Acclaimed historian Richard Overy’s latest book, Rain of Ruin, looks at the atomic bombing of Japan, events that changed the world 80 years ago and brought World War 2 to an end.
In conversation with Imran Garda, Overy discusses the context and legacy of that attack and the profound cultural impact it still has with films such as Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Overy is also the author of Why War? A book that aims to explore the forces that drive human conflict.
From ancient human history to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the current wars raging around the world, why do we fight? And is our species on the verge of using those diabolical weapons again?
00:00 A new global age
00:30 Meet Richard Overy
02:04 Writing Rain of Ruin
03:17 The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
04:03 The morality of bombing Hiroshima
05:43 The movie Oppenheimer
07:25 The role of scientists in the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
08:40 Was Kyoto really dismissed as a target because a general had his honeymoon there?
09:44 U.S. plans for a broader nuclear war with Japan
11:09 Why did Americans view the bombing of Dresden as more controversial than Japan
13:31 A surprising discovery Overy made while writing Rain of Ruin
15:04 Why Overy wrote the book Why War?
16:58 The roots of war
18:51 How likely is nuclear war in our future?
21:23 Overy on his new book about Hitler
24:02 “We are living in turbulent times”
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