Hiroshima

By John Hersey

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author John Hersey's seminal work of narrative nonfiction which has defined the way we think about nuclear warfare.  “One of the great classics of the war" (The New Republic) that tells what happened in Hiroshima during World War II through the memories of the survivors of the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city.  

"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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780593080696

Reviews for Hiroshima

[paul9the9well9read · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

On re-reading this classic, I was touched even more deeply than the first time I read it many years ago. Like "All Quiet on the Western Front," this book haunts the reader and , without a speck of moralizing or histrionics, points out the horror and absurdity of war.
As I grow older and see more and more of humanity and of what the world has to offer, I struggle more and more to even conceive of any notion of how man can see war as an acceptable tool of his existence. What is so important that we should murder each other, brutalized families left grieving and plunder the landscape?
The six characters of Hiroshima rise above the question of the morality using the atomic bomb and even above the question of the morality of warring in general, to show characters for whom the simple act of living is man's most noble achievement.

[ericlee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

John Hersey's account of the lives of six survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was first published just a year after the events. Despite the passage of more than seventy years, the work endures, as moving now as it was when first published in 1946. The book was updated forty years later, so we now know what happened to all six people and their families. Probably the most shocking moment in the whole book was this one: In May 1955, one of the survivors, Kiyoshi Tanimoto, who was visiting the US, was given an unexpected starring role in the NBC television series "This Is Your Life". Tanimoto had no idea what was happening, and his shock is palpable when the studio brings out as a surprise guest Captain Robert Lewis, the copilot of the Enola Gay, which carried out the bombing. This incredibly insensitive movement comes at the end of a short book which cries out for sensitivity, for understanding, for empathy. Nuclear weapons must never be used again, ever.

[sigmundfraud · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hiroshima by John Hersey was printed again by THE NEW YORKER, which is where it first appeared, for the August 6th anniversary of the bombing. I read it perhaps fifty years ago and found it as compelling when I read it again this week. Hersey takes us to Hiroshima at the moment of the bomb exploring to life on the ground in the several days thereafter. It is horrific, ultra realistic and frightening to say the least. Nonetheless it does nothing to weaken by resolve that Truman did the right thing to bring the Second World War to an end.

[masseylibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hiroshima is John Hersey's timeless and compassionate account of the catastrophic even which heralded the coming of the atomic age. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author went to Japan, while the ashes of Hiroshima were still warm, to interview the survivors of the first atomic bombing. His trip resulted in this world-famous document.I don't know of any book that has been launched with quite the history of this brilliant piece of journalism. First, it made history by the New Yorker devoting its entire edition to the article. Next, it was syndicated by the Herald-Tribune. And then it appears (as of the above date) in book form. Hailed by press and public as ""the best reporting of this war"", in its clean, classic restraint, its simplicity, its severity by implication, this is an artistic achievement as well as a threat to this still unsettled world. Here is the story of six of the survivors at Hiroshima, where a hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb:- Miss Sasaki, a clerk; Dr. Fujii, a physician; Mrs. Nakamura, a tailor's widow; Father Kleinsorge, a German Jesuit; Dr. Sasaki, a young Red Cross doctor; the Reverend Tanimoto, a pastor.... six who ""still wonder why they lived when so many others died""... who now know that ""in the act of survival they lived a dozen lives and saw more death than he ever thought to see"". What they saw, what they felt, what-through satiety of terror and suffering- they did not feel, what they had and what they lost, is all told here. No one can remain unconcerned or unmoved. Hersey has risen to the heights of impartial recording that makes this a human document transcending propaganda.

[lovinglit · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Originally published in 1946 in the New Yorker as a long narrative non fiction piece, this edition has a final chapter added in which allows the reader to see what became of the people the book focusses on.The author spent time in Hiroshima talking to 6 survivors of the atomic bomb that put a stop not only to WWII, but to the lives of 100,000 Japanese (mostly) civilians. He wrote their stories in a narrative form which was relatively unheard of then, and it succeeds in pulling you into the lives of these unfortunates. We hear a lot of each person's experience of the actual explosion, and the days and weeks afterwards. And with the final long chapter, we get a picture of how they lived out their days to the point of the 40th anniversary of the bombing.The indiscriminate nature of injuries and death in the bombing is mirrored in the telling of the tales of these peoples' lives, they are a varied bunch and their lives play out accordingly. The cultural peculiarities of the Japanese interested me (what we Westerners would possibly term excessive thought for others, epic levels of survivor guilt, etc), as did the horrific nature of the injuries and the post-disaster suffering of so many. The book does a great job of conveying the magnitude of the event, and the long-term consequences.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just as anyone unconvinced of taking action to help those who lose everything should read the grapes of wrath, those who are hawkish or play loose and wild with nuclear weapons should read Hiroshima by John Hersey. Never a more devastating detailed account of the horrors of nuclear war and disregard for the aftermath of weapons of mass destruction. Once its unleashed it's over for our beloved planet and for mankind. Nuclear power has no preference for race or color wealth or power. We all suffer and die the same.

[readingover50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this all in one day. The total destruction from the atomic bomb is so hard to fathom. Entire buildings were obliterated by the force of the explosion. Structures that we would think of as safe were just gone.

This book follows the lives of 6 people in Hiroshima at the time the bomb went off. We follow them from the moment of explosion and then for the first year. It is told in a matter of fact, clinical style that only accentuates the horrors that they endured. I would hope reading this would deter people from ever using this type of bomb again.

[rsplenda477 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of the best ways to understand the events of the past is through the eyes of individuals who experienced them. John Hersey does just that in this haunting, yet inspiring, novel about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.Hersey tracks the lives of about 8 individuals who survived the bombing. Although written in a reporter-type fashion, Hersey brings to life the horror that these people were exposed to, as well as highlights the overarching positive triumph of the human spirit when it is faced with ultimate darkness. As a history buff, I highly recommend this short book to anyone interested in the WWII era. It exposes the cultural beliefs of the 1940s while also cautions against the usage of such devastating technology.

[russellbittner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I realize that John Hersey is a name few people under 60 will recognize. In my late teenage years, his was a name to be reckoned with. A Bell for Adano and White Lotus are titles I still carry in my petrified memory. And after (finally) getting around to reading Hiroshima, I know why.

Hiroshima is pure journalism — make no mistake about it. But it’s journalism with integrity. It’s journalism in which the writer has put himself aside, and accurately reported. Since he, personally, wasn’t there the day the bomb dropped, he reported what he found out first-hand from survivors — about both the players and the props upon that dreadful stage.

John Hersey was from the old school of journalism — which is to say, he reported accurately, without embellishment, without hyperbole, without slant. The story of Hiroshima doesn’t need embellishment, hyperbole or slant. The story of Hiroshima (and Nagasaki) is monolithic.

You might well read Cervantes’ Don Quixote and be as swayed by its message. But for that, you’d need at least a couple of weeks (if you’re lucky), a couple of months (if you’re not). Hiroshima is something you can read in a couple of days. I know. I did. And yes, “everyone able to read should read it.”

RRB
8/07/13
Brooklyn, NY

[engpunk77 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A journalist captures the accounts of six H-bomb survivors. Hersey produced this "most sifnificant piece of journalism of modern times" (1946) shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima. This descriptive, gut-wrenching, retelling of the events as experienced by six survivors will touch your soul. I can't imagine a more pertinent read in this day and age. It's a quick read if you can sail through your emotions with ease--I read it on a 2-hour train trip. Please read this, and release, and release. We each need to make a connection between war rhetoric and humanity. Hopefully this will jolt you into action...

[19vatermit64 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hiroshima: With a Final Chapter Written Forty Years After the ExplosionJohn HerseyYesterday marks the sixty-seventh anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. It seemed to pass unnoticed in the media.I first read John Hersey's Hiroshima in 1976, and at the time I was not really impressed with the destruction caused by the bomb. I recall writing a book report about it, and that was the end of it. I was disappointed to find that it was not a book about the glories of war, but rather a narrative about civilians coping with the aftermath of an explosion which destroyed most of the city's infrastructure. It was boring.In 2008, I got a copy of this book from Easton Press. Below the title was the phrase "With a final chapter written forty years after the explosion." In the extra chapter, Hersey reports on what happened to the men and women afterwards. The book was a far more interesting read the second time around.A few things struck me while reading this book. One was that the people of Hiroshima had a feeling that their city was due for a bombing. It turns out this was correct, as the American forces had decided to spare it so that they could see the effects of the bomb on an undisturbed city. While cities all around them were getting bombed, Hiroshima was left alone. It was near a staging area for bombers heading to other cities in Japan, so the people were used to hearing air raid sirens. Hersey seems to imply that the populace had grown complacent, and were not prepared for a bombing. On the morning of August 6, the alarms had gone off twice; once for a B-29 which was performing weather reconnaissance, and then later when the Enola Gay and the two bombers which accompanied it flew over the city.I can't recall if it was in this book, but there is a story that some people saw the bombers turn away violently after dropping the bomb, and they thought that the aircraft had been shot out of the sky. Actually, the Enola Gay was turning away to escape from the anticipated blast. The other two aircraft were along to take recordings and photographs of the explosion and its aftermath.The other thing which impressed me was how all of the people in the book kept on despite the effects of the atomic bomb on their bodies and souls. While I would not agree with how all of them lived after the war, they still are examples of how one can overcome setbacks as large as a nuclear explosion. I recommend this book for anyone who is considering military service; I encourage readers to get the version of the book with the follow-up chapter.

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The thing that strikes me most when reading this is how completely unknown this kind of horror was at the time. I have grown up in the atomic age, and have vivid memories of "duck and cover" and backyard bomb shelters. When the bomb fell on Hiroshima, it was something the world had never experienced. I pray we never experience it again.This book, together with the Hiroshima Maidens (I can't remember who wrote it, but Norman Cousins played a big piece in it, though I don't think he wrote it) put this event in perspective as to what happens to people when acts of history occur.

[matthew254 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hiroshima is, as the book's bold front critique claims, a book that "everyone able to read should read it". One of the most unforgettable reading experiences ever, Hershey tells the stories of six diverse survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima bombings not only before, during and after the event but even followed up on their fates forty years after the original publication date. As soon as I finished it, I knew I would revisit it again some day. This is one of the best books I have ever read.

[justsara-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book. Thought provoking, heart wrenching reality check. A must re-read!

[dareone32988 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The citizens of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, experienced possibly the most devasting, horrendous event in history. It was on this day that the first Atomic bomb was used as a means of warfare, and it was dropped by the United States. Although it is an event our nation has tried to forget, it is one that should always be remembered as one of the darkest days in history. John Hersey's book titled Hiroshima presents the horrific stories of survivors of this event. Hersey takes on a journalistic perspective--staying objective throughout the book--and simply lets the first-hand accounts speak for themselves. Readers can only imagine what it must have been like to experience such a Hell, but these accounts are so descriptive in nature that they make it possible to get a glimpse of the travesty as it unfolded. The stories will evoke intense sympathy for the survivors, and an eventual wonder of how anyone could commit such a terrible crime against humanity. Herey's book is a must read for those searching for the TRUE history of the U.S. It is a grim reality that must be remembered and never forgotten.This is a book that I first read in high school, and it has never left my mind as one that had an immense impact on my view of the world. With that said, I would not hesitate to present this book to my class and explain that although it is disturbing, it is an undeniable truth of American history.

[kreho-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Non-fiction young adult book is a classic. Although it is not a true biography is touches upon the experiences of many people after the bomb was dropped. As a reader you are able to learn more about each person and their own personal experiences.

[ksmyth_18 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I reread this book after many years and found it just as powerful as I did the first timeHersey wrote his book in 1946, focusing on six survivors of the August 6th bombing. The survivors came from various walks of life and their degree of injury from the bombing also varied. Hersey walks the reader through the experience from the flash of the bomb, through the survivors observations and experiences in the hours that came after, and through their exposure to radiation sickness. Finally, this being a much later version of the book than the original, Hersey included an afterward that shares with the reader the experiences of each of the six through the mid-1980's. Many continued to suffer affects throughout their lives. Hersey's accounts/observations originally filled an entire issue of the The New Yorker. His lucid and frank prose, the observations of the witnesses were intended to humanize the experiences of the dead and the living, and perhaps create another dimension to the decision American leaders made to end the war with this new and terrible weapon.

[darthdeverell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

John Hersey's Hiroshima recounts the lives of six survivors of the atomic bombing on 6 August 1945. His matter-of-fact reporting is as powerful now as it was when it first appeared in The New Yorker in 1946. Hershey humanizes an event so easily condensed into statistics (100,000 dead) and forces his American audience to wrestle with the implications of the terrible power the U.S. unleashed at the end of World War II. This early account of the atomic age should be read and re-read until nuclear weapons no longer menace humanity.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The impact of Hershey's reportage in the aftermath of Japan's 1945 surrender has only grown with each tri I take to Japan and each attempt by policy makers to revive the concept of a nuclear deterrent.

[terris-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting non-fiction, heart-rending story of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in August of 1945. It follows six people who survived, and the story is told in such a way that the reader can follow what happened chronologically through time and see what the people there went through. So sad :'(

[thatotter-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Mostly what I remember about this book is how unbelievably upsetting it was.

[steadfastreader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heartwrenching. I believe that this account is something that everyone should read at least once, much like Eli Wiesel's Night. It helps to give humanity the destruction caused by the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.

[cecrow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A year after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hirsohima, American media still remained focussed on the miracle of its invention and the end of World War II. In August of 1946, Hersey's article filled an edition of The New Yorker and the world received a different story, the story of the survivors.Told in a flat style, very sparing with adjectives and a minimal narrative voice, this article-turned-book describes how 80,000 people were killed in an instant, as many as 60,000 by the after-effects. It is told through the eyes of six survivors beginning with how they were spending their morning on a sunny clear day in August 1945 until 8:15AM when the bomb exploded. Destruction, chaos, dark clouds, confusion and bewilderment, fire, death and illness comprised the remainder of that day and the days to come. Rebuilding was possible, since radiation levels did not exceed four times the norm (it must be 1000 times before humans are affected), but almost seventy percent of the city had been levelled or damaged beyond repair. More horrific accounts have been written, but it's hard to beat a source written so soon after the actual event, comprised of information from interviews with survivors who (I presume) have all since passed away. Editions published after 1985 have an extra chapter called The Aftermath which covers as additional forty years in the lives of these six individuals and their city.

[benedict8-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An astonishing book. Read it after Memoirs of a Geisha for a terrific emotional punch.

[buffalogr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reread this classic; shows human effects of 1945 nuclear event. Seen through the eyes of several survivors, it leaves to the imagination many questions. First published in 1946, this edition includes a 1989 update. As a high school student, I remember "analyzing" this book--without a lifetime's experience, that made no sense. Now, it does.

[t1bnotown · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes will always be my favorite story related to the atomic bomb, I still remember this from summer reading during high school. I remember stories and images, and feeling empathetic for the characters. The dropping of the atomic bomb isn't just something that happened somewhere else to someone else. It is something that hurt everyone in the world- we are all in danger now, and we must all read this to understand that. We must empathize.

[tahlil77 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a strange and sad read because you're going into it knowing full well of the destruction that is about to follow. As you're reading accounts of the everyday lives of the main protagonists, you can begin to feel unease, especially if you are able to empathize and consider that in any moment, your own life can be turned upside down and dragged into a major global conflict. The accounts of the pain, horror, and trauma experienced by the individuals and those closest to them is epic in scale...and something that we all need to be aware of and strongly consider when we are about to be, or are presently engaged in conflict and destruction of this nature.

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I first read this book as a young man, or possibly as a teen in high school. Hiroshima was first published in 1946 and it is a reconstruction of the experiences of six people who were there and who survived. There are fascinating accounts in here, stunning, terrible. The book I just read was a new edition published in 1989. Forty years after Hiroshima, Hersey returned to Japan to chronicle the lives of his survivors. The final chapter, "The Aftermath" is a bit more than one third of the book. This is a horror story, the horror of war on everyday people. Not one to soon forget. Despite the horror, the book is an account of the moment, the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks that followed the Hiroshima blast and the additional trials visited upon the survivors.I probably would have rated this higher except that the manner of storytelling bothered me a bit. There was too much shifting of focus among the characters, primary and secondary in the main part of the story. The long final chapter "The Aftermath" was rather anti-climatic. Still, recommended.

[g33kgrrl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an amazing, important account of actual experiences of people who lived through the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. There is nothing I can say here to do it justice. It's a hard read, but incredibly worthwhile.

[veeralpadhiar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Some acts are unjustifiable no matter how hard the perpetrators try to rationalize them. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are undeniably among those. I firmly believe that the War Crimes Trials after World War-II should have been conducted even on some men of the Allied powers.

If it’s any consolation (although it’s not), the horrible aftereffects and the monstrous destructive power of nuclear weapons that the whole world came to realize after Hiroshima and Nagasaki might have kept a leash on the two world powers – USA and USSR – from using it during the Cold War on each other. Whatever other puny reasons the wartime experts might have had at that time for using the atomic bombs on Japan, one major fact remains to be pondered upon more deeply for the sake of our consciousness on being humans that the Japanese were used as lab rats to test the new weapons of mass destruction.