Choosing Life: My Father’s Journey in Film from Hollywood to Hiroshima

Choosing Life: My Father’s Journey in Film from Hollywood to Hiroshima by Leslie Sussan ’73 recounts the experiences of the author’s father, who served on the Strategic Bombing Survey film crew that recorded the aftermath of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Appalled by what he saw, Herbert Sussan spent decades arguing for the release of the footage, classified top secret by the U.S. government. Drawn from an oral history he left behind and interviews with survivors, this book captures the legacy of the atomic bombing through decades and generations. (BookBaby, 2020)

Leslie A. Sussan was born and raised in New York City and graduated from Bryn Mawr College and Georgetown Law School. Over a long career as an attorney, she litigated for the U.S. Department of Justice, represented migrant farmworkers and abused children, and has now served for 14 years as an administrative appellate judge for the federal government.