The book of historian and diplomat Lester Brooks is dedicated to the dramatic events of August 1945, preceding the surrender of Japan. Based on intercepted intelligence reports, protocols of interrogations of war criminals, materials of the Tokyo process and memoirs of participants in the events, the author comprehensively analyzes and documents the internal political conflict that escalated after the destruction of Hiroshima. In his research, Brooks points out that the samurai mentality of the military elites, the unwillingness to retreat and the desire to fight to the last soldier led to the crushing defeat of Japan in World War II and the collapse of the empire.