From the Bookshelf of Never too Late to Read Classics…

Hiroshima

John Hersey

Start date: November 1, 2020

Finish date: November 30, 2020

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Mar 20, 2014 Chrissie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, history, ww2, 2014-read, audible-us, japan, bio

ETA: Check out these two books too:

Truman (My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

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Remember, my rating is in no way a judgment of the suffering of those who lived through or died as a result of the events that occurred in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.Although it does feel wrong to give this book anything but five stars, my reaction ETA: Check out these two books too:

Truman (My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

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Remember, my rating is in no way a judgment of the suffering of those who lived through or died as a result of the events that occurred in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.Although it does feel wrong to give this book anything but five stars, my reaction to it was not one of pure love. Yes, I liked the book. It is an important book that needed to be written and should be read by all. It is a very clear description of exactly what happened that day to six Japanese people who lived through those events. The description is clear and concise and not emotional. It reads a as a research work. What happened? What would you have seen had you been there? That is what you get. It is very difficult reading, despite the absence of emotional involvement. None of the stories are presented in the first person. It reads as - he did that and he saw this.

The book then follows what happened in the days, weeks, months and years after that day. Living through that day changed all those who survived. It is important to lo look beyond the event itself and look at how it changed forever the lives of those who survived. It is important to look at how the Japanese government reacted, how they helped/didn't help the survivors.

All the facts of the people's lives are here, but some of the facts are not presented in a manner that can be comprehended. Some are pure statistics. One example being a salary is stated in yen or USD. I wanted to know what that salary bought then and there, not the monetary value. Some of the details were simply facts that I could not relate to.

This is a short book and only covers a few individuals, albeit individuals that represent what many other individuals experienced. It is important, but limited in scope. It is clear that the author wants to say that human beings do not learn from the past. One country after another developed its own atomic weapons and then huge arsenals. Clearly the author wants us to realize by this we have learned nothing, and unfortunately I must agree. Still a more in-depth discussion of the arms race wouldn't have been out of place, but that was not the aim of this book. Its scope is to follow just a few individual. It is important that the details revealed in this book are known. ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2016 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, history

Insightful, but Apolitical; Edifying, Not Preachy.

I have never read Hersey's classic and after listening to the entire thing in one sitting I am baffled as to how I overlooked it. The book is phenomenal. It tells the story in a simple, fluid and seamless way. Hersey wrote with compassion and understanding without any hint of being a traitor to his home country which could not have been an easy line to cross in 1946. Today's world is so politically divisive and nobody escapes it -- journalists al ...more

3 likes · Like · see review