The sixtieth anniversary of World War II began on December 7, 2001 - because it marked the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and because we Americans can't be bothered to take time off from work to commemorate that little bit of unpleasantness that took place in Europe between September 1, 1939 and December 6, 1941.

A little less than four years later, the anniversary is coming to a close, with the two most disquieting moments of the war. Though the atom bomb that hit Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 was twice as potent, the one that exploded over Hiroshima three days prior did more damage and killed more people - and, of course, was the first such weapon ever used.

Aside from the obvious current-day confluences - the WWII anniversary began in the shadow of 9/11 and ends with the U.S. stuck in a (post)war prosecuted via a Big Lie about nuclear weapons - there's not much to say about the cataclysmic events of August 6 and 9, 1945 that hasn't already been said.

So while you sip your weekend coffee and ask yourself if our world is going to hell in a handbasket, check out some resources on the two days when no one had to wonder:

• Go here for the Wikipedia entry on the bombings.
  
  
• Go here for information on the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 over the objections of the U.S. and China.
  
  
• Go here for information and background on John Hersey's Hiroshima, which is just as stark and compelling as it was on that August, 1946 day when it first appeared as a whole-issue article in The New Yorker.
  
  
• And finally, go here - or better yet, to your local independent bookstore - and get your own copy of Hiroshima. It should be in every thinking, feeling person's library.