Empire of Ashes-Truman, Hirohito and Total War with James Scott

James Scott joins Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall to discuss his new book on Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb, with substantial attention to the Soviet intervention in the Pacific and how its actual military effects diverge from the mythology. The conversation gets into the strategic calculus behind the bomb — not just the moral debate but the operational and diplomatic pressures Truman faced in August 1945. Scott is a careful researcher and the hosts push him on the contested questions rather than letting him do a book tour monologue.