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At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945 (Japan time), a bomb named "Little Boy" exploded over Hiroshima and was written into history. The first atomic bomb used in actual combat immediately killed 70,000 people, and cancer and other complications induced by nuclear radiation would claim more than 200,000 lives. Much has been written about the circumstances surrounding the explosion and its subsequent effects. In this unique book "Countdown to Hiroshima", author Stephen Walker uses calm and restrained writing to describe the thrilling 21 days before the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and everything in the 18 hours after the explosion: from the U. S. Atomic bomb test at Los Alamos to the diplomatic game between the "Big Three"; from the scientists who proposed the concept of the atomic bomb opposed the use of this "Frankenstein's Monster" From the hardliners' insistence on dropping bombs without warning; from the bomber crew's "endurance and humiliation" to practice difficult flying maneuvers to a wild pilot who dropped a bomb on the Japanese Imperial Palace; from the wonderful night a pair of Hiroshima lovers spent before the explosion to the "glimpse of hell" described by witnesses after the explosion... Every time you turn a page, you can feel the time ticking away and a disaster getting closer and closer. In the end, together with the characters in the book, you will experience the long 30 minutes, 3 minutes, and 45 seconds before the nuclear explosion, and witness with the survivors the tragic scenes after the explosion: those corpses that were charred to the point of being inhuman form, the fire storm that swept everything, the "walking dead" whose bodies were so scorched that they could no longer tell whether they were male or female... The information in this book is extremely rich and detailed. The author's interviews with more than 40 bomber crew members who were still alive when the book was written, scientists involved in the development of the atomic bomb, and survivors of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing; memoirs and letters from the parties and their relatives; declassified documents from authoritative organizations such as the U. S. National Archives; academic writings by historians in related fields; and photos provided by many people who experienced it. In this book, Stephen Walker never exaggerates hatred, but calmly describes this event of far-reaching historical significance from multiple angles, showing the horror of war, especially nuclear weapons. Perhaps it is for this reason that this masterpiece won the prestigious Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2006.