To coincide with the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945, Lesley Blume has unearthed the story behind what a distinguished panel judged the most important piece of journalism of the twentieth century – John Hersey’s Hiroshima.
Blume’s book, Fallout: The Hiroshima cover-up and the reporter who revealed it to the world, not only reveals much normally hidden from view about the making of journalism but tells us a lot about the extent to which the United States government and General Leslie Groves, the Manhattan Project’s head, manipulated the press, and sought to control what people learnt about the bomb’s effects.
Matthew Ricketson, professor of communication at Deakin and a member of the Contemporary History Research Group, interviews Lesley Blume by zoom from her home in Los Angeles.
Further reading: Matthew Ricketson has reviewed Fallout for Inside Story.