‘In documenting how John Hersey pulled off one of the greatest journalistic feats in history, Blume has herself pulled off a great feat. Fallout is a fast-paced, deeply reported revelation.’
Gay Talese, award-winning journalist, and author of High Notes and The Voyeur’s Motel
‘At a time when our world-destroying arsenal of nuclear weapons seems to have been all but forgotten, Lesley Blume’s eloquent rediscovery of the story behind John Hersey’s startling 1946 narrative ‘Hiroshima’ reminds us again of the vast human disaster even a small, primitive atomic bomb can visit upon the world.’
Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
‘A searing testament to the power of journalism, truth-telling, and a story to help us remember our shared humanity … an urgent read.’
Sarah Sentilles, author of Draw Your Weapons
‘Fallout reveals the inside story of one of history’s most astonishing journalistic scoops, the cynical government cover-up it circumvented, and the extraordinary effort it took to bring the terrible costs of the atomic age to light.’
Adam Higginbotham, author of Midnight in Chernobyl
‘John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’ has been a legend of American journalism since its first appearance in The New Yorker, and the story it tells, and how that story got told, was one we thought we knew. Now Lesley Blume shows us how little we really knew about Hersey and ‘Hiroshima’ both – and gives us a new and truly heroic story of censorship defied, taboos broken, truth sought, and editor and author committed together to serious purpose. This extraordinary book can help restore the morale of American journalism at a time when it badly needs it.’
Adam Gopnik, author of A Thousand Small Sanities
‘In Fallout, Lesley Blume brilliantly tells the story of how John Hersey made his epic book ‘Hiroshima,’ which had a profound effect on the way people came to regard atomic warfare. But the memory of his book has grown dim, and Fallout serves as an essential reminder of the lessons we once learned from Hersey’s reporting.’
William J. Perry, 19th US Secretary of Defense
‘Blume uncovers the fascinating backstory to perhaps the most influential piece ever published by an American magazine: John Hersey’s 1946 report on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. A work of historical excavation … [her] narrative never flags in its drama.’ STARRED REVIEW
Kirkus Reviews
‘Fallout is gripping history. A big, important story; deeply researched and well told.’
Dan Rather
‘Journalism at its finest … Blume’s tight, fast-moving book, pegged to the 75th anniversary of the bombing, tells Hersey’s story as he raced to gather sources, wrote in absolute secrecy, and then published a deeply empathetic, almost unbelievably distressing article.’
Bloomberg
Praise for Everybody Behaves Badly:
‘Fiendishly readable … a deeply, almost obsessively researched biography of a book, supported by a set of superb endnotes worth reading in their own right.’
The Washington Post
Praise for Everybody Behaves Badly:
‘Blume’s deeply researched ‘backstory’ enhances the depth [of The Sun Also Rises] and restates its very real significance … What happened between those two points in Hemingway’s life, from being a nobody to very much a somebody, is reconstructed with authority and insight.’ STARRED REVIEW
Booklist
Praise for Everybody Behaves Badly:
“In this revealing new study, Blume shows that a series of competing internal and external pressures helped birth Hemingway’s now-legendary debut roman à clef, The Sun Also Rises… Blume has carved a mountain of original research into a riveting tale of Hemingway’s literary, romantic, and publishing travail.’ STARRED REVIEW
Publishers Weekly
