In the April issue of New English Review, our favorite doctor gives his take on the tragic American use of atomic bombs against Japanese civilians after reading a new book on this controversial topic by an eminent British historian.

Moreover, in total war, in which whole populations are mobilised for a war effort, the distinction between military and civilian targets is blurred. When my mother’s flat was bombed, she was working in a factory making tanks (she had three jobs). Was she therefore a legitimate military target?