New MP3's and Some Controversy

The Last Train From Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino

Drawing on the voices of atomic bomb survivors and the new science of forensic archaeology, Charles Pellegrino describes the events and aftermath of two days in August where nuclear devices detonated over Japan changed life on Earth forever. At the narrative’s core are eyewitness accounts of those who experienced the atomic explosions firsthand – the Japanese civilians on the ground and the American flyers in the air. Thirty people are known to have fled Hiroshima for Anagasaki-where they arrived just in time to survive the second bomb. One of them, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, is the only person who experienced the full effects of the cataclysm at ground zero both times.

Doubts were first raised about the book a week ago after Pellegrino acknowledged that one of his interview subjects had falsely claimed to be on one of the planes accompanying the Enola Gay, from which an atom bomb was dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945. Holt had initially promised to send a corrected edition.

But further doubts about the book emerged. The publisher was unable to determine the existence of a Father Mattias (the first name is not given), who supposedly lived in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing, and John MacQuitty, identified as a Jesuit scholar presiding over Mattias’ funeral

“I read a number of books on this period of time and none of them mentioned Mattias or MacQuitty. I knew there was no way those people could have been omitted if they were real,” said history professor Barton Bernstein, of Stanford University.

Pellegrino’s own background was also questioned. He sometimes refers to himself as Dr. Pellegrino, and his Web site, at , lists him as receiving a Ph.D. in 1982 from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. But in response to a query from the AP, the school said it had no proof that Pellegrino had such a degree. http://www.charlespellegrino.com From The Huffington Post.

Publication of this book has been stopped. The library owns this book, but is now cataloging it as fiction.

The Politician by Andrew Young

The underside of modern American politics-raw ambition, manipulation, and deception-are revealed in detail in Andrew Young’s riveting account of a presidential hopeful’s meteoric rise and scandalous fall.  Like a nonfiction version of All The King’s Men, The Politician offers a truly disturbing, even shocking perspective of the risks taken and tactics employed by a man determined to rule the most powerful nation on earth.

(taken from covers)