7.8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Media type trade paperback ISBN 978-0-345-49479-5 Originally published 29 May 2007 Genre Alternate history Country United States of America | 3.9/5 Goodreads Publication date May 29, 2007 Pages xi, 432 pp. OCLC 74916045 Publisher Ballantine Books | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nominations Sidewise Award for Best Long-Form Alternate History Similar Red Inferno: 1945, Himmler's War, 1862, 1901, 1920: America's Great War | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1945 is an alternate history novel by Michigan economics professor Robert Conroy, the author of other alternate history novels, such as 1901 and 1862. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook form by Ballantine Books in May 2007.
Contents
Plot summary
1945 depicts a surrender of Japan in World War II being successfully preempted by extremists, forcing US President Harry S. Truman to order more atomic bombings and an invasion of the Japanese home islands, continuing the Pacific Campaign into early 1946. Features prominent throughout the book include the viewpoints of infighting among the Japanese officers responsible for the military coup of the Japanese government, the imprisonment and breakout of Hirohito, the vicious combat between Japanese and American units on Kyushu and their respective naval forces in the Pacific, the efforts behind enemy lines by intelligence officers and POWs, the death of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, the Soviet Union's extended involvement in Japan, and mass protests in the US to end the war.
Literary significance and reception
Booklist said that "realistic to the point of gruesomeness, 1945 recalls David Westheimer's classic Lighter than a Feather." Publishers Weekly said that Conroy explored the carnage of war through various viewpoints with "moving and thought provoking results".