This week on History Happy Hour: We welcome back historian John McManus to talk about the third volume of his Pacific War series, To the End of the Earth. From the liberation of the Philippines to the Battle of Okinawa and finally to the end of the war, John chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the US Army in the Pacific. We’ll talk about the march to ultimate victory, from the worm’s eye view of soldiers fighting in the mud to the battles between the generals mapping out the campaign.

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John McManus is a military historian, author, and professor of military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He also served as a visiting professor at the U.S. naval Academy McManus has published thirteen books critically acclaimed on numerous American military history topics. This is his fourth appearance on History Happy Hour.

This week on History Happy Hour: President Truman’s choice to drop the atomic bomb is the most debated decision in the 20th Century. But what if he, himself, did not fully understand the decisions being made until after the atomic bomb was used.

Chris and Rick will talk to historian Alex Wellerstein about his highly regarded new book The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age.

Alex Wellerstein is an Associate Professor of Science and Technology at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He is also a visiting researcher at the Nuclear Knowledges program, Center for International Studies, Sciences Po, Paris. He is the author of Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, and he has written for The New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, and many other venues. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the NUKEMAP, the world’s most popular online nuclear weapons effects simulator. He is also the author of the Doomsday Machines blog, and has taught at Harvard, MIT, and Georgetown University.

This week on History Happy Hour: Life in Berlin during World War II. What was it like for the four million people who lived there as things became increasingly desperate?

Our guest is author Ian Buruma, author of Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945. We’ll talk about the experiences of everyday citizens, soldiers, Jews, and slave laborers like his father. How did they deal with the onslaught that swept over them as the war went on?

Ian Buruma was born in the Netherlands. He is a professor at Bard College and lives in New York City. He has also lived and worked in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and London. He has written numerous books and is a regular contributor to Harper’s and The New Yorker.