This is just a brief post to make sure I have announced on here formally that my new book from HarperCollins is now on sale!
The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age (HarperCollins, 2025) is a new and provocative and possibly controversial take on Harry Truman and his role in US atomic policy, from Hiroshima through the Korean War (and everything in between). The research for it took well over a decade, and some of the things I’ve previously written about on this blog regarding Truman have been part of that process. But the book pulls together quite a lot of new source material, new interpretations, and covers a much wider scope than I’ve posted on here. So if you’re interested in these kinds of things — or have someone in your life who might be — check it out!
I’ve written up more about the argument of the book on my other blog, Doomsday Machines, which I will just link to here:
And if you’re not already a free subscriber to Doomsday Machines… why not? What more do you want, mermaids?
OK — that’s all for now! Thank you for your interest, attention, tolerance, support, et cetera!
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Citation: Alex Wellerstein, “New book: The Most Awful Responsibility,” Restricted Data: A Nuclear History Blog, December 9, 2025, accessed February 8, 2026,
