The Atomic Bomb: Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan in the Modern World)

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Window.......2002-11-15

Certain essays from this book were requirements for an international relations class I took. After reading two of the stories I had to read the entire book. It is a truely excellent window into the effects of the atomic bomb on humans. It took me below the mushroom cloud, it was graphic, gripping, and effective. It does not focus on justifications for the bomb, it focuses purely on the effects. I plan on buying it in the near future because it is such an excellent testimonial.

greatly educational.......1999-02-11

I reviewed that te book was a great review of how terrible the devigstation was. Had great detail

The Bells of Nagasaki (Japan's Modern Writers)

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Bells of Nagasaki
TOUCHING AND HEART FELT STORY
Christian view of Nagasaki bomb by victim

The Bells of Nagasaki (Japan's Modern Writers)
Takashi Nagai
Manufacturer: Kodansha International (JPN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 4770018452

Book Description

On Thursday, August 9, 1945, at two minutes past eleven in the morning, Nagasaki was wiped out by a plutonium atomic bomb which exploded at a height of five hundred meters over the city. Among the wounded on that fateful day was the young doctor Takashi Nagai, professor of radiology at the University of Nagasaki. Nagai succeeded in gathering a tiny group of survivors--doctors, nurses, and students--and together they worked heroically for the wounded until they themselves collapsed from exhaustion and atomic sickness.

As he lay dying of leukemia, Dr. Nagai wrote The Bells of Nagasaki, vividly recounting what he had seen with his own eyes and heard from his associates. It is a deeply moving and human story. He tells how it dawned on him that this awful havoc was indeed the work of an atomic bomb, how he speculated about the American scientists who had put it together, how he picked up a leaflet dropped by American planes warning the Japanese to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, how he and his companions shed tears over the defeat of their country.

But Nagai was above all a doctor, dedicated to the sick and to science. He relates how his little group confronted hitherto unknown diseases and applied ingenious remedies. He was also a deeply committed Christian and this book chronicles the inner struggle of one who witnessed appalling suffering and yet believed in the providence of a loving God. He ends his story with a poignant cry for world peace penetrated with an optimism symbolized by the chiming of the cathedral bells.

Nagai finished writing The Bells of Nagasaki in 1946, but the Occupation regime of Douglas MacArthur refused permission for its publication. An appeal was made to Washington and the book finally appeared in Japanese in 1949. It is still widely read in Japan and contains a powerful message for all men and women.

Customer Reviews:

Bells of Nagasaki.......2001-10-01

We all know the tragedy from World War II when Atomic bomb was exploded over Hirochima nd Nagasaki. It leaded to a indescribable loss. People loss their lives and suffer from many illness.
This is the very book that is written by the one who was really in the event.. Mr. Takashi Nagai is one of the doctors who try to save the survivors and cure the patiences. It is a very tough loss for all Japanease people. So this is a book that is so toughing and very insightful.
Why this book get only 3 stars !!!
My reason to rate this book only 3 because the writhing style. This book is too emotional. It is really too much. The fact of the event isn't combined with the feeling in a very proper ratios and it leads to be a too depressive book.
But rather than this, I still recommend this book to anyone. If U leave the too-emotional part out. U will get the very true story about a group of people who fight the unfightable, who try to do their best to help other injured. On top of that, this is the story that will remind us that "No Moer War" please.

TOUCHING AND HEART FELT STORY.......1999-03-19

a Japanese friend of mine was born in nagasaki and her birth was just after the war her mother has suffered alot from the after affects of this terrible tragidy of nuclear bombing and my friend gave me this story to read. I was moved to tearsseveral times from the accounts in the book.

Christian view of Nagasaki bomb by victim.......1997-10-02

The author's friends, colleagues and wife were killed instantly by the atomic bomb and he died of injuries after a few years leaving his children orphans. He was a Christian, a part of the Nagasaki Christian community which had experienced persecution from the time the Portuguese brought Christianity to the city. His view of God's provision as it relates to the horror of the bomb is very profound. I wish the book had provided supplementary information regarding the author's life and the Christian community in Nagasaki.

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Yes, but still....
Subsequent story of Ozu's film " Tokyo Story "
Subtle...Haunting...and Confusing
With good Character
Ambiguous, and not for the faint of heart

A Pale View of Hills
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 067972267X
Release Date: 1990-09-12

Book Description

The story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a story where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan's devastation in the wake of World War II.

Customer Reviews:

Yes, but still...........2007-08-14

I enjoy serious novels. In fact, I only like serious novels, and this is a serious effort to write a serious novel, an unabashedly literary novel. I fully agree with most of the positive comments in the older reviews, concerning "unreliable narrators" and onion-like layers of meaning. So why don't I like it? For one thing, Ishiguro doesn't write very well; he doesn't do sentences well; his prose sounds remarkably like academic translation of 19th C German or perhaps Hungarian. More significantly, his characters are all the same person; the aging Japanese woman in this book displays exactly the same sensibilities as the butler in "Remains of the Day". I've written critical reviews of several other Ishiguros;that implies, of course, that I take his work seriously enough to keep risking my reading time on it. "Pale View" was his first book; if I'd read it before the others, I would almost certainly have been impressed. As it is, I don't feel that he's gone further in later books, and so I'm disappointed.

Subsequent story of Ozu's film " Tokyo Story ".......2007-03-02

This is a story of a family: a woman, her two husbands, their daughters, her father-in-law in Nagasaki, Japan and England. Having grown up to live a married life in Nagasaki, a woman lives alone in England. She spent Japan's post-war days in very poor but honorable way. It is an old fashioned way of life in Japan; people were all social and so were she. She maintained friendly relations with all-neighbors, friends and her relatives. She spoke to even a stranger like her friends. She called her husband's father "Ogata-San", which showed her respect for him. It's also humbleness of Japanese women in the past. Their conversation evokes me an Ozu Yasujiro's film, " Tokyo Story".
This is also a story of women; Etsuko, Sachiko, Mariko, Keiko, and Niki. all of them are eccentric in various aspects : Etsuko's neighbor Sachiko is eager to leave devastated post-war Japan to start over in America; Mariko, Sachiko' s daughter is sullen, always holding cat as if it was a security blanket. Keiko, one of Etsuko's daughter committed suicide. Tediousness in words exchanged between Etsuko and Niki, her another daughter expresses their disagreement with each other. Only Etsuko behaves normally among the others. Kazuo Ishiguro set her in a story as a subsidiary character essential for the development of the plot, I think. She spoke to the others and knew their living. Sometimes she felt compassion for them and sometime she persuaded them to have second thought, but in vain. Whether in Japan in the past or nowadays in England, she has had no fellow to evoke a sympathetic response from. She is always lonely. It casts a tinge of somberness on this story.

Subtle...Haunting...and Confusing.......2007-03-01

I turned to A Pale View of Hills almost immediately after finishing The Remains of the Day, which I loved. This one was good too, but not quite as satisfying. I think the main difference was that it was far more difficult to wrap my head around this one. Don't get me wrong: I read plenty of difficult books, and a challenging read doesn't bother me. The weird thing about this one, though, is that I didn't realize just how difficult it was until I was about three-fourths of the way through. Up until that point I would have called the book something like "subtle and haunting." But then I ran into this massive twist that made me doubt my entire interpretation of the book to that point. Were Sachiko and Mariko really the narrator's neighbors, viewed through the "pale" lense of memory, so that remembered experiences became confused and conflated? Or were they imaginary inversions of the narrator and her daughter, created by the narrator to help her deal with death and loss? And what about the ghost that Mariko kept seeing? Who was she? Was she real or imagined?

All of these questions kept me reading, kept pushing me forward...but then the book just kind of ended. I felt like the last chapter flew right over my head, and from reading through some of the reviews here it seems that others were left with the same feeling. I would definitely say that this is a worthwhile book, but at times the delicacy of the story-telling leads to large doses of ambiguity...and maybe that's the point. But despite some of my confusion, there were plenty of worthwhile themes that I found readily accessible...plenty of pain and guilt and fear and regret, along with an exploration of cultural and generational differences. In the final analysis I think "subtle and haunting" still describes A Pale View of Hills fairly well, but I would also add "difficult" and perhaps "downright confusing" to the list of apt adjectives. I have a feeling a second reading, knowing what I know now, would do a lot to help me unravel what happened at the end. I imagine I'll probably give it another go at some point in the future, and at any rate I'm still eager to read more by this author.

With good Character .......2006-12-24

The unreliable narrator builds the suspense. Metaphors are beautifully composed--the ground, the rope, the location of the house, the helpless animals, the binoculars, the child who knows too much and speaks in sullen, slightly hostile, vagueness...and the presence of light, men, darkness.

This novel twists and turns and leaves the reader breathless, unsure, and totally convinced, but never really sure what happened.

A delight to read. Horrifying and chilling. You won't want to put it down.

Ambiguous, and not for the faint of heart.......2006-12-07

Having read 4 or 5 other Ishiguro books, and with the goal of reading all his novels, I just finished reading this one last night.

This story of a woman, her life, her families, and her homes is disturbing and mysterious on many levels. Unlike his later books, Ishiguro does not cleanly unveil a single story here. Rather he raises the themes of the disintegration of social fabric after the Nagasaki bombing, the transformation of Japanese culture to a more western attitude, mother-daughter relations, and social climbing through a series of incidents that combine the actual story with distortions and failures in memory of the narrator Etsuko/Sachiko.

The power of the book is in the stark unfairness of Etsuko's actions, their inevitability, and that they probably happened a hundredfold in Japan in the 40s and 50s.

Personally, I found the obscureness of the underlying plot a bit thick. Even reviewing 5 or 6 commentaries on the book online this morning, I didn't get to the bottom of it, and can see some and perhaps all of the commentators I found are even more confused. Probably Ishiguro knew he was leaving ambiguity and loose ends, in fact in one interview he said as much. For example, I suspect a sinister interpretation of the "rope" Mariko referred to 2 or 3 times, but found little clarity online. But the power of the book is clear, this is my favorite of Ishiguro's books.

Living With the Bomb: American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age (Japan in the Modern World)

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Living With the Bomb: American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age (Japan in the Modern World)

Manufacturer: East Gate Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1563249677

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I guess it all depends on who is reading the book
Profoundly moving, and far too little known
Good story, bad mechanics
A Song for Nagasaki
A Sad Yet Inspiring Story

A Song for Nagasaki
Paul Glynn
Manufacturer: Eerdmans Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802804764

Customer Reviews:

I guess it all depends on who is reading the book.......2004-08-26

I could tell when I read this book for the first time that it would get a wide variety of reactions. This biography of Dr. Nagai covers some very controversial topics: the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Christian faith being two of them. Everyone has their own deep-seated feelings about both of these things. It's very easy to see why so many Christians appreciate the book, and I can also guess why others might be less than enchanted with it. Its author, Paul Glynn, was a missionary from Australia who lived in Japan for over 20 years. Glynn is well-acquainted with the misunderstandings that exist between Eastern and Western cultures. He has gone to great lengths to organize the story in such a way that he not only brings to light the amazing and encouraging story of a very saintly man, he also touches on many events in Japanese history and elements of culture which help you to understand Nagai's whole cultural and historical environment. The book is very "world-building," as one friend put it. This one slim paperback has brought me more understanding of the Japanese people--particularly of those who are Christian by heritage--than a college education did, and that was all in the first few chapters.

Some may feel that Glynn's tone sounds preachy or naive. On this point it will help to remember that the author is first and foremost a priest. He tells this story very sensitively as a priest who has a flock to take care of, not as a professional writer who makes a living off of what he does. That said, I think Glynn is really an excellent storyteller, no matter how you feel about his tone or verbal mannerisms (many of which, after all, are probably Australian and therefore a little different-sounding to non-Australian ears). Having spent three years living in the area of Japan where all this occurred, I can attest that Glynn's book has helped me immeasurably to understand the history that my Japanese friends have inherited. Why do I feel happy every time I see or even think of Urakami Cathedral, the beautiful church which was completely destroyed by the A-bomb? Because I read this book. It challenges you to take the long view and look at the bombing in the context of history and faith. No secular writer could have come up with the view of the bombing that Glynn presents us, a view which first came from Nagai himself and now seems to be shared by many in Nagasaki. The famous saying in Japan is "In Nagasaki, they pray; in Hiroshima, they are angry." After you read this book you'll know why. You wouldn't think there could be a silver lining to an atomic cloud, but if you're open, Glynn will lead you to it and maybe even help you see how the silver lining overwhelms the cloud.

This book has proven very difficult to get hold of, being that it's out of print. If you'd like to take things into your own hands, a note inside the book says to write to:

Marist Fathers Books
3 Mary Street
Hunters Hill, N.S.W. 2110, Australia

Profoundly moving, and far too little known.......2004-03-04

Where can I start in describing this story? The subject matter is one that is crying out to be better known, the amazing life and times of Dr. Nagai Takashi, whom I pray may become a saint some day. Whether he will ever be a formal saint or not, he was certainly saintly. The book follows the story of his life and in particular his spiritual journey, from cradle Shinto belief to skepticism and atheism, then thanks to reading Pascal's Pensees and the influence of the Nagasaki Christian family he was living with into accepting Christ as his savior. We learn about how his faith transforms him to the point where he heroically dedicates himself to helping Chinese and Japanese alike during his time as a doctor in the Sino-Japanese War, and then in exposing himself to vast doses of radition in his work combatting tuberculosis in Japan to save as many people as possible. By doing that he develops leukemia, and is given three years to live. And then the Bomb is dropped, and in an instant his life takes on still deeper meaning: his wife and countless others are instantly called to God, and saving the wounded and rebuilding the city (despite the effects of radiation) nearly costs him his life. From then on his illness constantly gathers strength, but God grants him a miraculous respite from death so that he can pour out his life in one last great giving of himself, a culmination and perfection of all that he has done before: he helps direct the reconstruction of the city, and takes up writing about it and on foregiveness, peace, and love. His writings won him national acclaim in Japan, and his example probably more than anybody else helped Nagasaki become a truly prayerful city in its rememberence of the Bomb, not an angry and resentful one. Today Dr. Nagai is still remembered in Nagasaki as a local hero, but elsewhere he is all but unknown, even in most Asian countries (at least this is the case here in mainland China). This book should be far more widely available than it is, for the profound subject it alone (to my knowledge) deliniates. For Dr. Nagai's profound idea of the Divine Providence in Nagasaki being chosen as a victim to atone for the sins of World War II alone, this book is worth every penny. The writing style is mostly quite good and very engaging--I promise you, this book is a page-turner, and you will never forget this story. And of course, if you can go find some of Dr. Nagai's own writings, The Bells of Nagasaki or any others of his books. They too aren't widely available, and should be.

Good story, bad mechanics.......2001-09-03

the story in this book is quite compelling. however, a compelling story fails, in my opinion to give a 4 or 5 star rating. mr glynn, or perhaps his editors, have failed to correct numerous glaring errors in mechanics, punctuation and grammar. glynn's style is not eloquent and he intersperses his writing with pretentious diction. it may very well be a worthwhile read, but it's almost hard for this english student to finish reading in light of all of these errors.

A Song for Nagasaki.......2000-06-18

AN EXCELLENT BOOK ! A Song for Nagasaki tells the story of a young man with apparent learning disabilities. Against many odds, he became a Doctor. Originally an atheist; once his mother dies, he realizes that there are things that science cannot always explain. Then he starts his journey to Christianity. Among other things,Dr. Nagai found himself face to face with death in several occasions. He saw active combat twice, and survived an atomic bomb. All these experiences and the suffering he saw around him, helped him to work his way into a very deep relationship with Jesus. Shortly after the Atomic Bomb that was dropped in Nagasaki, this humble and kind human being would become the leader that not only healed the victims physical wounds, but the ones carried in their hearts by means of self giving love and prayer. I strongly recommend this book.

A Sad Yet Inspiring Story.......1999-11-26

This is actually a biography of Takashi Nagai, a Christian who worked early in the field of radiology and ironically died of radiation poisoning from the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. It's worthwhile tracking down not only for its heartbreaking account of the destruction of that city and its citizens, but also for its portrayal of Nagai's intelligent struggle through a number of worldviews before becoming a follower of Christ. Along the way you'll learn about the history of Christianity in Japan. You won't soon forget some of the images in this book.

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Breathless pace compensates for credibility issues
Tightrope Walker
A fast-paced, fun read for spy/thriller fans1

The Last Goodbye
Malcolm Bell
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312193106

Amazon.com

This smartly plotted and smoothly written debut thriller by the pseudonymous Malcolm Bell (described only as "a former government employee" on the hardcover jacket) is a welcome throwback to the innocent days of Elleston Trevor and early Len Deighton. There's some healthy sex, but nothing kinky; a modicum of violence, but not much display of seriously nasty body parts. And as for the central threat--that San Diego will be destroyed by a nuclear weapon triggered by a deadly new substance called red mercury--well, only the CIA director really worries much about that.

Most of the pleasure comes from watching Marcus Malone, a former CIA agent running a failing security agency, being convinced by the director and his earnest banker ally to let himself be exposed as a flashy criminal arms dealer and then to disappear into Eastern Europe--where the terrorist who wants the red mercury will hopefully contact him. And when Malone's new ladyfriend, a dauntless dental assistant, decides to join him in Prague, the fun and excitement increase to a level just begging to be filmed. --Dick Adler

Book Description

August 9, 1945. Nagasaki, Japan. Yotaro Kawai and his family walk in the dusk of summer. Suddenly, a flash...bright light...a screaming silence...and finally, nothingness. The atomic bomb has dropped. Yotaro's family is dead. Yotaro himself is left alone in the rubble, grossly disfigured for the rest of his years.

Flash forward to today: Driven by white-hot hatred of a United States that has forgotten their fifty-year-old sins, Yotaro Kawai has become a major figure on today's international crime scene, with one last wish: to avenge the Nagasaki tragedy for his family, his countrymen, and himself.

Enter Marcus Malone, a middle-aged ex-CIA agent, with nothing to call his own but a failed business venture and marriage. Called out of retirement to stop Kawai, Malone has to lay it all on the line for one last mission. He must give his name, the woman he loves, and his very identity to track down a madman in a criminal world where no moment is safe and no memory will go unpunished.

Customer Reviews:

Breathless pace compensates for credibility issues .......2007-07-27

His marriage finished, his business in shambles, ex-CIA agent Marcus Malone agrees to let the US government terminally trash his life in order to set him up to catch a terrorist with plans to level San Diego with a nuclear bomb. The breakneck pace and the hero's James Bondian skills make it work.

The secret ingredient to making this small, virtually undetectable nuclear device is Red Mercury and Malone's outlaw status makes him the perfect purveyor. There's only one snag - Malone has fallen in love. At about the time he gets the terrorist's attention, Karen Faulkner decides to come to Prague in search of her lover.

The terrorist is almost sympathetic, a stunted horror who survived Nagasaki but lost his family and any chance of normal life. One of life's pleasures is a "pipe garden" where he keeps prisoners confined underground in coffins, connected to the surface by a pipe for water, air, sustenance and sound. He wants revenge and now that he's contracted leukemia from the radiation exposure, he has little time left. No time for playing footsy with arms-dealer Malone.

There are lots of improbabilities but Bell keeps the action hopping and the love affair hot. There's plenty of spy craft detail and more than a few skin-of-the-teeth escapes.

Tightrope Walker.......2000-10-04

I found this book exceptionally well done, since "Malcolm Bell," a "former government employee," has successfully walked the tightrope between being true to the intelligence biz, on the one hand, and writing an exciting story, on the other. Nearly all popular espionage fiction is laughable to anyone who has been in the business, but Bell has captured the true atmosphere without resorting to preposterous inventions. He also draws characters that we actually CARE about, which makes for sleepless nights. I had read this book when it was first published, then came across it and started, in an idle moment, reading it over again. It is as captivating the second time as it was the first, and I can think of no better test of an author's skill. Hopefully, "Mr. Bell" will give us more; I, for one, will be lined up with a fistful of dollars.

A fast-paced, fun read for spy/thriller fans1.......1999-01-14

I enjoyed this book. Well plotted, a great story line and interesting charachters made for a very fun read that kept me up late to see what would happen next. Gives the word "gardening" a whole new meaning! (I can't divulge what--read it and see for yourself!)

Rain of Ruin: A Photographic History of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (America Goes to War)

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Disappointing
Not one of the 100,000 corpses made it in. Not one.
Mostly establishment propoganda
Chilling
The Choice That Saved a Million Lives

Rain of Ruin: A Photographic History of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (America Goes to War)
Donald M. Goldstein , J. Michael Wenger , and Katherine V. Dillon
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 157488221X

Book Description

From Midwest Book Review

This photographic history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki provides the first comprehensive photographic record of the bombings and their aftermath, presenting a history of the two cities before and after the bombs drop and also including photos of American and Japanese politicians and military men involved in the bombing. Anticipate a detailed, well-rounded title.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2005-10-15

It seems that the people of the United States still do not deserve to understand, to see, the racist genocide they commited with the children and the women and the men from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This book is nothing but a joke.

Not one of the 100,000 corpses made it in. Not one........2005-07-15

The dust jacket of this book boasts that it is "the first comprehensive photographic record of the bombings". However, its idea of comprehensiveness - while finding room for a film poster of the 1952 Robert Taylor movie "Above and Beyond" - does not include *a single one* of the tens of thousands of corpses littering the ground of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

That's right. As far as the 500+ photographs in this "objective, informative volume" [quoting the dust jacket again] are concerned, our two atomic bombs - while producing a lot of rubble and five mild burn victims - did not cause a single fatality.

The chief author of this book is identified as "a retired U.S. Air Force officer". Make of this what you like.

Mostly establishment propoganda.......2003-12-11

First, I am in no way an apologist for the Japanese or the atrocities they committed before and during WWII. The official Japanese versions of events such as Nanking and the Korean "comfort" women and the people who perpetrate them are in as much denial as the people who defend the atomic bombs as being a military necessity. The winners don't necessarily write history-the textbook writers write it. And for the record, I do live and work in Japan, but having read many books on the subject, I have to view this book as being extremely biased toward the "establishment" version. Most of the Japanese I know are deeply ashamed of the horrors committed by their countrymen.

As for those who criticize "revisionist historians", of which the authors of this book obviously are not, I would ask, what other type of good historian is there? History is not static. It does change. Even if a historian finds evidence that corroborates the "establishment" view, they still have in a fashion "revised" history in that they have added to it. As any new evidence becomes available (e.g., from the FOIA), historians have to revise (these ideas were garnered from "Hiroshima in America" by Lifton and Mitchell. Also, isn't it funny, one never hears of "revisionist geologists," for example-guess they're too politically boring). In defense of the authors, at least they admit their bias from the beginning.

Onto the book, I rate it as a "2" not because of what it says (ok, some of what it says) but mostly for what it does not say, and, more importantly, what it does not show. Granted, many of the photos in the book are powerful, and should be shown--thus the "2". However, most that show the devastation of the bombs focus on the architectural damage, not the human damage. The extremely small percentage of photos that show victims are not extremely difficult to view and in no way show the vast horrors experienced by the victims. And yes, they were victims. Almost all were civilians, and contrary to a claim in the book, there were American victims in both cities, both POWs and American-Japanese who were in Japan at the start of the war. Both of these groups have had incredible difficulty in getting aid from either country after the war, as neither side wishes to claim responsibility.

Several of the photos do appear to have been doctored in one way or another. The most obvious one is on page 149, which purports to show a nurse with a group of orphans from the bombing of Kumamoto (I have no reason to deny this claim), in which the background is completely blacked-out. It is not made clear if the authors did this or the picture they received/found was already this way. Unfortunately, unlike scores of other pictures in which they offer commentary, no explanation is given for this. The only evidence of its origin is in the "Photo credits" section which credits one of the authors, Goldstein, and William Hendricks. This one instance severely undermines their version, in my humble opinion because it so clearly illustrates their bias. Why would a "photographic history", which takes great pains on many other occasions to explain and bring notice to other photographs, leave such a questionable one untouched?

The text of the book also avoids much of which has been shown to be true. As a scholarly document, the book is horrible. It does not use footnotes or endnotes so that independent verification can occur. It offers only a "brief bibliography" which is obviously tilted toward their bias.

For example, while the report of the US Strategic Bombing Survey is cited several times, the authors fail to include this VERY important quotation: "...certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had be planned or contemplated." The Japanese were beat. They knew it, we knew it, and the only thing holding up a surrender was the assurance of the emperor--which we gave them and which we probably shouldn't have.

Basically, the book fails on many levels. Again, it doesn't really show the true horror inflicted upon human beings. It would have been rightly justified in showing the human suffering caused by the Japanese, but that would have meant in some way admitting that the US was wrong in that it was militarily unjustified. It is not a scholarly work, as it offers not chance to verify/discredit their claims. It is not a history book as it is so *extremely* biased and completely refuses to challenge the claims against its stance. I would have much more respect for it if it would take on some of the "alternative" views. It is not a photographic history, at least not in a *complete* sense, in that it leaves out more than it shows.

Read these books, and if you can dispute their claims, write your own:

Hiroshima in America by Lifton and Mitchell
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb by Alperovitz (the best and most complete of the ones I've read)
Hiroshima by Takaki

Finally, I believe that by saying the atomic bombs ended WWII takes credit away from the people who truly did end it-the soldiers in the Pacific theatre. Their contribution is diminished every time the bombs are given credit for the end of the war.

Chilling.......2001-11-08

I just received this book in the mail today, however I have all ready read half of it and have found it very stirring.
Before my recent studies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki I did not have any idea of the devestation that went on over there. This is the most visual account I've seen to date.
A chilling account to one of the worst mistakes in American history.

The Choice That Saved a Million Lives.......2000-09-06

THE ONLY BOOK OF IT'S TYPE!!! The complete pictorial history of the weapon that changed the way mankind thinks of his enemy and war. Goldstein, in previous books, has given the world the most complete picture of the start of the War in the Pacific,by telling us both sides of how and why the events occurred. Now he ends the war with the Manhatten project and the dropping of the two a-bombs. This book is the only one I know of that presents the effects on Nagaski, the forgotten city. As Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima have become SISTER CITIES you need to have "Rain of Ruin" as the definitive companion to your Pearl Harbor collection.

Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands (Asia-Pacific)

Average customer rating:

Fallout
An incredibly important work

Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands (Asia-Pacific)
James N. Yamazaki , James N. Yamazaki , and Louis B. Fleming
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0822316587

Book Description

Despite familiar images of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan and the controversy over its fiftieth anniversary, the human impact of those horrific events often seems lost to view. In this uncommon memoir, Dr. James N. Yamazaki tells us in personal and moving terms of the human toll of nuclear warfare and the specific vulnerability of children to the effects of these weapons. Giving voice to the brutal ironies of racial and cultural conflict, of war and sacrifice, his story creates an inspiring and humbling portrait of events whose lessons remain difficult and troubling fifty years later.
Children of the Atomic Bomb is Dr. Yamazaki’s account of a lifelong effort to understand and document the impact of nuclear explosions on children, particularly the children conceived but not yet born at the time of the explosions. Assigned in 1949 as Physician-in-Charge of the United States Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Nagasaki, Yamazaki had served as a combat surgeon at the Battle of the Bulge where he had been captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Germans. In Japan he was confronted with violence of another dimension—the devastating impact of a nuclear blast and the particularly insidious effects of radiation on children.
Yamazaki’s story is also one of striking juxtapositions, an account of a Japanese-American’s encounter with racism, the story of a man who fought for his country while his parents were interned in a concentration camp in Arkansas. Once the object of discrimination at home, Yamazaki paradoxically found himself in Japan for the first time as an American, part of the Allied occupation forces, and again an outsider. This experience resonates through his work with the children of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and with the Marshallese people who bore the brunt of America’s postwar testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific.
Recalling a career that has spanned five decades, Dr. Yamazaki chronicles the discoveries that helped chart the dangers of nuclear radiation and presents powerful observations of both the medical and social effects of the bomb. He offers an indelible picture of human tragedy, a tale of unimaginable suffering, and a dedication to healing that is ultimately an unwavering, impassioned plea for peace.

Customer Reviews:

Fallout.......2005-03-13

"Children of the Atomic Bomb" is a disturbing look into the after effects of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II. In reference to the fallout of radiation, the Marshall Islands incident is also discussed. The author's primary emphasis is placed on the bomb's effects on children, including those still in the womb and those not yet conceived.

There is a great deal of valuable information in this book, though I must admit I found the explanations too short at times. Dr. Yamazaki is an American of Asian descent, who served his country in World War II. Because of his nationality, he endured racism depite being an American. Ironically, even in his research in Japan he endured prejudice because he was seen as an American. This gives an interesting twist to the story.

Dr. Yamazaki's focus began in studying the unborm children of the atomic bomb. While the adults in the fallout tended to develop cancer at high rates later in life, the children had a high motality rate. Cancer and mental retardation were among the primary defects developed in these children. Many were also born with small heads, caused by the soft tissue of the skull solidifing too soon. These "pica babies" or babies of the blinding flash showed an alarming vulnerablity during the eighth and fifteenth weeks of development. Babies in this span of development showed the greatest health problems. Searching for genetic defects is the next goal of the research, though the stigma of being a pica baby makes some reluctant to come forward for research.

One of the things I enjoyed about the book was that Dr. Yamazaki did not choose to argue for or against the use of the bomb. Instead, he chose to pursue the possibility that something like this should never happen again. In American culture, we pay little attention to the after effects of the Atomic Bomb in Japan. Our primary focus in America in studying World War II is the fall of the Nazi regime. This book is an eye-opening experience in the events that unfolded in Japan as the war ended. My only complaint is that the book is often too concise.

An incredibly important work.......2004-01-27

This is the personal and medical memoir of Dr. James Yamazaki, an American of Japanese descent who went to Japan a few years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dr. Yamazaki went to study the effects of radiation exposure on the populace, and particularly its effects on children. Dr. Yamazaki spent several years in Nagasaki before returning to the US to continue research on the effects of radiation on children (as well as having a general pediatric practice.)

In addition to his pioneering medical work, he also talked to government commissions about nuclear disarmament. He told them what he saw in Japan in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. His medical knowledge gave him the authority to speak as a peace activist as well.

Book Description

The highly acclaimed Weapons for Victory originally appeared in 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II. Now, in this paperback edition, Robert James Maddox provides a new introduction about the ongoing controversy related to the decision to bomb Hiroshima.

"[Maddox's] research is exhaustive, his logic is admirable, and his account is utterly convincing. . . . This is a good overview of how the decision was made to enter the atomic age. It is thorough, readable, accurate, and most welcome."--Florida Historical Quarterly

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