“Hiroshima”
by John Hersey
“The release of atom power has
changed everything except our
way of thinking... the solution to
this problem lies in the heart of
mankind. If only I had known, I
should have become a
watchmaker.”
~Albert Einstein
The author:
John Hersey
*born 1914 in China to
missionary parents
*studied journalism at Yale
and Cambridge
*was a WWII
correspondent for Time
magazine
*many of his writings
center around the topic
of war
*won a Pulitzer Prize
*died 1993
“Hiroshima”was originally
published on August 31, 1946, in
The New Yorker magazine as a
31,000 word article. There were
NO other articles in the magazine
that issue. “Hiroshima” was read
on ABC radio to the entire
country and newspapers all over
the world asked permission to
reprint it. Mr. Hersey agreed to
the reprints as long as the profits
were donated to the American
Red Cross. Ironically, Albert
Einstein purchased 1,000 copies
of the magazine to be handed out
to just about anyone he could
find. Later that same year,
“Hiroshima” was compiled into
book form. Because it was
originally an article, it keeps its
“quotation marks” around the
title instead of being underlined.
Historical Context of “Hiroshima”
The book (a work of NONFICTION) starts on
August 6, 1945, the day the first atomic bomb was
dropped on human beings, and ends in 1985, with
updates on the lives of the six survivors chronicled
in the book. When the bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, and a few days later on Nagasaki, Japan
had been at war with the United States for three and
a half years. It was by then a losing fight for Japan,
as resources and soldiers had been severely
depleted and the civilian population was living on
meager rations. The atomic bomb attacks were a
final devastation to the Japanese war effort.
The Japanese Empire surrendered
unconditionally only nine days after the destruction
of Hiroshima, on August 15, 1945.
The Survivors…
interviewed by John Hersey for
“Hiroshima”
Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura
The widow of a tailor, Mrs. Hatsuyo is
raising three young children on her own,
Mrs. Nakamura is caring and
resourceful, as well as a dedicated
citizen. As Hersey puts it, she “had long
had a habit of doing as she was told.”
She and her children survive the
explosion without any external physical
harm, but she and her daughter, Myeko,
later come down with radiation sickness
and suffer with it for years.
Miss Toshiko Sasaki
Miss Sasaki is a personnel clerk at the
East Asia Tin Works factory. She is in
her early twenties and lives with her
parents and young sibling at the time
of the blast. Her left leg is severely
injured when bookshelves fall on her
from the impact of the bomb, and she
is left crippled.
Dr. Masakazu Fujii
Dr. Fujii is a middle-aged physician who
is comfortable financially since he owns
his own private hospital. Being fairly selfabsorbed, he enjoys fine whiskey,
relaxation, and the company of
foreigners. His hospital is completely
destroyed in the blast and he is
moderately injured.
Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge
Father Kliensorge is a thirty-eight year-old
German missionary priest with the Society
of Jesus (Jesuits). He loves the Japanese
people and is committed to his work in
Hiroshima but feels uncomfortable with the
xenophobia of war-time Japan. He incurs
only small cuts in the blast, but suffers
years later from debilitating effects of the
radiation, and dies in the 1970s with a
loyal Japanese nurse by his side.
Dr. Terufumi Sasaki
Dr. Sasaki is an idealistic, young surgeon
working at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital.
(No relation to Ms. Sasaki). He is the only
uninjured doctor from the bomb, and in the
chaotic aftermath, he treats thousands of
victims from all over the city for three days
straight with no sleep.
Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto
Rev. Tanimoto is a hardworking and thoughtful
pastor. He is largely
unhurt by the blast, and
spends the first several
days after the attack
compassionately caring
for the wounded and
destitute of the city.
"If they (Japan) do not now
accept our terms they may
expect a rain of ruin from
the air, the like of which
has never been seen on
this earth.”
~President Harry S. Truman
August 6, 1945
August 6, 1945…
The “Enola Gay”…the plane that dropped the bomb
on Hiroshima, piloted by Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets.
“Little Boy” was what the military named the
bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.
“Sixteen hours ago an American airplane
dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed
its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had
more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. …which
is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history
of warfare.”
~President Harry S. Truman in a radio
address to Americans after the bomb was dropped
on Hiroshima
Mushroom Cloud from the ground in Hiroshima
“As the bomb fell over Hiroshima
and exploded, we saw an entire
city disappear. I wrote in my log
the words: ‘My God, what have we
done?’”
-Capt. Robert Lewis
co-pilot of the Enola Gay
On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 in the morning an
atomic bomb called Little Boy was dropped
over the city of Hiroshima by a B29 bomber
called the Enola Gay. The 15-kiloton nuclear
device was detonated about 2000 feet above
the city immediately generating
temperatures in the millions of degrees and
sending a fireball out in all directions. Even
though the explosion was 2000 feet up, the
temperatures on the ground below it
reached 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit, melting
tile and glass and instantly burning
anything combustible. The blast generated
winds up to 620 miles per hour and
destroyed most houses and buildings within
a mile and a half radius.
The men, women and
children who were not
instantly incinerated
by the blast were
badly burned and
exposed to very high
levels of radiation.
Most died within a few
months. It is
estimated that 140,000
people died by the
end of that year.
Subsequent deaths
from radiation
poisoning brought the
death toll to
somewhere around
200,000.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
In the name of peace
They waged the wars
Ain't they got no shame
~Nikki Giovanni
“What a cruel thing is war: to
separate and destroy families and
friends…; to fill our hearts with
hatred instead of love for our
neighbors, and to devastate the
fair face of this beautiful world.”
~Gen. Robert E. Lee
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
A “Hiroshima” shadow…
When the blast took place,
radiation moved across in
every direction, scorching
everything in its path.
Anything that was behind, or
covered, by an object, was
left unscortched…
the “shadow" effect
-it is similar to when you
get a sunburn, but there
are places not burned
--like a tan line.
This picture is an example of
a “Hiroshima Shadow”. The
man that was standing by his
ladder disintegrated instantly
after the blast.
“Mankind must put an end
to war, or war will put an
end to mankind.”
~John F. Kennedy, 1961