As more reviews come in for the book, excerpts and links to them will be posted. If you are interested in getting a review copy of this book, please feel free to reach out to me.
“Alex Wellerstein clears away the dead timber in this gripping investigation of President Truman’s relationship with the atomic bomb. I thought I knew the story but learned much that I didn’t know. Outstanding!”
— Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize Laureate for The Making of the Atomic Bomb
“A nuanced portrait of a president who shaped the modern nuclear age.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Many people think that the U.S. decision to use atomic bombs against Japan in 1945 was made by a pro-nuclear President Truman, hoping to persuade the Japanese to surrender to the Allies and end six years of war. But Wellerstein argues that this was not the case. . . . This must-read book takes readers on a journey through the use of atomic weapons as it relates to the geopolitical landscape and how the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing shaped current views on atomic weapons and deterrence.”
— Thomas O’Brien, Library Journal (Starred Review)
“What if so much of what we always thought we knew about Truman’s use of the bombs wasn’t true? If Alex Wellerstein is right, you will never be able to have another discussion about the dropping of the atomic bombs in 1945 without taking into account the points made in this book. This is historical research at its best. It challenges long-held beliefs on the decision to use atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki while highlighting why nuclear weapons evolved as they did after 1945.”
— Dan Carlin, host of the Hardcore History podcast and author of the New York Times bestsellerThe End Is Always Near
“Harry Truman presided over the only wartime use of nuclear weapons, and he also more forcefully checked military encroachments on this weapon than any subsequent commander-in-chief — all while the world descended into a rather hot Cold War. In this page-turning account, Alex Wellerstein brings us closer than we have ever been to understanding the paradoxes of how, through numerous actions and inactions, large and small, one quite ordinary man — perhaps because he was so ordinary — shaped the nuclear age.”
— Michael D. Gordin, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Princeton University, author of Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War
“It’s a remarkable act of reading between the lines and a dark warning about how decisions unfold in the halls of power.” — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“The Most Awful Responsibility is a well-written opus unpacking Truman’s—and America’s—complicated relationship with nuclear weapons.”
— Jonathan W. Jordan, review in The Wall Street Journal (January 16, 2026)
“It’s a truly great book, perhaps a masterpiece, that gets us as close as we can to understanding what went through Harry S. Truman’s head when he presided over the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
— Errol Morris, Academy Award-winning filmmaker of The Fog of War (2003), in a review for Air Mail (February 28, 2026)
“Apart from at the end of World War II, nuclear weapons have never been used in conflict. In his meticulous and enthralling account, Wellerstein argues that a lot of credit for this history of nonuse should go to U.S. President Harry Truman, who learned about Washington’s atomic bomb project only after becoming president.”
— Sir Lawrence D. Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, Kings College, London, in Foreign Affairs (April 21, 2026)