behind the scenes to Japanese actions and the US Army Air Force's call to action, no detail is left untold.

Touching on the early days of the Manhattan Project and the first inkling of an atomic bomb, investigative journalist Gordon Thomas and his writing partner Max Morgan-Witts take WWII enthusiasts through the training of the crew of the Enola Gay and the challenges faced by pilot Paul Tibbets.

A must-listen audiobook that offers "minute-by-minute coverage of the critical periods" surrounding the mission, Enola Gay finally separates myth and reality from the planning of the flight to the moment over Hiroshima when the atomic age was born (Library Journal).

©1977 Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts (P)2020 Tantor

A fun, fascinating listen!!

I am a 37-year-old American millennial with a public school education; that should give a baseline on my amount of previous knowledge going into this book. I saw an article today about a remaining human shadow in Nagasaki and that got me wondering about the pilot of the Enola Gay. It quickly became apparent this is a rabbit hole worth jumping down!

This book is captivating, I can’t stop listening to it. The historical content, the wit and personality of a diverse cast of characters with the overall weight of the topic and its philosophical heavyweight conversations hanging unsaid (mostly) in the air- it all spins around this one particular unit and its mission that will go down as one of the most impactful pieces of human history.

It continually blows my mind how much the actions of one person can affect something as big as a battle, or perhaps even the tide of a war. Scale that up and all the possibilities of what “could” have happened are infinite. This story is a reminder how significant we all have the possibility to be in the eyes of history. We may not know when it’s happening, but every choice we make matters on some level. It’s easy to feel like the individual doesn’t matter or is unable to affect large scale things - but history says otherwise.

A deft effort at presenting critical world history

The authors did an excellent job of researching historical evidence and presented a record of the incredible teamwork that went into the United States’ effort to end World War II. This truly was America’s “greatest generation” at work. President Truman’s decision to drop the atom bomb is considered controversial, but there can be no doubt his difficult decision was the right call. Japan’s military-run government showed no inclination to surrender, which ultimately would’ve saved lives. The Allied forces made numerous efforts to warn the Japanese people, but government officials refused to capitulate in any way. This book does an excellent job of telling the story from several divergent perspectives. History is not supposed to be pleasant or make us feel better. It is a telling of fact. War is indeed hell, it is often difficult to look at objectively, as our human feelings come out. Yet it is incredibly important that history be reported fairly and objectively. If we shield our eyes and run from it, the world will absolutely repeat itself.

Engaging from the start, until the very end, even though you know how it will end

I found myself looking forward to this book! It’s one of those books that draws you in and when you have to take a break, you are excited to come back. Very well written would definitely recommend.

Exciting story, detailed

Lots of unknown details, keeps your interest! h just k l d h d h j

Sobering

Even though the ending is well known, the story is compelling. Going back and forth from the perspective of the Japanese and the Americans is well done.

Poor reader

Seemingly half the narration is carried out in a whisper The end of almost every sentence descends into a whisper and the enunciation seemed slurred at times. I think I wold have enjoyed this book if I were able to understand the reader.