Boyd Tonkin

The power of the translator to break nations

In her wide-ranging study of the translator’s role, Anna Aslanyan tells of how the American interpretation of one Japanese word sealed the fate of Hiroshima

The Dragoman worked as a translator, interpreter and guide. [Getty Images]

  • Dancing on Ropes: Translators and the Balance of History

    Anna Aslanyan

    Profile Books, pp. 272, £16

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