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Hiroshima Mass Market Paperback – March 4, 1989
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"The perspective [Hiroshima] offers from the bomb’s actual victims is the mandatory counterpart to any Oppenheimer viewing." —GQ Magazine
“Nothing can be said about this book that can equal what the book has to say. It speaks for itself, and in an unforgettable way, for humanity.” —The New York Times
Hiroshima is the story of six human beings who lived through the greatest single manmade disaster in history. John Hersey tells what these six -- a clerk, a widowed seamstress, a physician, a Methodist minister, a young surgeon, and a German Catholic priest -- were doing at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, when Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city. Then he follows the course of their lives hour by hour, day by day.
The New Yorker of August 31, 1946, devoted all its space to this story. The immediate repercussions were vast: newspapers here and abroad reprinted it; during evening half-hours it was read over the network of the American Broadcasting Company; leading editorials were devoted to it in uncounted newspapers.
Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book John Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told. His account of what he discovered about them -- the variety of ways in which they responded to the past and went on with their lives -- is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.
- Print length160 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherVintage
- Publication dateMarch 4, 1989
- Dimensions7.76 x 5.08 x 0.44 inches
- ISBN-100679721037
- ISBN-13978-0679721031
- Lexile measure1190L
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In a city of two hundred and forty-five thousand, nearly a hundred thousand people had been killed or doomed at one blow; a hundred thousand more were hurt.487 Kindle readers highlighted this
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The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose.433 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Of a hundred and fifty doctors in the city, sixty-five were already dead and most of the rest were wounded. Of 1,780 nurses, 1,654 were dead or too badly hurt to work. In the biggest hospital, that of the Red Cross, only six doctors out of thirty were able to function, and only ten nurses out of more than two hundred.427 Kindle readers highlighted this
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“One of the great classics of the war.” —The New Republic
“Everyone able to read should read it.” —Saturday Review of Literature
From the Inside Flap
Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, John Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told. His account of what he discovered about them is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.
From the Back Cover
Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, John Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told. His account of what he discovered about them is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Vintage; Reprint edition (March 4, 1989)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 160 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0679721037
- ISBN-13 : 978-0679721031
- Lexile measure : 1190L
- Item Weight : 4.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 7.76 x 5.08 x 0.44 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #6,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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The central strength of the book is its gripping account of the lives of these six individuals, setting the stage before the bomb was dropped, describing the events that immediately followed the immense explosion, and following the impact of that cataclysmic event in the ensuing months and years. In fact, a final chapter, written 40 years after the original publication of the book, gives another update for the six featured people, four decades down the road. And, in all of this, Hersey manages to tell a powerful, vivid story without getting preachy or political. At the end of the day, we get a sense of the devastation, a hint of the suffering, a glimmer of the confusion, and just a faint taste of the impact of that first atomic bomb. It's a worthy experience for anyone, from any nationality or political persuasion.
I do have one minor quibble with Hersey's approach. With only six subjects to describe, I found it odd and unnecessarily limited in scope that two of them were physicians and two of them were Christian clergy (though one was Catholic and one was Protestant). Had he found a more diverse cross-section of Japanese society, I think that the main strength of the book would have been augmented. But this critique is truly insignificant within the context of the power of Hersey's work.
Ultimately, part of my experience in appreciating this book comes from a cultural upbringing that celebrated the United States' military might and historical successes with an abstract triumphalist tone, failing to bother to understand the devastating effects that war brings to all sides of any military conflict. As I've studied and learned as much military history as I can, my perspective has thankfully become more nuanced, and I'm mindful of the dangers of looking at an event like the bombing of Hiroshima as nothing more than a good old fashioned Yankee whooping. "Hiroshima" helps to counter that cheap view of human worth by shedding light on the horrors of war, from the often untold perspective of the defeated. It's true that the victors get to write history, and I'm glad that Hersey took the brave step to make sure that the impact on the vanquished is at least known and understood on some level. He does so without making sweeping political implications, without suggesting that the Hiroshima bombing was necessarily a mistake. He merely says that this event happened, that it was tragically awful for many people, that real people suffered and died, and that we would do well to be aware of those realities when we think back in history at war. I'd recommend the book to absolutely anyone who can see the potential value of being stretched and challenged in that direction.
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John Hersey's "Hiroshima"
After reading a note written by a German Jesuit priest who survived the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, John Hersey located him and was introduced to five other survivors and documented their stories. When I first read the book, I found the story moving, shocking and disturbing. The vivid depictions of the survivors and their struggle to live through the next few days are eye-openers. The new chapter added 40 years later provides some closure to the story of their lives.
The prose is simple yet the reader is able to get a good grasp on events and environment. John Hersey wrote Hiroshima in a neutral tone and style. He told interviewer Steve Rothman, "The flat style was deliberate and I still think I was right to adopt it. A high literary manner, or a show of passion, would have brought me into the story as a mediator. I wanted to avoid such mediation, so the reader's experience would be as direct as possible."
The issue of the magazine was prepared in great secrecy, even the clerks and staff of The New Yorker magazine itself were not let in on the secret, and the weekly proofs for publication were seen only by the editors. Part of the reason was the subject. While in Japan, John Hersey could not actively seek interviewees in Hiroshima since the atomic bomb's aftereffects were heavily censored by the U.S. Army of Occupation in 1946. Newspapers in Japan were not allowed to mention the atomic bombs and the survivors, and even poetry mentioning the events was illegal. Attempts by the Nippon Times to publish Hersey's article in Japan were blocked in 1946, but copies of the book in English surreptitiously made their way to Tokyo in 1947. It was eventually allowed to be published there in 1948.
The New Yorker magazine originally intended to serial publish the story, but made an unprecedented decision to devote the entire issue to John Hersey's story. When the article was first published it sold out within hours. People were hawking the magazine for up to $20 (a great sum in those days) and the publisher was unable to fulfill Albert Einstein's order of 1000 copies.
Many critics on sites like Amazon complain Hiroshima does not give the reasons for the U.S. employing the atomic bombs and so is anti-American. Hersey's purpose was not to delve into the argument of whether the bombs should have been used, but to report on its effects and the stories of the survivors. This book was originally intended as a long magazine article and it did not have the space to cover all arguments and nuances. The debate of whether the bombs should or should not have been used really didn't exist when Hersey wrote Hiroshima in 1946. There was no question about using the atomic bombs. When the bombs were dropped, America and her allies were in the midst of a total war with Japan, an embrace of death that neither belligerent was willing or could afford to relax. The horrors and struggles of war were still fresh in everyone's minds. This was a new horror, the face of nuclear war to which Americans were vastly ignorant until John Hersey made the world aware.
I also read complaints at Amazon that the article was unbalanced because Hersey did not list Japan’s war crimes, especially the Nanking Massacre, or that because of these war crimes the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki got what they deserved. These arguments are specious at best and immoral at worst. There can be no doubt the Japanese military and the Japanese government were responsible for many war crimes, perhaps even on a greater scale than Nazi Germany. The Nanking Massacre, the Bataan Death March, the Laha Massacre, and the Sandakan Death March to list but a few. The victims of man's inhumanity to man, whether they died in the bombing of Rotterdam, the Holocaust, the Nanking Massacre, the Bismarck Sea incident, the Coventry Blitz, the firebombing of Dresden, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the Malmedy Massacre - few, if any, of the victims deserved death. The people were all sons and daughters; some were husbands, wives, brothers or sisters. Each one was a human being with a name, hopes and dreams. Each has a story and should be respected and remembered.
War is savage and brutal, but one tragedy does not justify the next, and the killing of one prisoner or civilian does not justify the killing of another.
Every victim deserves to be remembered and have their story told.
Hiroshima gives a face to the victims of the atomic bombs. This is their story.
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Soviet invasion two days later and the total collapse of Japanese forces in Manchuria that caused Japan's surrender on August 15. After all, the US had fire-bombed and destroyed about 100 cities....two more destroyed cities was not overly alarming. What has not been widely reported is that all the major US generals, including Eisenhower and MacArthur, opposed the use of atomic bombs on Japan. It was Truman and his government advisors who decided to use these bombs. And why? It was not to end the Japanese war....Japan had been fully prepared to surrender. The use of these horrific bombs was totally unnecessary and that is what the generals pointed out. The atomic bombs were used on Japan, not to end the war, but for the purpose of showing the Soviet Union that this is what would happen to them if they did not go along with US policies. In fact, the US almost immediately after World War II, started a campaign to build at least 200 atomic bombs for use on the USSR. Official documents are available on this matter, going into full detail...that they would need 6 bombs for Moscow, 6 for Leningrad, etc.
What stopped them from doing this was that the USSR in 1949 developed nuclear weapons of their own. This of course is not revealed in Hersey's book since all he wanted to do was to show what actually happened to Hiroshima that resulted in the death of 140,000 people. As it says in its sub-title, "Everyone able to read should read it." The bombing of Hiroshima was a war crime of the greatest magnitude.
It has detailed description of the blast and while reading you will feel that the victims are telling their stories sitting beside you.
A must read book for the people interested in Hiroshima happenings.














