John Hersey Hiroshima Memorial Museum: Experience a Historic Moment in World History

C. Corcoran: The human experience behind the nuclear bombings is essential to understand. A quick and wrenching read that will always be important.

United States on Mar 09, 2024

Anne Lo: John Hersey relate de manière poignante les conséquences inacceptables d’une bombe nucléaire faisant des centaines de milliers de victimes, mortes sur le coup ou devant survivre avec des graves problèmes de santé

France on Feb 24, 2024

James Hargreaves: What words can I come up with for what is the one report every literate person should read, avoid the easily forgetting glitzy films such as Oppenheimer, I have only loathing and contempt for every scientist and all those remotely associated with the Manhatten project.

It is hard to imagine and believe the scenes that unfold within the pages, yet what you are reading is a matter of fact, an on-the-ground report taken one year after the event, these are the eyewitness accounts from Japanese citizens on the ground and not a work of fiction.

Please read with some caution and share it with others, we should all read this.

United Kingdom on Feb 19, 2024

Anne: I actually read this book years ago...and needed a refresher. I actually met Col. Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, that flew to Hiroshima to drop the bomb, at a lecture that he gave in CT. He never regretted his action because he felt like he had saved at least another 400,000 American lives by doing this deed.

United States on Feb 11, 2024

Love it, hate it, read it, watch it.: History is not always pretty, but we should try to understand the effects of political decisions, no matter how distressing.

United States on Nov 27, 2023

Shashwat: It is a wonderfull book describing the horror and terror faced by Hiroshima and the people living in Hiroshima.
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.

India on Aug 28, 2021

gorka zubiaur: Libro indispensable para saber que pasó y las consecuencias de la Bomba en Hiroshima

Spain on Jul 31, 2021

Dr. John Ryan: It is now 75 years since the USA used atomic bombs to destroy the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombs instantly killed about 200,000 people and thousands more died horrible deaths later from the burns and radiation sickness. US leaders did not want the world to know the horrific extent of what they had done. General MacArthur headed the US occupation forces in Japan and would not allow anyone to report what actually happened. However, a year later (1946) John Hersey through the efforts of the fledgling New Yorker magazine managed to get permission for two weeks to view the scene in Hiroshima. In addition to viewing the incredible damage, he did comprehensive interviews with six of the Hiroshima survivors. On his return to the US he wrote an alarming account based on these interviews. His entire story appeared in the New Yorker on August 31, 1946. It was a shock to read--finally the truth came out as to what happened on August 6, 1945. This was reported the world over, and later this story came out as a book, entitled "Hiroshima". What the book does not make clear is that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not responsible for ending the...

Canada on Jul 01, 2021

Timothy Miyahara: The Kindle edition is missing Chapter 5. This is the eBook edition published by Pickle Partners (ASIN B00QU4BBTY). Chapter 5 is the John Hersey follow up 40 years later telling the story of the main characters after the original magazine article in 1946. The kindle edition does not disclose that it includes only the 1946 magazine article text. Read a physical edition published after 1989 for a more complete picture.
*********
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...

United States on Nov 03, 2015

Chad Oberholtzer: In his classic book, "Hiroshima," John Hersey simply and powerfully tells the story of six residents of Hiroshima who were dramatically and traumatically impacted by the dropping of the atomic bomb near the end of World War II. I've always been fascinated by World War II history and have deeply appreciated works of art like "Band of Brothers" or "Ghost Soldiers," which help to bring humanity and complexity into our perceptions of war, which are too often overly abstract and neatly simplistic (good guys vs. bad guys, hopefully the good guys won). But "Hiroshima" does something even more challenging but no less important for American readers, bringing that humanity and complexity from the perspective of the "enemy," in this case Japanese doctors, clergy, mothers, and office workers with no particular political or military associations.

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,...

United States on Dec 27, 2014