Will they attack each other directly with nuclear weapons? What countries will be caught in between? The fateful global drama plays out through the experiences of ordinary people-from a British barmaid to a Ukrainian war veteran to a desperate American soldier alone behind enemy lines in Korea. As the shock waves settle, the two superpowers are caught in a horrifying face-off. The miscalculation turns into a disaster when Truman fails to foresee Russia's reaction. In actual history, Truman rejected his general's advice here, he does not. MacArthur advocates a strike on Chinese targets in Manchuria. The only way to stop the Communist surge into the Korean Peninsula and save thousands of American lives is through a nuclear attack.

military has been cut to the bone after victory over the Nazis-while China and the USSR have built up their forces. MacArthur recognizes a stark reality: The U.S. Now, this masterly storyteller turns his eyes to the aftermath of World War II and asks: In an era of nuclear posturing, what if the Cold War had suddenly turned hot? Bombs Away begins with President Harry Truman in desperate consultation with General Douglas MacArthur, whose control of the ground war in Korea has slipped disastrously away. In his acclaimed novels of alternate history, Harry Turtledove has scrutinized the twisted soul of the twentieth century, from the forces that set World War I in motion to the rise of fascism in the decades that followed.

Bombs away the hot war