- Mass Market Paperback: 152 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (13 Jun 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679721037
- ISBN-13: 978-0679721031
- Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 1.2 x 17.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
643,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #42 in Books > History > World History > World War II 1939-1945 > Weapons > Atom Bomb
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Product Description
Product Description
On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. This book, John Hersey's journalistic masterpiece, tells what happened on that day. Told through the memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic "that stirs the conscience of humanity" (The New York Times).
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.
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.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
AT EXACTLY fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
AT EXACTLY fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable & very human view of a horrific event,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hiroshima (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
I came across this book via the recommendation system after buying several books by Japanese authors and thought it would be worth finding out about what happened to the people involved. Everyone knows (or should!!) what happened but when the personal tales are painted in such a clear manner it is utterly absorbing.In summary it is a collection of amazing personal stories written in a fantastically vivid and clear journalistic fashion; a book everyone should read.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The hurt ones were quiet; no one wept, much less screamed in pain...",
By
This review is from: Hiroshima (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
When the atomic bomb fell at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was a thriving city of two hundred forty-five thousand people. By 8:20, one hundred thousand of those people were dead. Combining the broad perspective of the absolute devastation of the city with the tiniest details of six individual lives, John Hersey provides a powerful closeup of a few survivors of the atomic attack on Hiroshima, giving the carnage a human perspective.
Focusing on Mr. Tanimoto, a Methodist pastor; Mrs. Nakamura, the widow of a tailor, and her three children; Dr. Masakazu Fujii, a physician in a private clinic; Fr. Wilhelm Kleinsorge, S. J, a priest in a Catholic mission; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young surgeon at the Red Cross Hospital; and Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in a tin works, as they survive the initial attack, the author follows their daily movements, their subsequent illnesses, their fears, and the eventual outcomes of their lives. The victims become human, and their concerns become universal, as Hersey shows them digging themselves out and helping their neighbors, filled with an "elated community spirit" in the days and weeks after the bombing. Details of the fires following the bombing, the unexpected radiation sickness, the mysteries surrounding the kind of bomb that was dropped (some Japanese believed that the allies had sprinkled powdered magnesium over the city and then ignited it), the devastating rains that followed, and the monumental scale of the damage are presented in straightforward, factual style, the horrors of the reality so overwhelming that Hersey had no need to try to control his narrative by selecting details or ordering them for effect. Published in the New Yorker in August, 1946, this anniversary remembrance had immediate and dramatic repercussions, perhaps because the focus on "ordinary" Japanese citizens, much like the Americans who read the article, as opposed to "the enemy," resonated with his readers. Thousands listened to four days of its reading on ABC radio, and many others bought the New Yorker to read his account. By broaching the question of the ethics of dropping such a bomb (which, ironically, some of the Japanese agree was acceptable as a normal part of the war), he also forces his readers to consider the long-term implications of atomic warfare. Dramatic, powerful, and very personal, this account of six lives changed forever is a monument to the human spirit in the face of incredible adversity. Mary Whipple
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indispensible - a necessary read,
By
This review is from: Hiroshima (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
This is one of the most important books of the Twentieth Century. In these times of increased nuclear proliferation, sabre-rattling and political machismo - the human cost of such weapons is often forgotten. Hersey captures the immediate aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb with a detached humanity, showing us what happened without preaching to us. The results are all the more horrifying as we are left to our own inevitable conclusion. This is a book that everybody should read.
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