the new atomic bomb. Eventually, Truman authorizes the bombing of Hiroshima. The crew from Enola Gay is seen on their way to the skies over Hiroshima, and then drop the bomb. The book describes in detail what happens: "The effect was like this: The heat and the light hit before the sound. Now, in a world without sight or sound, a wave of air traveling at more than 800 miles per hour sweeps outwards in all directions. In its wake comes the earth-trembling roar of the atmosphere aflame. The blast is so hot that everything flammable within a few hundred yards of ground zero vaporizes in a flash of smoke. Then suddenly the air pressure spikes. Your eyes and your lungs bulge, swell, and burst. Your eardrums explode. In a few seconds the air pressure settles back to normal, and the wind slow...and then picks up speed in the opposite direction, sucking everything inward to the churning heart of the explosion." The news of the bombing becomes worldwide. The Japanese still refuse to surrender. The US prepares to drop a bomb on the city of Kokura, but cannot because of the weather; at the same time, there is not enough fuel to carry the bomb back to the US base in Tinian. As a result, the flight crew ends up dropping the bomb on Nagasaki. The book cuts out to a scene of two children on their way home from school when the bomb drops and incinerates them. One of the boys is still alive, and walking around searching for water, as the view pans out to the carnage and death that resulted from the bombing. Japan ends up surrendering. In the aftermath, the survivors begin to be afflicted by a mysterious disease, called Disease X, which turns out to be radiation poisoning. The world now sees the possible results of nuclear warfare, and the doctrine of mutually assured destruction arises. Nuclear weapons begin to proliferate. The public now prepares itself as it enters into the new Atomic Age. Reception The book was published to generally positive reviews. Ray Olson, writing in Booklist, praised the artwork and design, saying that "the page layouts are attractively busy and varied, never crowded and hard to read, while the text proceeds stepwise down each page, never courting confusion by running in circles or zigzagging...", and finishing by calling the book "exemplary". One reviewer,