Elliott & Thompson nets 'major' title on the atomic bomb by Thomas

Elliott & Thompson has netted a "major" title on the atomic bomb and the countdown to the end of the Second World War.

Robin Harvie, executive publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for Road to Surrender by Evan Thomas from Penguin Random House US. It will publish in June 2023 to coincide with a major Hollywood biopic on Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb". 

The book charts the final days to the countdown of the dropping of "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" that would devastate Japan. It draws on diary entries to tell the story of three men who were intimately involved with the decision to drop the atomic bomb—and Japan’s decision to surrender. They are Henry Stimson, the American secretary of war, who had overall responsibility for decisions about the atom bomb; General Carl “Tooey” Spaatz, head of strategic bombing in the Pacific, who supervised the planes that dropped the bombs; and Japanese foreign minister Shigenori Togo, the only one in Emperor Hirohito’s Supreme War Council who believed, even before the bombs were dropped, that Japan should surrender.   

Harvie said: “Road to Surrender is a thrilling tale of the last days of the Second World War, brilliantly told. It also has a terrible relevance today in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We are absolutely delighted to be working with Evan Thomas on his book, and to be publishing his terrific book on the individuals who shaped the last days of the war, and the legacy that still resonates today.”