I was very satisfied with the level of customer service that I received from Amazon.com. It is definetly a site that I will be coming back to from here on. As a student I am always on the lookout for a better and cheaper deal, so this is definetly one of the first places that I will go when I have to get more books for the next semester.

I thought this book was great because it teaches you how people live in other parts of the world after you change their lives forever and it is very entertaining. At no point in the book did i think of putting it down because it was so good. It really captures the reader.

There are works of fiction and nonfiction that transcend their genres. This is one of those works, one that should be required reading for high school students, or, at the very least, for college students, if it isn't already. The horror that was the A-bomb unleashed unbridled power over the city of Hiroshima. Arguments could be made for both the necessity for the bomb to end the war, as well as the unnecessary and catastrophic violence unleashed.

Either way you argue, Hersey's Hiroshima shows the true nature of the bomb from when it was dropped, the after effects, and the resulting long term medical problems the Hibukusha had to live with for the rest of their lives. I was awestruck at the description of what had happened, at times shaking my head at the power of such a bomb. Soldiers who had their eyes melted out of their sockets, people whose skin was slophing off, skinned burned off leaving raw and puss covered skin.

These are of course present throughout Hersey's account, for how could we see what the survivors of Hiroshima went through if the descriptions are not there as well? We see unselfish and caring individuals putting their own health and safety at risk to help others worse off. We see the strength of human nature to struggle on despite the hopeless feeling that imbedded into all who were present.

Hersey does a great job showing what happened, with people whose lives are all interrelated and connected in sundry ways, as well as to show how their lives carried on in the years after the A-bomb had been dropped. This is most certainly a recommend for young and old alike, and I would recommend it to all, regardless of the genre's they prefer to read.

5 stars.

There are works of fiction and nonfiction that transcend their genres. This is one of those works, one that should be required reading for high school students, or, at the very least, for college students. The horror that was the A-bomb unleashed unbridled power over the city of Hiroshima. Arguments could be made for both the necessity for the bomb to end the war, as well as the unnecessary and catastrophic violence unleashed.

Either way you argue, Hersey's Hiroshima shows the true nature of the bomb from when it was dropped, the after effects, and the resulting long term medical problems the Hibukusha had to live with for the rest of their lives. I was awestruck at the description of what had happened, at times shaking my head at the power of such a bomb. Soldiers who had their eyes melted out of their sockets, people whose skin was slophing off, skinned burned off leaving raw and puss covered skin.

These are of course present throughout Hersey's account, for how could we see what the survivors of Hiroshima went through if the descriptions are not there as well? We see unselfish and caring individuals putting their own health and safety at risk to help others worse off. We see the strength of human nature to struggle on despite the hopeless feeling that imbedded into all who were present.

Hersey does a great job showing what happened, with people whose lives are all interrelated and connected in sundry ways, as well as to show how their lives carried on in the years after the A-bomb had been dropped. This is most certainly a recommend for young and old alike, and I would recommend it to all, regardless of the genre's they prefer to read.

5 stars.

My daughter is reading it for a 9th grade class. I skimmed through looking for the telltale signs of Modern Liberal indoctrination. Unlike her Human Geography book, which is loaded with Socialist thinking, this book is genuine in following several characters as they dealt with their lives after the destruction.

As some other readers pointed out (I didn't read every review), Hersey doesn't dwell on the moral issues. It's a genuine look at the characters. It's written in a rather dry style that lets the characters stories speak for themselves and allows the reader to form his or her own conclusions.

(Now, if this book was written today or maybe by someone else, I wouldn't be surprised if the book was more of anti-war/anti-human tome that is typical of today's Modern Liberals. I'm talking about the now-normal attacks on Western Civilization, American exceptionalism, Conservatism, Bush, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they found a way to say Halliburton was involved in the building of the bomb or that one of Cheney's uncles was key. If you want to learn about Modern Liberals, watch the video at YouTube called "How Modern Liberals Think" by Evan Sayet. As Amazon pulls urls off these reviews, just go to YouTube and search on "Evan Sayet" and pick the "How Modern Liberals Think" video.)

Anyways, if you want a book on the human aspects of some of the people bombed, then you may enjoy this book. Just remember, the alternative to bombing was many more deaths.

I assigned this book to my AP and Dual credit kids to give them an idea of what occurred during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I explained the events, showed pictures, but nothing prepared them for what they read in this book. This book is second only to accounts of the Jewish Holocaust in effectiveness to reach students who do not understand these events.

Unfortunately, there is a Spark notes version which students tend to rely upon instead of reading this book. Please don't do this, you are missing out.

In Hiroshima, John Hersey elucidates the entirety of his journalistic work in the introductory paragraph of the piece.

It starts by situating the reader in the context: "At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning on August 6, 1945, Japanese time [...]" (1). The use of the word `exact' is significant - it foreshadows the immense precision with which Hersey reports his factual account of the events that ensue. Additionally, the inclusion of the phrase `Japanese time' emphasizes the fact that the information is presented from a Japanese perspective; Japanese cultural mores and beliefs are integrated into the text and Hersey acclimates us to this environment by employing it in the first line of the novel.

He then depicts what each of six characters is in the act of doing at the moment the atomic bomb was detonated on the city of Hiroshima. This introduces what he writes from page 2 to 16 of the novel, in which he creates scenes to illuminate the lives of Mr. Tanimoto, Mrs. Nakamura, Dr. Fujii, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki, and Miss Sasaki, respectively, at that specific moment, 8:15 a.m., August 6th, 1945.
This is a cocoon of the structure of his book - these characters demarcate the transitions in the text. In the opening paragraph, the persona momentarily shifts the point of view of the narrative to each character. Throughout the novel, the persona repeats this technique to advance the plot.

On page 2, there is a conscious shift from the simultaneous snapshot of each of the six characters to a broadened point of view to the hundred thousand people that were killed during the event. The final sentence of the first paragraph is integral to the book: "At the time, none of them knew anything." The grammatical construction of this sentence is significant: `none,' an indefinite pronoun, does not refer to a specific person. It can be either singular or plural, which furthers its obscurity. `Anything' is another indefinite pronoun. Thus, this statement is imbued with tremendous ambiguity.

Furthermore, the antecedent to the objective personal pronoun `them' is not explicitly stated, and it can refer to the six survivors or it can allude to the one hundred thousand dead that Hersey mentions four sentences previously. This renders the sentence virtually meaningless, yet it is this lack of meaning that Hersey deliberately crafts to encapsulate the utter incomprehensibility that these people, and the population as a whole, feels regarding the issue of this event and its implications for humanity.

In the course of Hiroshima, Hersey echoes this statement when he depicts a scene in which Father Kleinsorge visits Miss Sasaki in the hospital and she questions his faith. The persona states, "And he went on to explain all the reasons for everything" (83). `All' and `everything' are indefinite pronouns that ultimately engender a vague sentence. He is referring to abstract ideas that are beyond comprehension. By repeating his structural paradigm of ending a passage with a void statement, he ostensibly creates an analogy to the epigraphical "At the time, none of them knew anything."

Journalist John Hersey's non-fiction account of the atomic bomb blast on Hiroshima, Japan, was originally published in the August 31, 1946 edition of The New Yorker magazine, before becoming a best-selling book. In four chapters, Hersey covers a year in the life of six people--five natural-born Japanese and one German national--who survived the American attack on their beloved city. Chapter One, A Noiseless Flash, begins with the detonation of the bomb, "At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time" and ends moments later, shortly before the city catches on fire. The principal witnesses to the destruction are introduced: Miss Toshiko Susaki, "a clerk"; Masakazu Fujii, a doctor who works in a private hospital; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a widow with three children; Dr. Terufumi Susaki (unrelated to the clerk), who is on the staff of the Red Cross Hospital; Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a Methodist; and Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a Jesuit priest of Germany, which was an ally to Japan in World War II.

The book begins without any setup other than the time, place, and central--real-life--characters. The background to the conflict is conspicuously absent, as are facts regarding political, military or geographical concerns surrounding WWII. Hersey assumes the reader has lived through the war, is current on all the pertinent details of the air- and ground-battle, so he wastes no printed space on the world leaders, generals, or military brigades in favor of devoting all of his energy to the civilians. In particular, the innocent victims of the end-game move by American president Harry Truman are who most concern the writer, and the book gathers their personal, eyes-on-the-ground experiences into a compelling narrative that encompasses not only six people, but an entire city.

Each eyewitness has a distinct personality, a specific lifestyle before the blast, and a horrific story to tell of its aftermath. In the three chapters following the introductory chapter, their six individual odysseys for survival and understanding converge and overlap. The interlacing narrative structure gives the reader a full perspective of the days and months after the atomic attack on Hiroshima, with six varying viewpoints organized into one fluid tale.

Hersey takes the reader through the city's "clouded air...giving off a thick, dreadful miasma" primarily through the subjective lens of those who saw it first-hand, but he doesn't limit his reporting to that narrow scope. He also offers many objectively reported facts and provides a larger perspective on the situation throughout the book, revealing details that the denizens of the devastated city were never privvy to, but which expand the reader's understanding of their closed narrative. When the reader learns that, directly following the atomic blast, sixty-five of a hundred and fifty doctors died instantly, and that the majority of the remaining M.D.s were wounded, the story takes on a heightened sense of dread that would be missing without that information. The plight of the survivors becomes even more grim for the reader at this point, and the drama of their personal journeys becomes more immediate and emotionally wrenching.

The narrative voice of the author is extremely matter-of-fact, without any "commenting" on the actions or thoughts of the six people, nor any subjective commentary on those responsible for the dropping of a bomb that killed over a hundred thousand Japanese and injured thirty-seven thousand more. He lets the experiences of those who were there speak for themselves, and despite the occasional contextual bit of information, Hersey depends solely on their testimonies to tell the story.

The details are often graphic, with physical descriptions of burned and bloody corpses, vomiting children, maimed and ravaged survivors, as well as drowned and bloated dead. The tone has a somberness throughout, with a sense of compassion for those who suffered this ordeal felt within the narrative. The gruesome facts are given in an unflinching manner, yet there is temperance shown by Hersey, with the focus not so much on the devastation, but on the selflessness and hope the people of Hiroshima display in the face of chaos and confusion. They suffer physical pain, emotional hardships, yet all emerge somehow more closely attached to their community and to their fellow human beings. As Hersey writes near the end of the book, "One thing that they (the six people) did seem to share...was a kind of elated community spirit...a pride in the way they and their fellow-survivors had stood up to a dreadful ordeal." When the reader reaches the final page of this short yet powerful book, that dreadful ordeal has been illuminated, humanized, and masterfully realized by a writer whose personal agenda seems only to be the reporting of the untold truth.

I saw this on a shelf and figured "why not?"

It's an interesting read about 6 survivors of the bomb and what they went through.

Overall, it's interesting to see what the "enemy" went through during this time especially when it involves the Atomic bomb. Dealing with the destruction and the unknown aspects of radiation poisoning. The subsequent exclusion from society as labeled the hibakusha and eventual inclusion as a political gains for the government of later times.

What I found interesting was the fact people would ask for help in polite terms. The fact they noticed people with Grey hair tended to not loose it with radiation sickness and the fallout seemed to boost plant growth.

Overall, it's a decent book and should be read by those that study the Pacific war.

Hiroshima is a book written by a man by the name of John Hersey. Mr. Hersey was born in Tientsin, China in 1914. My guess is that John Hersey is no longer with us - if he is ... you have my apologies John.
The book covers the lives of six "hibakusha" - A-bomb survivors. It covers their lives from the day the bomb hit them until ...?
What point did Mr. Hersey have in mind in writing such a book, I ask myself? What lesson is to be learned from reading such a book?
When I finished reading another controversial book years ago, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, I asked myself the same question. I said to myself - if the lessons learned from reading that book could be condensed into one sentence what would it be? I think my conclusion satisfies both these books. I decided on the following: When you hear men talking of War as if it is a positive experience - beware.

I recently decided to reread this book by Pulitzer Prize winner John Hersey, due to the fact that my youngest daughter sent me a letter and a postcard while she was visiting Hiroshima, Japan. Before her departure to Japan, I asked her to write me a letter of her thoughts, and experiences when she visited the city of Hiroshima: one of the many places she was to visit over a three week period. For me, being a historian, I was interested in her observations. And these observations by my daughter Catherine, a 12-year-old child, touched me deeply.

Many reviewers have written excellent reviews of the book. And I would highly recommend other viewers to read this book. It was published in 1946, just one year after the atomic bomb was dropped. Hersey's essay was later published into a book, and in 1985 a final chapter was added to the book. This latest chapter was new for me. I had previously read the book, but this was the first time I read the final chapter. In the book, Hersey recounts the lives of six survivors who managed to survive the hellish bombing of Hiroshima. This is a highly recommended read, especially considering that these six survivors' accounts was published so close to the end of the war.

I have much material, both film and books on Hiroshima, however, since I had read this novel as a young man, I wanted to revisit this book. As a historian, I am interested in objectivity in historical subject matter. As the reviewer JAMES DeWITT has written, this book is not a novel, but a straight-forward account of six survivors, and Hersey writes in a way that does not judge the decision whether or not to drop the bomb. As a historian, I am not about to answer the question of whether dropping the bomb was right or wrong: History is not about what should have happened, but what did happen. Instead, let us hope that if there is anything good that can come out of this terrible chapter in history, the one fact is that these terrible weapons have not been used since WWII. Hopefully statesmen and others have learned that the price for using these weapons are too high. Moreover, what happened at Hiroshima has confirmed the fact that the use of these weapons should be avoided at all costs. Because what we humans do know about Hiroshima, is that the consequences of using these weapons would be catastrophic. And today, these weapons are much more powerful.

Over the next fews days I will be discussing this chapter of history to my young daughter. I will go over her letter she sent me, and view films of this tragic event with her. Hopefully, I can try and explain why the bomb was dropped. And maybe even try and answer her many questions. And let us all hope these weapons are never used again; because contrary to what some people have stated, there is no such thing as a winnable nuclear war.

I really liked this book. It is small and a very quick read but completely worth it. I highly recommend this!

Published in 1946, this remarkable article or book was based on interviews with survivors of the first city to be destroyed by a single weapon. John Hersey was a war correspondent during World War II. His "Hiroshima" has been rated as number one in The Top Ten Works of Journalism in the United States in the 20th Century, as determined by The New York University journalism faculty and a panel of critics that included David Brinkley and Morley Safer. "Hiroshima" took over the entire August 30, 1946 issue of "The New Yorker" and the issue sold out within hours. After reading this rather slim book, I can understand why. It relates the stories of six survivors in a very interesting and readable way. Hersey makes us feel the impact of the bomb and its horrors in a very personal way, yet he doesn't go overboard on the gore. There is a follow-up study almost 40 years later, and we visit these same characters again. Surprisingly, none of the six hated the U.S.; they understood that drastic measures were neeeded to end a war that the Japanese obsessively fought; throwing reason out the window. The book can be read in an evening, but you will want to reread it, as well.

Read in one evening - dusk till dawn.

Extraordinary page-turner, captivating, heart-wrenching...

Journalist John Hersey (1914-1993) wrote this book through interviews with six surviving Japanese civilians only months after the bomb was dropped in August of 1945. His highly readable prose is both unforgettable and compelling. Hersey arrived in Japan and wrote this narrative shortly after the war ended, before we realized the frightful cancers and birth deformities that resulted from high exposure to radiation. But we do see the horrific suffering and confusion of those who were there, some blinded, others badly burned, many with their skin peeling off in their hands. This compelling book is not for the faint-of-heart, but it illustrates the affects of the bomb on those who were there.

Some readers correctly point out that Japan's army had raped and murdered its way through Asia, and that the bomb may have ultimately shortened the war and saved lives by forestalling a U.S. invasion of Japan's home islands. Still, this is a frightful and moving account seen through the eyes of those who suffered the most.

So I would give this five stars, but I just can't. This book captivated me, I couldn't put it down and all that, but it's about the death of countless thousands of people. You can't love or like a book about this subject matter. It reads well and is put together well. Following the plight of six A-Bomb victims is a horrifying experience. This updated version has an additional, "Aftermath" chapter in which the lives of these six individuals is updated to around 1980. I find myself looking at humanity differently now. What the crap!? How something like this happened and how little it is talked about is unbelievable. Having read basically nothing else about this subject I would have to say that this book is a good point to start at that will not allow you to ignore this piece of human happening any farther. What happened and how what happened was treated is a true sign of how sad and despicable human beings can be. This should be required reading for everyone.

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. 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 this was (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 raising also the question of the ethics of dropping such a bomb (which 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. n Mary Whipple

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. 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 this was (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 raising also the question of the ethics of dropping such a bomb (which 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. n Mary Whipple

Hiroshima was written shortly after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Journalist John Hersey traveled to Japan to record the devastation and interviewed many of the survivors, choosing six to focus on. The book begins at the precise moment the bomb exploded, taking each person in turn, setting the scene of where they were at the time and the immediate aftermath. I can't say this book is brilliantly written. There's little style and at times it becomes just a recitation of facts. But if you can put yourself in the place of the survivors, try to see what they see, feel what they feel, you realize how important it is for you to keep reading. This book isn't about entertainment, it's about understanding what the citizens of Hiroshima went through. Seeing them not only as statistics, but real people.

This book was very well written, it contains bits and pieces of journalistic facts while using the lives of ordinary people to show the impact of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in a compassionate and perceptive voice. John Hersey uses facts and the recollections of those who survived to weave a truely remarkable tale of what happens when one decision changes the lives of many. This novel contains bits and pieces of people's lives before and after the atomic bomb had been dropped. Although the book may seem short, the time that you spend thinking about the book is actually quite long. This book is not a light and happy read, it is not some classic that becomes cliqued and quoted all too many times, but what it is is an admirable tale spun not by the author himself, but by the lives of those who managed to do the near impossible. This novel tells the story of those who managed to live.

Hiroshima was written shortly after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Journalist John Hersey traveled to Japan to record the devastation and interviewed many of the survivors, choosing six to focus on. The book begins at the precise moment the bomb exploded, taking each person in turn, setting the scene of where they were at the time and the immediate aftermath. I can't say this book is brilliantly written. There's little style and at times it becomes just a recitation of facts. But if you can put yourself in the place of the survivors, try to see what they see, feel what they feel, you realize how important it is for you to keep reading. This book isn't about entertainment, it's about understanding what the citizens of Hiroshima went through. Seeing them not only as statistics, but real people.

This book was very well written, it contains bits and pieces of journalistic facts while using the lives of ordinary people to show the impact of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in a compassionate and perceptive voice. John Hersey uses facts and the recollections of those who survived to weave a truely remarkable tale of what happens when one decision changes the lives of many. This novel contains bits and pieces of people's lives before and after the atomic bomb had been dropped. Although the book may seem short, the time that you spend thinking about the book is actually quite long. This book is not a light and happy read, it is not some classic that becomes cliqued and quoted all too many times, but what it is is an admirable tale spun not by the author himself, but by the lives of those who managed to do the near impossible. This novel tells the story of those who managed to live.

As it stands today, John Hersey's "Hiroshima" is a two-layered book. Written in 1946, the first four chapters, comprising 90 pages, describe the experiences of six inhabitants of Hiroshima, from the morning of August 6, 1945 when the bomb was dropped, through the following year. Added in 1985, chapter 5 adds a further 60 pages that enable the reader to trace the long-term consequences of the bomb on the lives of these six people, as well as Japan and the world in general.

The witnesses chosen by Hersey, "who were among the luckiest in Hiroshima" (p87), insofar as they were not instantly vaporized, burned to a cinder or flayed alive, are wonderfully diverse. Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto was a Methodist minister; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a war widow and mother of three; Miss Toshiko Sazaki, a clerk about 20 years old; and Fr. Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a 38-year-old German Jesuit.

The last two, Mazakazu Fujii and Terufumi Sasaki, were both doctors, a profession much in demand in the aftermath of the bombing, as only 65 of the 150 doctors in the city had survived, and most of them were so severely wounded that they could not be of any assistance to anyone. As for the 1,780 nurses, 1,654 were either dead or incapacitated, resulting in massive overwork for the small and virtually helpless remaining staff.

"Hiroshima" is of value mostly as a testimony, adding six more life stories to the existing literature, and enabling the reader to form a more complete picture of the aftereffects of the blast. Unlike "Children of the A-Bomb" though, a volume which I recently reviewed, it gains strength from its interweaving of the individual stories, as people meet and lose sight of each other, giving the book a unity and a dramatic construction that is reminiscent of the familiar disaster-movie pattern.

Quite unobtrusively, the author also manages to give us the big picture, through the sparse, judicious use of statistics and other general information. The book thus answered some of the questions I had left after my previous readings on the subject, such as the role of charitable institutions after the bombing, Dr. Sasaki illustrating the work of the Red Cross for instance.

I also wondered whether the Japanese had suffered the same fate as some German civilians in the firestorms of WWII (as described by Jorg Friedrich in "The Fire : The Bombing of Germany 1940-1945"): getting stuck and burned alive in boiling asphalt. Hersey partially answered this question by mentioning that in the afternoon of August 6, "the asphalt of the streets was still so soft and hot from the fires that walking was uncomfortable." So some of the horrors endured by the Germans must have been repeated there too.

This book may well be the best introduction on the market to Hiroshima as seen by the victims. It can be helpfully complemented by the aforementioned "Children of the A-Bomb: Testament of the Boys and Girls of Hiroshima" edited by Dr. Arata Osada; Keiji Nakazawa's 10-volume manga "Barefoot Gen" (a rather ugly but powerful series, which is much superior to the two movie adaptations); Paul Wilmshurst's 2005 BBC documentary on the subject; and Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode's brilliant "Hiroshima" (1995), which seamlessly blends stock films and reconstructions in a dispassionate narrative of the events leading up to the dropping of the bomb.

It's pretty impressive to think that a book like "Hiroshima" was written, and appreciated, less than a year after the atomic bomb was dropped. John Hersey took a bold step in investigating the lives and experiences of those who were on the receiving end of the birth of the Atomic Age.

Interviewing six survivors, Hersey assembled a snapshot of what it was like have an atomic bomb dropped on your city. Pure luck and circumstances determine if you survive or not. The color of your clothing means everything. White clothes reflect the heat, while dark clothing absorbs it. Even if you survive the initial blast, what you see next might make you wish you hadn't. But human beings are stubborn creatures, and seem to keep going even in the most hellish circumstances.

I have been to the Hiroshima Peace Park several times, and have seen the human face of the atomic bomb up close and personal. It is a humbling experience, and one that forever changed my opinions on war as a means of settling disputes. Hersey's book has a similar impact, being told in such a clinical, observational writing style that you can't help but be moved by the reality of it all.

My one criticism of "Hiroshima" is the cast of characters that Hersey chose to showcase. For some reason, they seem to be largely Christian, including a German Jesuit priest and a Japanese Methodist minister. With Christians being such a tiny percentage of the Japanese population, considerably less than 1%, the choice to interview Japanese Christians seems a deliberate one. Hersey is telling the largely-Christian US readers, "See? They aren't heathen devils. They are Christians, just like you and me. That's who we dropped the bomb on. That's who we killed." This puts in question the journalistic neutrality of the book, and has Hersey in the light of putting across an agenda instead of simpling reporting what was.

I recently read two very frightening things.
The second was an article in "Newsweek" about Iran's quest to develop their own nuclear weapons.
The first was this.
This book is a fast-moving, concise collection of the stories of a handful of the survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. The survivors are male and female, Japanese and German, young and old, and their stories--sure to make you think twice about your next nuke joke--illustrate just how it felt, just how it was, to be THERE, of all places, when the most powerful bomb ever detonated went off above their city.
Without ever becoming high-handed, preachy, overly sentimental, and without ever resorting to appealing solely to emotion, John Hershey has presented here the horrors of what happens when an atomic bomb goes off.
His book is relentlessly objective, consistently pasing up opportunities to editorialize in favor of chances to tell it how it really was. He downplays the politics of the situation to focus on the physical suffering of the real, live human beings involved. He tells of those who had their eyes scorched out of their sockets by staring at the blast, of small sores on people's skin that just wouldn't go away and then flowered into grisly red blooms, of skin sliding off muscle, of radiation sickness, of children wandering orphaned and wounded. He puts a human face on the war's cold logistics without ever saying if he thinks what America did was right or wrong.
He just says, in essence, "Regardless of why we did it, or what it accomplished, maybe there was a better way to go about it." He just asks, in a way, "Was it worth the atomic legacy? Was it worth the fears we have today? Was it worth that article in 'Newsweek'?"

Hiroshima by John Hersey is great book and I would recomend to anyone that they should read it. Hiroshima is about the dropping of the first A-bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Tells true stories of several surivors from the moment of the bombing to their years after the bombing. This book truly stands up to expectations of "Who is able to read, should read this book." I think that everyone should read this book, not only for pleasure but for the true understanding of the Atomic bombing on Hiroshima through true stories told by people still alive today.

The book "Hiroshima" by John Hersey is a wonderful work of literature that characterizes and explains the atomic bombing of the city Hiroshima so well that you can almost imagine the whole ordeal in your mind. John Hersey uses imagery throughout the book. Phrases such as "everything flashed whiter than any white she had ever seen" captivate the reader and make the book interesting and enjoyable. The author also writes in a style like no other. He tells the story of six victims that survived the bombing. He tells the story from their point of view and their experiences. It not only tells of the victim's accounts of the bombing experience, it also tells of how the victims live their lives after the bombing and far after the war. Some victims suffer from radiation sicknesses, and the author tells how they live with it and how they get over it. The book often leaves you hanging skipping from person to person and it makes you want to read the book all in one sitting. The book also creates in the reader a sympathy for those victims of the bombing. As you read the book you learn and feel more and more sympathetic for these people. Overall this book is a great read, and I would recommend it for anyone who is particularly interested in World War II.

This book is one of those books that every person should read at least once in their lifetime. This book takes events from six people's memory and discribing themselves on the morning of the bombing. The book also tells of what they did after the bombing. Such as a german preist named Father Wilhelm Kleisorge, who is one of the few not harmed by the bomb, travels all over the city of hiroshima and does amazing deeds for people that were helpless. He risked his own life for people that thought of him to be a spy for the americans. In this book it summerizes the begginning of the bombing write down to the end where they are on their way to recover or if not already.This along with other stories like it are in this amazing book. If you like action books that keep you turning pages, then your really should read this book.

Next to Night by Elie Weisel, this is a very affective and powerful book that gives us a glimpse of the actual people that were affected by historical tragedy. While reading this book,i couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach to think of my own country's stupidity to release an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Many debates or thoughts that may surround this book is whether or not it was necessary for this event to happen, or if the war could have ended differently if it weren't for this tragedy. But more than anything, it will make you think of how so much carnage could ensue from a man-made weapon, and esp. make you think of how lucky we are in the 21st century to know for sure that nothing like the bombing in Hiroshima will happen again. If you are into history, esp. Japanese history, or the history of WWII, i believe that you will enjoy this. Even if you aren't a history buff, i think all people should read this. It may not be the BEST book to read about the event that occured in Hiroshima, but it's probably the first if not the only book that has first-hand accounts of the people who actually went through it and lived.

This is a great book. John Hersey follows six survivors of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, using their experiences as a microcosm for the whole event. Rarely does he stray into scientific or historical background; neither is his approach political. He writes in spare, matter-of-fact language, so he cannot be accused of sentimentality or manipulation. He simply shows us what happened. By giving us an account of the lives of ordinary Japanese ruined by the atomic bomb, Hersey takes away our ability to see them simply as "the enemy." I think this book makes a compelling case that, even in war, some options should be off the table. And it does so without ever sounding like an editorial, or indeed, making us aware of the writer at all. "Hiroshima" is an achievement on both an ethical and literary level.

This is a wonderful book that is very informal as well as interesting! Much reccommended read!

Our world is in the midst of an aggressive nuclear arms race. The US as well as Russia, UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea have active, flourishing nuclear arms programs. Iran is scurrying to catch up. Countries who are enjoying economic windfalls like Venezuela plan to use the money to get in to the military, probably nuclear, arms race. Finally, terrorists are scrambling to acquire nuclear arms for their own "jihads".

In "Hiroshima", Hersey documents, not only the horrifying immediate effects of "The Bomb", but also the life-long tragedies that it's victims endured. The documentation of the life-long effect experienced after the blast, provides a most terrible and important perspective.

There are excerpts in the book that try to put a positive political spin on the events that occurred after the blast, however that political spin does not balance against the awesome pain and destruction Hersey's eye-witness account describes.

Anyone who is human should read "Hiroshima" to understand the horrible danger our governments and fanatics are placing at our doorstep. Everyone who is in a position of power in deciding how to use these tools of destruction should read this book as a reminder of the human chaos they would cause.

Hopefully Hersey's words will remind all of the horrible consequences of the nuclear arms madness.

Reading this book felt like I was transported back to August 6, 1945. The events on that day and the days following were horrific! Hersey's accounts were so vivid and well-documented that I even felt like I was experiencing the explosion first-hand, (but from six different perspectives). At times, some of the accounts were very disturbing, while others, heartbreaking. However, these accounts opened my eyes to the realities of what could happen if there should ever be a Hiroshima repeat, or worst--nuclear warfare. I definitely recommend this book, not just for the mind-blowing experience, but also for its great literature.

John Hersey has written an incredible book about a world changing event. Hersey tells the story of Hiroshima and the aftermath of what happens. Instead of telling the entire story minute-by-minute, Hersey focuses on six people living very different lives on the day of the atomic bomb blast. He puts a human face to the story of the devastation of a civilian city.

Hersey's brilliance is not that the book is well written, it is, the brilliance is that he focuses on the six people and tells about what every surviving japanese citizen endured after the blast. Hersey never gives detailed accounts, but hints at the terrible pain and injuries each person recieved, which makes the entire episode more horrifying. Hersey also spends a great deal of time explaining the ambivilance of the Hiroshima citizens toward the idea of the bomb. Many of course were angry, but many more had a "it can't be helped" attitude. Hersey explains that Hiroshima was both and economic and transportation crossroads. He also explains that the Japanese government followed a "total war" philosophy and this was the price. Hersey does not condone nor criticize the dropping of the bomb.

This is an execellent book and should be read by everybody. The end of the book is updated during the eighties to tell the final outcome of the six people. Each has a story that both resembles each other and yet are very different in each of their own way. For me the most surreal moment of the book was when one of the six end up on "This is Your Life" and meets the pilot of the Enola Gay. Excellent read. Highley Recommended.

Hiroshima is the factual although perhaps not graphic enough account of six survivors of the first atomic bomb blast in World War II. Having read a number of books on the subject, I can say this is among the best.

Hiroshima begins with a synopsis of the events of August 6, 1945. In a short explanation, it details what each of the survivors was doing the moment the bomb was dropped. The remaining chapters discuss the aftereffects of the bomb. Even the stigma of being a Hiroshima survivor limited what a person could do in life. This does not even account for the divergent health ailments that linger after a nuclear attack. The last chapter goes into depth about the life of each of the six survivors. What I found most interesting is that five of the six focused much of the remainder of their lives in religion. Having each survived many years after the bomb, these people are a testament to the power of religious faith.

While the book is short, it gives readers a human perspective of the effects of the atomic bomb. The reader can not help but feel empathy for those civilians who became victims for life because of a war for which they had no personal stake.

No one can adequately describe what happened in Hiroshima. There aren't words in any human language to fully explain it. But Hersey manages to convey to the reader the depth and enormity of the events on that tragic day, leaving the reader with a sense of awe and dumbfoundedness with all that transpired. This is one of those books that will transform your view of the world once you have read it. I used it as research material for my own historical novel and found it to be immensely useful, not only to garner the historical facts, but to get a better sense of the emotions that were felt on such a great scale after that event. I highly recommend this book.

While many people may have thought that the nuclear bombs blasted over Hiroshima & Nagasaki were justified to end the war, this book would certainly give people a lot of room for thought.

John Hersey gives us the story of six of the Hiroshima survivors (& their families & friends). This new edition also includes a chapter written 40 years after the bomb, following up o the lives & fates of the 6 survivors.

While the book can be extremely graphic & detailed in describing the results of the bomb on many of the survivors, no one would b able to read it without being impressed with he disaster these people went through.