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Hiroshima
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List Price: $7.50
Our Price: $7.50
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5425
EAN: 9780679721031
ISBN: 0679721037
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 160
Publication Date: 1989-03-04
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 1989-03-04
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Reviews:
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On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. This book, John Hersey's journalistic masterpiece, tells what happened on that day. Told through the memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic "that stirs the conscience of humanity" (The New York Times).
Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, John Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told. His account of what he discovered about them is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Satisfaction Guaranteed
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Testament to both man's violence and unselfish nurturing
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It might be different if it was written today....
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Comment: 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.
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