topics: |  japan | history | world-war2

Attempts to justify the dropping of the atomic bomb based on "newly
declassified documents" that tell how American leaders learned in the summer
of 1945 that their alternate strategy to end the war by invasion had been
shattered by the massive Japanese buildup on Kyushu, and that intercepted
diplomatic documents also revealed the dismal prospects of negotiation.
Also focuses on how Japan's leaders were willing to risk complete
annihilation to preserve the nation's existing order.