Tinian and the Bomb chronicles the important and often overlooked role Tinian in the Mariana Islands played in the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of World War II. As part of the Manhattan Project, Project Alberta and Operation Centerboard, Tinian was integral in the plan to drop atomic bombs on Japan. The book captures this history as gathered from documents and images held in the National Archives, Record Group 77. The book documents how the Army Corps of Engineers, guided by the Los Alamos Laboratory in cooperation with the US Army Air Forces and the US Navy and its Seabees, constructed facilitates on Tinian capable of assembling and delivering as many atomic bombs as necessary to bring WWII to a successful end without an invasion of the Japanese home islands. As predicted, two atomic bombs, one uranium and one plutonium, were launched from Tinian and dropped in rapid succession, resulting in the unconditional surrender of Japanese military forces. This prevented the political partition of Japan (as happened with Korea and Germany) and led to the US-Japan security alliance that remains the cornerstone of peace in the Pacific today.

• Author(s): Don A. Farrell
• Publisher: Micronesian Productions in partnership with University of Guam Press (2018)
• ISBN-13: 978-0-930839-04-1
• Hardcover: 472 pages
• Price: $35

Don A. Farrell came to Guam from California as a teacher in 1977. He taught at Inarajan Junior High and John F. Kennedy High School.

Three years later, in 1980, he switched careers to become a public relations officer for the Guam Legislature. He was the chief of staff to the Speaker of the Guam Legislature, Carl Gutierrez, from 1982 to 1986.
In 1980 he founded Micronesian Productions and began publishing books. 

He also recently published a textbook on Marianas History from ancient times through the Spanish era and is currently working on another book, “The Tinian Atomic Bomb Files: Declassified.”

Farrell moved to Tinian in 1987 where he continues to do historical research, write and teach.

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