Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan, Samuel J. Walker    ^{A concise and balanced account of why the atomic bombs were used against Japan.}

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, Richard B. Frank    ^{Perhaps the most complete and detailed history of the end of the war against Japan.}

Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II, Marc Gallicchio    ^{Authoritative analysis of reasons behind demand for unconditional surrender, with penetrating analysis of role of Joseph Grew.}

Hirohito And The Making Of Modern Japan, Herbert P. Bix    ^{Excellent biography of Hirohito, appropriately critical of his conduct at war end.}

We, the Japanese People: World War II and the Origins of the Japanese Constitution , Ms. Dale Hellegers  ^{Definitive history of American planning for reform of Japan's political, economic, social and educational systems, and the creation of the postwar Japanese Constitution under which Japan continues to be governed to this day. A magnificent, must-read work, worth every penny to any serious student of the end of the war in the Pacific. An excellent review of this work is available on JSTOR at https://www.jstor.org/stable/25066241.}

What Future for Japan, Rudolf V. A. Janssens    ^{Another fine history of American planning for the occupation of Japan and the development of strategies for remodeling it postwar, not as detailed as Hellegers' work linked above, but quite adequate and a quicker read, and covers also aspects of the military situation Hellegers' does not address. Importantly, includes thorough treatment of the actions and policy positions of Joseph Grew, so egregiously obfuscated in Alperovitz's 'The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb'.}

The Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact: A Diplomatic History, 1941 - 1945., Boris Nikolaevič Slavinskij, Geoffrey Jukes    ^{Highly detailed history drawing on Russian sources of the Russo-Jaoanese Neutrality Pact and Japan's war-end attempt to play the Soviets and U.S. off aginst each other.}

Beria - My Father: Inside Stalin's Kremlin Also borrowable at Internet Archive here.    ^{An important book by the son of Stalin's ruthless secret police chief, Lavrenti Beria, who after Hiroshima was made overseer of atomic bomb development. Provides surprising insights into the internals of the Soviet state. Reveals fascinating details of Soviet bugging of Americans at Tehran and Yalta, and trenchant Soviet appraisals of Roosevelt's leftist envoys Hopkins, Wallace and Davies. Highly recommended.}

Kokutai no Hongi: Cardinal Principles of the National Entity of Japan    ^{Ebook of translation of the 1937 Ministry of Education pamphlet defining Japan's 'National Polity' -- the ultimate Hegelian state. You can read the first page of each chapter for free by clicking on the chapter titles.}

Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation, Porter & Porter    ^{A must-read for understanding Japanese culture in the war years, and why a negotiated peace on terms that would have precluded reforms of Japan's political, social and educational systems would have been a travesty.}

Zen at War, Brian Daizen Victoria    ^{Brian Victoria shows that Zen served as a powerful foundation for the fanatical and suicidal spirit displayed by the imperial Japanese military. At the same time, the author recounts the dramatic and tragic stories of the handful of Buddhist organizations and individuals that dared to oppose Japan's march to war. Another must-read for understanding Japanese culture in the pre- and intra-war years.}

The Menace of Japan, T. O'Conroy   

A Diary of Darkness: The Wartime Diary of Kiyosawa Kiyoshi   

Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses
Nagasaki: The Last Witnesses
by M. G. Sheftall    ^{Far and away the best books yet written on how the cities' inhabitants experienced and coped with the bombings, unsurpassed in detail and intellectual rigor, by an author who has the rare combination of language fluency and years of cultural immersion to be truly qualified to describe not only the events but also their cultural and governmental contexts, with appropriate balance of sympathy and criticism. Absolute must-reads.}

Compelling Japan’s Surrender Without the Abomb, Soviet Entry, or Invasion: Reconsidering the US Bombing Survey’s Early-Surrender Conclusions, Barton J. Bernstein    ^{This is Essay 17 in 'The Second World War: Volume III The Japanese War 1941–1945', edited by Jeremy Black; originally published in Journal of Strategic Studies, 18, pp. 101–18. Ably critizes conclusions of the post-war US Strategic Bombing Survey}

Empire and Aftermath: Yoshida Shigeru and the Japanese Experience, 1878–1954 (Harvard East Asian Monographs), J. W. Dower    ^{Yoshida Shigeru, prime minister of Japan throughout most of the post-war American occupation,indirectly influenced the war-end maneuverings as the central figure of a loose confederation of influential intellectual and political figures seeking a way to end the war. Chapter 7. "The 'Yoshida Antiwar Group' and the Konoe Memorial, 1942-1945" of this biography by a historian fluent in Japanese, incomparable in the depth and breadth of his insights, provides valuable background.}

August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, Lt. Col. David M. Glantz (PDF)    ^{A U.S. Army study of the Soviet offensive in Manchuria. Very detailed. I've rotated some of the pages for readability on computer screens.}

The Columbia Guide to Hiroshima and the Bomb, Michael Kort    ^{An extensive collection of those elements of the historical record available in English, with commentary. An indispensible reference.}

From Foot Soldier to Finance Minister: Takahashi Korekiyo, Japan’s Keynes (Harvard East Asian Monographs) , Richard J. Smethurst 高橋是清 ―日本のケインズ その生涯と思想    ^{One of the 20th Century's most adept finance ministers, also at one time Prime Minister, Takahashi was a thoroughly rational advocate of cooperative integration in the existing world order led by the U.S. and U.K., and of limited spending on armies and armaments, and so of course was assassinated by fanatical militarists in the 1936 February 26th coup attempt.}

Detailed Descriptions of Bomb Effects

H-Diplo Roundtable on Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan    ^{Discussion of a book which I recommend for its very detailed account of the actions and thinking of the Japanese leadership, and its macro-scale account of the Soviet offensives, including the attacks on Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands that continued after Japan's August 15 surrender, though I disagree with the author's conclusion that a race with the Soviets was the main reason for use of the atomic bombs.
Important Excerpt:
From his meeting with Togo [April 20, 1945], Malik made some shrewd observations. The Japanese knew that it would be impossible to resolve the fundamental problems between the USSR and Japan by diplomatic means, Malik reported. But “as long as the … main task [for Japan] is to extricate itself from this war,” the Soviet ambassador continued, “then Togo must secure the neutrality of the USSR [and] create the semblance … of the beginning of serious negotiations between the USSR and Japan.” This would cause serious concerns for the United States and Britain, and eventually frighten them into reaching a compromise with Japan."}
From H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online

• Editor's Introduction
• Barton Bernstein
• David Holloway
• Michael Gordin
• Richard Frank
• Gar Alperovitz
• Hasegawa's Response
• A longer, book version of the above discussion:
  The End of the Pacific War: Reappraisals

Potsdam Declaration    ^{The Potsdam Declaration was an ultimatum issued to Japan from the summit meeting of Truman, Churchill and Stalin held in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin, from July 17 through August 2, 1945 to attempt to finalize the postwar administration of Europe and map out Germany's demilitarization and division into occupation zones. The conference was marked by rising geopolitical friction, signaling the end of the wartime alliance and the dawn of the Cold War. This link is to a second level of detailed references.}

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Long Term Health Effects
(Columbia K=1 Project, Center for Nuclear Studies)

The Search for a Negotiated Peace: Japanese Diplomats Attempt to Surrender Japan Prior to the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Justin H. Libby, World Affairs, Vol. 156, No. 1 (SUMMER 1993), pp. 35-45 (11 pages)

The Specter of Revolution: Reconsidering Japan's Decision to Surrender, Jeremy A. Yellen, The International History Review, February 2013, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 205-226

Japan's Delayed Surrender: A Reinterpretation, Herbert P. Bix
Diplomatic History, Vol. 19, No. 2 (SPRING 1995), pp. 197-225 (29 pages)

MacArthur's Ultra: Codebreaking and the War Against Japan, 1942-1945, Edward J. Drea

U.S. National Archives Links to Atomic Bomb Decision Documents

Revisionists like to claim that Eisenhower voiced to Stimson at Potsdam strong objections to the use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese (and, implicitly, that his opinion was based on relevant knowledge and had great value). The reality is rather different, as described in detail here.   

U.S. National Archives Documents

Military History Links

FRUS Links

Truman Library Links

Japanese-Language References

U.S. Navy Collection of Selected USSBS Interrogations of Japanese Officials