- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (27 Sep 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140182918
- ISBN-13: 978-0140182910
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 607,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
'To this day nothing tells better the horror of Hiroshima ... One of the most powerful writers of modern times' Washington Post 'A vision of hell ... its terrible images are reminiscent of Dante's Inferno' The Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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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 Browse Sample Pages
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 Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
In summary it is a collection of amazing personal stories written in a fantastically vivid and clear journalistic fashion; a book everyone should read.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format: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
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
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hiroshima
Hiroshima isn't your usual history book: it's a highly novelistic piece of journalism which carries with it all the standard tropes of novelistic writing: direct speech, suspense,... Read more
Published 10 months ago by TomCat
A blinding flash...
Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt urging him to develop an atomic bomb, fearful that the Germans would be first. Read more
Published 15 months ago by John P. Jones III
WELL KNOWN EVENT RARELY WRITTEN FROM A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE
This was an interesting piece of writing,as that what it real is. John Hersey writes about six people and how the dropping of the A bomb affected them at the time, and how the rest... Read more
Published 16 months ago by bibliophile
Equally shocking and stunning. Should be compulsory
Anyone who sees a virtue in an atom bomb should read this account of the sufferings, the sights and the sounds of the aftermath of the biggest single human act of destruction ever... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Eric Blair
Six key witnesses to the atomic bomb
Hersey's 'Hiroshima' has to be one of the essential books of the 20th century. The book is mainly devoted to recounting the memories of six witnesses (five native to Japan and one... Read more
Published on 16 May 2010 by Brian Flange
Should be read by everyone
I feel that this book should be read by everyone. It's not necessarily what you'd expect and it's not one sided or biased or pointed or contrived, or even desperately political,... Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2010 by Mis Joanna Davidson
Horrors of Hiroshima
A very interesting description of the hours and days following the nuclear attack on Hiroshima at the close of World War 2. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2009 by Lisa Marie Hostick
Gripping
One of the most important books ever written. The sheer horror of the stories recounted by the survivors is graphically detailed. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2009 by R. Kampel
Flowers among the Ashes
There are no moral judgements in this compelling book. It is an account of how humanity coped in an inhumane situation. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2009 by Jonathan T. Coller
"The hurt ones were quiet; no one wept, much less screamed in pain..."
When the atomic bomb dropped at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was a thriving city of two hundred forty-five thousand people. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2007 by Mary Whipple
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