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A review by dullshimmer
Hiroshima by John Hersey
4.0
The dropping of nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are often noted the reason for World War II finally coming to a close. There is often much discussion over whether the use of nuclear weapons were justified or not. Unfortunately most of the discussion can become rather abstract and theoretical removing the humanity of both the ones who dropped the bombs and who were victims of the bombs.
Hiroshima by John Hersey doesn't enter the debate about whether such attacks were justified, but he does give a chilling human portrayal of the destruction wrought by the bomb through the eyes of six different survivors. Hiroshima was initially an article for The New Yorker but was later published as a book. It simply follows the story of a set of survivors from before the bomb dropped, the direct aftermath of the bomb, and the months following.
In many ways this book is a hard book to say you enjoy. I've never really read anything that presented the lives of the survivors after the nuclear bomb dropped. It's a rather devastating account of overwhelming destruction and death. I feel it was a needed perspective to experience, even if it is from the detached reality of reading about it. At the same time it's not an enjoyable read by any means.
Hersey takes a rather straightforward approach in talking about the stories of the six people he follows in his story. He gives a factual, and almost detached, account of the events. His purpose is not presenting his own opinions or views upon the story, but rather tells the tales of these survivors and the destruction that they encountered.
This kind of detached writing may not be to everyone's taste, but I felt that it serves the account well. Some may also wonder about Hersey's choice of six rather ordinary individuals, but considering that most of us are rather ordinary individuals I think it only natural to focus on those people. It subtly makes the reader place yourself in the midst of such potential destruction. It makes you wonder how you would navigate such destruction, worrying about your family, how to get treatment for injuries and sickness, dealing with the death of family members and neighbors. At least it left me wondering that.
The book also made me wonder how it was received when it was first published. How did the American public react to it? Were they aghast? Indifferent? How did an up-close view of how the nuclear bomb caused such devastation influence people's views of nuclear weapons? It's one thing reading it today having not been alive during World War II, but another to have read this only a little over a year after the bombs were dropped.
While such a work may or may not change ones mind over the usage of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II, I do think that this is a book that everyone should read. It's not a particularly enjoyable read, but it opened my eyes to the destruction of nuclear weapons in ways that I hadn't known before.
Hiroshima by John Hersey doesn't enter the debate about whether such attacks were justified, but he does give a chilling human portrayal of the destruction wrought by the bomb through the eyes of six different survivors. Hiroshima was initially an article for The New Yorker but was later published as a book. It simply follows the story of a set of survivors from before the bomb dropped, the direct aftermath of the bomb, and the months following.
In many ways this book is a hard book to say you enjoy. I've never really read anything that presented the lives of the survivors after the nuclear bomb dropped. It's a rather devastating account of overwhelming destruction and death. I feel it was a needed perspective to experience, even if it is from the detached reality of reading about it. At the same time it's not an enjoyable read by any means.
Hersey takes a rather straightforward approach in talking about the stories of the six people he follows in his story. He gives a factual, and almost detached, account of the events. His purpose is not presenting his own opinions or views upon the story, but rather tells the tales of these survivors and the destruction that they encountered.
This kind of detached writing may not be to everyone's taste, but I felt that it serves the account well. Some may also wonder about Hersey's choice of six rather ordinary individuals, but considering that most of us are rather ordinary individuals I think it only natural to focus on those people. It subtly makes the reader place yourself in the midst of such potential destruction. It makes you wonder how you would navigate such destruction, worrying about your family, how to get treatment for injuries and sickness, dealing with the death of family members and neighbors. At least it left me wondering that.
The book also made me wonder how it was received when it was first published. How did the American public react to it? Were they aghast? Indifferent? How did an up-close view of how the nuclear bomb caused such devastation influence people's views of nuclear weapons? It's one thing reading it today having not been alive during World War II, but another to have read this only a little over a year after the bombs were dropped.
While such a work may or may not change ones mind over the usage of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II, I do think that this is a book that everyone should read. It's not a particularly enjoyable read, but it opened my eyes to the destruction of nuclear weapons in ways that I hadn't known before.