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Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography (2015)A powerful and unflinching account of the enduring impact of nuclear war, told through the stories of those who survived.
On August 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, a small port city on Japan’s southernmost island. An estimated 74,000 people died within the first five months, and another 75,000 were injured.
Published on the seventieth anniversary of the bombing, Nagasaki takes readers from the morning of the bombing to the city today, telling the first-hand experiences of five survivors, all of whom were teenagers at the time of the devastation. Susan Southard has spent years interviewing hibakusha (“bomb-affected people”) and researching the physical, emotional, and social challenges of post-atomic life. She weaves together dramatic eyewitness accounts with searing analysis of the policies of censorship and denial that colored much of what was reported about the bombing both in the United States and Japan.
A gripping narrative of human resilience, Nagasaki will help shape public discussion and debate over one of the most controversial wartime acts in history.
On August 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, a small port city on Japan’s southernmost island. An estimated 74,000 people died within the first five months, and another 75,000 were injured.
Published on the seventieth anniversary of the bombing, Nagasaki takes readers from the morning of the bombing to the city today, telling the first-hand experiences of five survivors, all of whom were teenagers at the time of the devastation. Susan Southard has spent years interviewing hibakusha (“bomb-affected people”) and researching the physical, emotional, and social challenges of post-atomic life. She weaves together dramatic eyewitness accounts with searing analysis of the policies of censorship and denial that colored much of what was reported about the bombing both in the United States and Japan.
A gripping narrative of human resilience, Nagasaki will help shape public discussion and debate over one of the most controversial wartime acts in history.
389 pages, Hardcover
First published July 28, 2015
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January 25, 2018
But the city as she had known it no longer existed. All around, thick layers of splintered glass, metal dust, and twisted wire covered the ground, along with scorched corpses staring upward or facing down as though sleeping. Hundreds of men, women, and teenaged students who had climbed out of the factory rubble staggered across the grounds, half-naked, their blistered skin falling off their bodies; many held their arms stretched out in front of them - probably, one survivor guessed, to keep the skin that had peeled off their arms and hands from dragging on the ground. "They all looked gray," one woman remembered. "No, not even gray; they were simply colorless, dusty figures with two blank holes for eyes, a stubby nose, and another hole for a mouth." A mother cradled her headless infant and wailed.
This is one of the best books I've ever read. No wonder it has won awards and acclaim. Southard walks us through Nagasaki from the 1500s to the present day, with the goal of illuminating and illustrating what led up to the bombing of Nagasaki and what the nuclear bomb did to the people of Nagasaki starting when it was dropped and ending in the present day.
Southard's cool journalistic style is a huge boon to this book. She doesn't color things or get melodramatic, instead she recounts survivor's tales about what happened during and after the bombing. Her frank journalistic style is much more chilling and horrifying to the reader than any overwrought, sentimental account could be. The facts are all you need to be horrified.
Although the book is one I would recommend to every living being, there is a caveat: it is very brutal and unflinching. It is important that everyone read this book – not only because it is an important and vital piece of world history, not only because it is essential that every single person understand the consequences of nuclear warfare, but because the hibakusha (survivors of nuclear bombing) are dying out. History will no longer be living. As was the case when I was reading Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport, the need and importance to spread this knowledge and life experience is urgent. Soon there will be no firsthand witnesses to these world-changing events.
I understand this book will be difficult for a lot of people to read. The descriptions of the death and dying in the time immediately after the bomb is horrifying. But Southard gets into a lot of levels of pain and suffering beyond that. She discusses how the American government studied the hibakusha but refused to offer medical help. The Japanese government didn't want to offer help, either, and it took decades for people to get adequate, paid-for medical care, and by that point many thousands were dead from illnesses and cancers caused by the radiation. The American government also took bodies, body parts, and other human remains when they died after the fact. They paid off midwives to report births so they could study babies who had been exposed to radiation in utero and performed autopsies on people who died for years after the bombing.
Southard also explains the ramifications of being a hibakusha. It is hard to get employed – no one wants to hire someone who may get sick or die. Many were reduced to begging on the street and living in extreme poverty. Survivors with injuries or disfigurements that couldn't be hidden are and were gawked at and shunned, and turned away from public baths. They had a hard time finding spouses, no one wanted to marry or wanted their son or daughter to marry someone 'contaminated.' Many chose to hide their hibakusha status. Southard talks about various experiences, including one of a woman who was forced to get a divorce and an abortion by her husband and his family after discovering she was a survivor of Nagasaki.
These are long-lasting, decades-long effects and challenges. Even today, hibakusha's children and grandchildren are sometimes shunned and denied marriage or employment.
Medical treatment was also a huge issue. The enormous amount of people who died in the blast, hearing about orphaned children and people carrying around their dying or dead babies is one thing. Watching your children die in the next week in front of you. The survivors who are permanently disabled, riddled with cancer, sterile, or giving birth to babies with Microcephaly is another thing. People not being able to access decent medical care for DECADES is yet another. The American government denied access to the Japanese on their medical records and information they had collected. The doctors were left to grope around in the dark. The Japanese government refused to grant health care to those affected until 1957, and even then you had to jump through a good number of hoops to prove you had been there during the bombing, including getting living eyewitnesses to testify.
The whole book describes an endless nightmare. I've heard people describe this book as 'hopeful' but I'm not getting it. I understand that the survivors interviewed here all eventually decided to speak publicly about their experiences and injuries (some not coming forward until they were in their sixties). Thousands decide to still hide their experiences and their status given the discrimination and shunning not only they but also their children and grandchildren will face. It's a big decision, but the threat of a future nuclear war or a future nuclear bomb being dropped is too horrifying for these specific five survivors to keep silent. As I said earlier, these people – who were children during the bombing – are dying out and soon no one will be left to give firsthand accounts.
In case you are wondering whether this book is against Americans or somehow insulting to veterans or some shit, it is not. Southard goes out of her way to describe Japan's cruelty and unforgivable actions during war against various countries. The message of the book is not that America is evil or Japan is evil (although it's hard to walk away from this book with faith in any government, they're all scum) but that nuclear bombs have no way of deciding who is a military personnel and who is a child. No way to differentiate between a fifteen-year-old girl walking to school and a military commander. Nagasaki wasn't even chosen due to its military holdings. The message is that a nuclear bomb doesn't just murder thousands and thousands of people and that's it. Instead, it affects even more hundreds of thousands through aftereffects: both medical/physical and cultural/social. The pain and suffering goes on for decades and perhaps centuries. It's not some neat little area you can say is bombed and then done. For decades people will be dying and suffering. Their children will suffer. Their grandchildren will suffer.
There are pictures in this book. My copy was a paperback and the pictures were in black-and-white. I have no idea if other copies have color pictures.
I liked how Southard followed these five and explained to us how they coped after the bombing and what became of their lives. Their severe facial and bodily deformities kept some of them housebound for years, too ashamed to leave.
The book closes with Taniguchi at age eighty-five, saying
As he ages, typical greetings from his friends like "Please take care of yourself" bring him no consolation, and he falls silent when people wish him a long life. "That would mean many more years of pain," he says. "Either way, I'll have pain until I die."
As was the case with many survivors, no amount of treatment, skin grafts, and surgeries can stop his chronic pain or heal him. You can still see his heart beating due to the extensive damage and injuries he suffered, the extreme rot and bedsores on his front, his back was completely burned off in the explosion.
I am not one to cry while reading books. 999/1000 when people hand me a book and tell them it made them cry it has no effect on me. Perhaps this book being non-fiction had something to do with it, combined with Southard's matter-of-fact style that had me weeping openly while reading this. As I believe in reading publicly, this led to some rather awkward situations. The book is unrelenting, the hell is never over. No matter how screwed these people were by the bomb, they survive only to be screwed by their government, foreign governments, and their own society. There is no end to the suffering, I think that is what really got to me. Reading the survivors' accounts of their experience with nuclear war as children is very traumatic.
TL;DR The book as a whole is extremely disturbing and upsetting. But it is real and true and important. If even a hard and heartless person like me is crying while reading this, I can't imagine the effect it would have on softer readers. Be ready and willing to take frequent breaks if you need to. Intersperse it with more lighthearted fare. The book is definitely worth reading, I'd recommend it to everyone, but I understand it is a very difficult read emotionally.
One of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. I was going to include more excerpts in my review, but every single page is full of shocking or horrific things and it's hard to choose what to include in a review. Much better to let you discover it for yourself, this book is a jarring revelation.
This is one of the best books I've ever read. No wonder it has won awards and acclaim. Southard walks us through Nagasaki from the 1500s to the present day, with the goal of illuminating and illustrating what led up to the bombing of Nagasaki and what the nuclear bomb did to the people of Nagasaki starting when it was dropped and ending in the present day.
Southard's cool journalistic style is a huge boon to this book. She doesn't color things or get melodramatic, instead she recounts survivor's tales about what happened during and after the bombing. Her frank journalistic style is much more chilling and horrifying to the reader than any overwrought, sentimental account could be. The facts are all you need to be horrified.
Although the book is one I would recommend to every living being, there is a caveat: it is very brutal and unflinching. It is important that everyone read this book – not only because it is an important and vital piece of world history, not only because it is essential that every single person understand the consequences of nuclear warfare, but because the hibakusha (survivors of nuclear bombing) are dying out. History will no longer be living. As was the case when I was reading Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport, the need and importance to spread this knowledge and life experience is urgent. Soon there will be no firsthand witnesses to these world-changing events.
I understand this book will be difficult for a lot of people to read. The descriptions of the death and dying in the time immediately after the bomb is horrifying. But Southard gets into a lot of levels of pain and suffering beyond that. She discusses how the American government studied the hibakusha but refused to offer medical help. The Japanese government didn't want to offer help, either, and it took decades for people to get adequate, paid-for medical care, and by that point many thousands were dead from illnesses and cancers caused by the radiation. The American government also took bodies, body parts, and other human remains when they died after the fact. They paid off midwives to report births so they could study babies who had been exposed to radiation in utero and performed autopsies on people who died for years after the bombing.
Southard also explains the ramifications of being a hibakusha. It is hard to get employed – no one wants to hire someone who may get sick or die. Many were reduced to begging on the street and living in extreme poverty. Survivors with injuries or disfigurements that couldn't be hidden are and were gawked at and shunned, and turned away from public baths. They had a hard time finding spouses, no one wanted to marry or wanted their son or daughter to marry someone 'contaminated.' Many chose to hide their hibakusha status. Southard talks about various experiences, including one of a woman who was forced to get a divorce and an abortion by her husband and his family after discovering she was a survivor of Nagasaki.
These are long-lasting, decades-long effects and challenges. Even today, hibakusha's children and grandchildren are sometimes shunned and denied marriage or employment.
Medical treatment was also a huge issue. The enormous amount of people who died in the blast, hearing about orphaned children and people carrying around their dying or dead babies is one thing. Watching your children die in the next week in front of you. The survivors who are permanently disabled, riddled with cancer, sterile, or giving birth to babies with Microcephaly is another thing. People not being able to access decent medical care for DECADES is yet another. The American government denied access to the Japanese on their medical records and information they had collected. The doctors were left to grope around in the dark. The Japanese government refused to grant health care to those affected until 1957, and even then you had to jump through a good number of hoops to prove you had been there during the bombing, including getting living eyewitnesses to testify.
The whole book describes an endless nightmare. I've heard people describe this book as 'hopeful' but I'm not getting it. I understand that the survivors interviewed here all eventually decided to speak publicly about their experiences and injuries (some not coming forward until they were in their sixties). Thousands decide to still hide their experiences and their status given the discrimination and shunning not only they but also their children and grandchildren will face. It's a big decision, but the threat of a future nuclear war or a future nuclear bomb being dropped is too horrifying for these specific five survivors to keep silent. As I said earlier, these people – who were children during the bombing – are dying out and soon no one will be left to give firsthand accounts.
In case you are wondering whether this book is against Americans or somehow insulting to veterans or some shit, it is not. Southard goes out of her way to describe Japan's cruelty and unforgivable actions during war against various countries. The message of the book is not that America is evil or Japan is evil (although it's hard to walk away from this book with faith in any government, they're all scum) but that nuclear bombs have no way of deciding who is a military personnel and who is a child. No way to differentiate between a fifteen-year-old girl walking to school and a military commander. Nagasaki wasn't even chosen due to its military holdings. The message is that a nuclear bomb doesn't just murder thousands and thousands of people and that's it. Instead, it affects even more hundreds of thousands through aftereffects: both medical/physical and cultural/social. The pain and suffering goes on for decades and perhaps centuries. It's not some neat little area you can say is bombed and then done. For decades people will be dying and suffering. Their children will suffer. Their grandchildren will suffer.
There are pictures in this book. My copy was a paperback and the pictures were in black-and-white. I have no idea if other copies have color pictures.
I liked how Southard followed these five and explained to us how they coped after the bombing and what became of their lives. Their severe facial and bodily deformities kept some of them housebound for years, too ashamed to leave.
The book closes with Taniguchi at age eighty-five, saying
As he ages, typical greetings from his friends like "Please take care of yourself" bring him no consolation, and he falls silent when people wish him a long life. "That would mean many more years of pain," he says. "Either way, I'll have pain until I die."
As was the case with many survivors, no amount of treatment, skin grafts, and surgeries can stop his chronic pain or heal him. You can still see his heart beating due to the extensive damage and injuries he suffered, the extreme rot and bedsores on his front, his back was completely burned off in the explosion.
I am not one to cry while reading books. 999/1000 when people hand me a book and tell them it made them cry it has no effect on me. Perhaps this book being non-fiction had something to do with it, combined with Southard's matter-of-fact style that had me weeping openly while reading this. As I believe in reading publicly, this led to some rather awkward situations. The book is unrelenting, the hell is never over. No matter how screwed these people were by the bomb, they survive only to be screwed by their government, foreign governments, and their own society. There is no end to the suffering, I think that is what really got to me. Reading the survivors' accounts of their experience with nuclear war as children is very traumatic.
TL;DR The book as a whole is extremely disturbing and upsetting. But it is real and true and important. If even a hard and heartless person like me is crying while reading this, I can't imagine the effect it would have on softer readers. Be ready and willing to take frequent breaks if you need to. Intersperse it with more lighthearted fare. The book is definitely worth reading, I'd recommend it to everyone, but I understand it is a very difficult read emotionally.
One of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. I was going to include more excerpts in my review, but every single page is full of shocking or horrific things and it's hard to choose what to include in a review. Much better to let you discover it for yourself, this book is a jarring revelation.
February 8, 2017
Last year when I read A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding, I realized how little I knew about Nagasaki, particularly in the era of World War II. Most of the focus goes to Hiroshima, and then the second bomb gets mentioned in passing. As I prepare to lead a book club discussion on the novel, I wanted more background information. Enter this book!
I learned quite a bit about events leading up to August 9, 1945. I never knew that we firebombed so many cities in Japan, and that many of them had suffered massive destruction prior to the atomic bombs. I also learned more about Nagasaki. The novel gave me the impression that it was just a nice place where people lived, but this book discusses the Mitsubishi shipyard and other factories that were the forced employer of most people remaining in the city, and a definitive part of the war machine. Nagasaki was also home to a large Christian population, something also addressed in Ground Zero, Nagasaki: Stories that I read in January, the Urakami Cathedral being very close to the hypocenter.
Nagasaki is the historical trade center with the Western world, even during the era where Japan was closed to the West. I suddenly realized I had read a novel about this history, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. Somehow I had not put all the pieces together!
Susan did many years of research for this novel, including interviewing five people quite extensively who survived the bomb. Many people suffering from the health ramifications of the bomb refuse to speak about it, because even now, there is a stigma. People who were damaged by the bomb are less likely to find employment or marry. I was surprised by this, I guess I would have expected a bit more solidarity for people who were not at fault. But she was able to get even more people to talk to her that were not featured. It is the five featured people who make the heart of the book. It becomes less about piecing together a whole bunch of facts (although there are many here) but more about those facts as the context to their lived experiences. It is horrifying, and I'm ready to sign the Nagasaki Peace Appeal.
I learned quite a bit about events leading up to August 9, 1945. I never knew that we firebombed so many cities in Japan, and that many of them had suffered massive destruction prior to the atomic bombs. I also learned more about Nagasaki. The novel gave me the impression that it was just a nice place where people lived, but this book discusses the Mitsubishi shipyard and other factories that were the forced employer of most people remaining in the city, and a definitive part of the war machine. Nagasaki was also home to a large Christian population, something also addressed in Ground Zero, Nagasaki: Stories that I read in January, the Urakami Cathedral being very close to the hypocenter.
Nagasaki is the historical trade center with the Western world, even during the era where Japan was closed to the West. I suddenly realized I had read a novel about this history, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. Somehow I had not put all the pieces together!
Susan did many years of research for this novel, including interviewing five people quite extensively who survived the bomb. Many people suffering from the health ramifications of the bomb refuse to speak about it, because even now, there is a stigma. People who were damaged by the bomb are less likely to find employment or marry. I was surprised by this, I guess I would have expected a bit more solidarity for people who were not at fault. But she was able to get even more people to talk to her that were not featured. It is the five featured people who make the heart of the book. It becomes less about piecing together a whole bunch of facts (although there are many here) but more about those facts as the context to their lived experiences. It is horrifying, and I'm ready to sign the Nagasaki Peace Appeal.
February 11, 2018
The signature line of one of the atomic bomb survivors, who participated in educating youth about the bombing, whose life is one of the five main survivors’ lives followed in this account says a lot of what needs to be said: “The basis of peace is for people to understand the pain of others.”
With all the reading I thought I’d done I should have known the word hibakusha and its pronunciation but I didn’t. I do now.
This was not easy reading or particularly wise bedtime reading, but it was worth it. It’s excellent, powerfully told, incredibly well researched. It’s the perfect mix of history & biography. The research done was extensive. The personal stories, while heartbreaking, were also inspiring, and made the history perfectly come to life.
I felt such a mix of emotions as I read, mostly painful ones.
I think that the author’s choice to present the account(s) chronologically is brilliant, and I was glad to be introduced to the main people covered, with a bit of their histories too, at the time of the bombing, all ages 13 to 18 years old. The reader eventually sees why these five people in particular were chosen to follow. Many of their stories were heartbreaking, even prior to the bomb.
The five main people, for all their suffering, were strong and successful survivors, and many other specific people are more than mentioned too, but I couldn’t help thinking of all the unknown people killed outright, died as a result, or were otherwise affected, and remain anonymous.
This is a book that made me think, a lot. I wished I could talk to/tell my father, who parroted back the American government/military propaganda about the necessity/right choice of dropping the atomic bombs. I think he would have wanted to know the truth. Also, while there are lots of inspiring actions that were done, good people working for others as well as for themselves after the bombing, but my faith in human nature didn’t improve. Even in this instance, the activists fought for people’s rights only because they’d been personally affected. While laudable, I didn’t see too much involvement from people who hadn’t been involved in some way. I just kept thinking that this world is a horrible place for those who are alone, sick/injured, poor. It’s just one more historical/current instance where this seems true.
I really appreciated the maps (I always love maps in books) and one of the maps has information that wouldn’t easily be found on the internet as is, and I frequently referred to it.
I loved all the included photographs, with the people and places shown at different time periods.
The notes are much more interesting and well organized, by topic, than in most books, and are well worth reading.
I want all military leaders and world leaders and scientists and anyone with any power to read this book. I’m thinking in particular of 2 leaders, but I don’t know if this book has been translated into Korean and the other one doesn’t read, even briefs for work, and I don’t know if either care at all about other people, but all I know is that anyone who ever suggests for any reason the use of nuclear weapons should never be in a position of power to use them.
Even though I know the Contents page can likely be found online, many will not check it out, and reading it gives a good idea of the book’s contents & presentation, and its rigorous research, so:
Contents:
Maps viii
Preface vi
A Note on Japanese Names and Terms xix
Prologue 1
Chapter 1: Convergence 7
Chapter 2: Flashpoint 41
Chapter 3: Embers 65
Chapter 4: Exposed 96
Chapter 5: Time Suspended 131
Chapter 6: Emergence 164
Chapter 7: Afterlife 203
Chapter 8: Against Forgetting 236
Chapter 9: Gaman 273
Acknowledgments 303
Notes 307
Hibakusha Sources and Selected Bibiography 349
Index 373 (book ends on page 389)
With all the reading I thought I’d done I should have known the word hibakusha and its pronunciation but I didn’t. I do now.
This was not easy reading or particularly wise bedtime reading, but it was worth it. It’s excellent, powerfully told, incredibly well researched. It’s the perfect mix of history & biography. The research done was extensive. The personal stories, while heartbreaking, were also inspiring, and made the history perfectly come to life.
I felt such a mix of emotions as I read, mostly painful ones.
I think that the author’s choice to present the account(s) chronologically is brilliant, and I was glad to be introduced to the main people covered, with a bit of their histories too, at the time of the bombing, all ages 13 to 18 years old. The reader eventually sees why these five people in particular were chosen to follow. Many of their stories were heartbreaking, even prior to the bomb.
The five main people, for all their suffering, were strong and successful survivors, and many other specific people are more than mentioned too, but I couldn’t help thinking of all the unknown people killed outright, died as a result, or were otherwise affected, and remain anonymous.
This is a book that made me think, a lot. I wished I could talk to/tell my father, who parroted back the American government/military propaganda about the necessity/right choice of dropping the atomic bombs. I think he would have wanted to know the truth. Also, while there are lots of inspiring actions that were done, good people working for others as well as for themselves after the bombing, but my faith in human nature didn’t improve. Even in this instance, the activists fought for people’s rights only because they’d been personally affected. While laudable, I didn’t see too much involvement from people who hadn’t been involved in some way. I just kept thinking that this world is a horrible place for those who are alone, sick/injured, poor. It’s just one more historical/current instance where this seems true.
I really appreciated the maps (I always love maps in books) and one of the maps has information that wouldn’t easily be found on the internet as is, and I frequently referred to it.
I loved all the included photographs, with the people and places shown at different time periods.
The notes are much more interesting and well organized, by topic, than in most books, and are well worth reading.
I want all military leaders and world leaders and scientists and anyone with any power to read this book. I’m thinking in particular of 2 leaders, but I don’t know if this book has been translated into Korean and the other one doesn’t read, even briefs for work, and I don’t know if either care at all about other people, but all I know is that anyone who ever suggests for any reason the use of nuclear weapons should never be in a position of power to use them.
Even though I know the Contents page can likely be found online, many will not check it out, and reading it gives a good idea of the book’s contents & presentation, and its rigorous research, so:
Contents:
Maps viii
Preface vi
A Note on Japanese Names and Terms xix
Prologue 1
Chapter 1: Convergence 7
Chapter 2: Flashpoint 41
Chapter 3: Embers 65
Chapter 4: Exposed 96
Chapter 5: Time Suspended 131
Chapter 6: Emergence 164
Chapter 7: Afterlife 203
Chapter 8: Against Forgetting 236
Chapter 9: Gaman 273
Acknowledgments 303
Notes 307
Hibakusha Sources and Selected Bibiography 349
Index 373 (book ends on page 389)
August 26, 2016
The author of this pretty amazing book, Susan Southard, spent twelve years in the researching and writing and was a student of mine in the MFA program at Antioch University in Los Angeles. Susan told me she started the MFA because she knew she needed more skills in order to write about Nagasaki. That seemed so focused and so smart. She and I actually worked together for about six months on another writing project of hers—which was also compelling and which I hope and expect to see in print someday. Last June, she came to Antioch as a guest speaker and we were able to sit by the funny little water fountain on campus and talk for over an hour.
Susan is just a lovely person. She’s generous and compassionate and thoughtful—and I will also use the word gentle, an adjective we don’t often hear in today’s world, which is more typically fast and edgy and ironic and vibrant and loud.
It’s interesting, then, the forged steel in Nagasaki, the detailed descriptions of what happened in that attack and of the consequences. This book is about American history, and world history, and about the future, too. We should all know these facts and this story. What a gift that Susan has done this work and brought this to us.
Susan is just a lovely person. She’s generous and compassionate and thoughtful—and I will also use the word gentle, an adjective we don’t often hear in today’s world, which is more typically fast and edgy and ironic and vibrant and loud.
It’s interesting, then, the forged steel in Nagasaki, the detailed descriptions of what happened in that attack and of the consequences. This book is about American history, and world history, and about the future, too. We should all know these facts and this story. What a gift that Susan has done this work and brought this to us.
July 7, 2015
Won this book in a goodreads giveaway.
This is both a depressing and exhilarating read. Depressing for what really happened: the event itself, the horrific aftermath, the fact that so much was hidden or minimized for so many years. Exhilarating for the fact that the few who did survive were able to step forward with their stories, with data and facts, with photos and physical proof on the true consequences of nuclear weaponry.
The book is loaded with facts; it has been highly and well-researched. The writing can often be dry, but there is so much information about Nagasaki - the event, the aftermath, the rebuilding, the repercussions which continue to the current day - how can it be otherwise? However, the writer also includes the personal testimonies and history of five survivors. I've heard it said that when an individual is used 'as an example' that we humans can better relate to him or her, and to what happened. It's the difference between creating a historical record which is dull and even sleep-inducing (for some) to one that suddenly has life breathed into it. This book has that breath of life...
Because these are and were real people, with families, jobs, personalities, wishes and desires, and futures - futures which were horrifically and with startling intensity - obliterated.
Can not say enough about the human impact here. We might think we know it all until we read something like this and then we realize we know almost nothing. I was brought up to believe that the two bombs dropped on Japan helped to end the war, and to prevent the deaths of millions of soldiers and even, other Japanese citizens. This book does not wholly dispel that fact, but by reading it one might arrive at a completely different conclusion.
This is both a depressing and exhilarating read. Depressing for what really happened: the event itself, the horrific aftermath, the fact that so much was hidden or minimized for so many years. Exhilarating for the fact that the few who did survive were able to step forward with their stories, with data and facts, with photos and physical proof on the true consequences of nuclear weaponry.
The book is loaded with facts; it has been highly and well-researched. The writing can often be dry, but there is so much information about Nagasaki - the event, the aftermath, the rebuilding, the repercussions which continue to the current day - how can it be otherwise? However, the writer also includes the personal testimonies and history of five survivors. I've heard it said that when an individual is used 'as an example' that we humans can better relate to him or her, and to what happened. It's the difference between creating a historical record which is dull and even sleep-inducing (for some) to one that suddenly has life breathed into it. This book has that breath of life...
Because these are and were real people, with families, jobs, personalities, wishes and desires, and futures - futures which were horrifically and with startling intensity - obliterated.
Can not say enough about the human impact here. We might think we know it all until we read something like this and then we realize we know almost nothing. I was brought up to believe that the two bombs dropped on Japan helped to end the war, and to prevent the deaths of millions of soldiers and even, other Japanese citizens. This book does not wholly dispel that fact, but by reading it one might arrive at a completely different conclusion.
Want to read
October 19, 2018“If you're thinking about 'aftermath' and the hibakusha, then this offers some insights on that. ” - my brand-new super-cool friend Mimi. Thank you Mimi! I was thinking about the first thing, and I plan to be interested in the second thing as soon as I figure out what it is.
February 19, 2016
Not just the story of the bomb and its immediate aftermath, but what happened after. Southard follows six different survivors who were teenagers at the time of the bomb, through their terrible injuries and recoveries, and their lives as bomb survivors. Although there was a lot of stigma around this status as survivors, they became speakers and activists (some soon after, some not until they were quite old).
Interspersed with these personal stories is a larger narrative of the city and the moral legacy of the bomb's use. How Nagasaki revitalized after the war, the survivors' ongoing physical problems, the creation of peace parks and memorials, the question of whether the US or the Japanese government should help survivors with their medical treatment. It was thought that if the US did this, it would be admitting culpability, which they did not want to do. The US's position was mostly that the bombs had to be used to end the war, and veterans' groups highlighted the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor as a justification. I appreciated having all the historical context.
She also mentions in the book that lots of Americans don't know about the atomic bombings, or if they do, they only know about Hiroshima. This blows my mind, though in retrospect I suppose I had a leg up, being the child of an anti-nuclear activist in the early 80s. There was never a time when I didn't know about the existence of these weapons.
Interspersed with these personal stories is a larger narrative of the city and the moral legacy of the bomb's use. How Nagasaki revitalized after the war, the survivors' ongoing physical problems, the creation of peace parks and memorials, the question of whether the US or the Japanese government should help survivors with their medical treatment. It was thought that if the US did this, it would be admitting culpability, which they did not want to do. The US's position was mostly that the bombs had to be used to end the war, and veterans' groups highlighted the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor as a justification. I appreciated having all the historical context.
She also mentions in the book that lots of Americans don't know about the atomic bombings, or if they do, they only know about Hiroshima. This blows my mind, though in retrospect I suppose I had a leg up, being the child of an anti-nuclear activist in the early 80s. There was never a time when I didn't know about the existence of these weapons.
September 1, 2015
Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War is a haunting account of the second atomic bomb to fall on a civilian populace. As the title implies, this book goes far beyond the events of August 9, 1945, though it is in the initial weeks and months after the bombing that the story of Nagasaki is most gripping. Southard has clearly devoted significant time and energy researching the bombing, but she does an admirable job keeping her personal feelings from clouding her narrative.
A book that removes the layers of shame, pride, and decades of censorship, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War takes a fresh look at the bomb that “ended the war.” As seventy years have passed and survivors of nuclear war are dwindling, I think it is time we approach the subject with a fresh perspective and asks ourselves if we really want to do this ever again.
A book that removes the layers of shame, pride, and decades of censorship, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War takes a fresh look at the bomb that “ended the war.” As seventy years have passed and survivors of nuclear war are dwindling, I think it is time we approach the subject with a fresh perspective and asks ourselves if we really want to do this ever again.
August 17, 2015
Terrible truth.
December 5, 2019
Mothers and fathers searched for their children at schools, factories, and shelters throughout the area, but facial burns and swelling rendered people so unrecognizable that many parents could only identify their sons or daughters by reading the ID tags on their school uniforms. Fortunate families were overwhelmed with gratitude when a loved one returned. When one mother burst out shouting and crying with happiness when her daughter finally came home, a military policeman rebuked her loudly: “Such effeminate behavior has caused Japan to be defeated!” — page 59
Nagasaki often falls in the atomic shadow of Hiroshima, and many people don't know or remember that a second atomic bomb was dropped on August 9th, 1945 before Japan finally surrendered. Estimates of those killed in Nagasaki vary from 35,000 to 75,000, mostly civilians. Many of those not killed immediately suffered the effects of radiation later in their lives. Susan Southard presents the stories of the hibakusha (pronounced hee-bakh-sha), or those who survived the bombing, and focuses on a handful who became anti-nuclear weapon activists. She documents their lives from before the war to their deaths and the present day, along with the changes that have occurred in the city.
The occupation troops did not turn out to be violent and cruel as the Japanese people had been indoctrinated to believe.... Children, in particular, were enamored with the American soldiers, who played hopscotch and catch with them, and offered them chewing gum, chocolate, and milk, exotic treats that were otherwise unattainable in the months after the war’s end. — page 117
This is a very important chronicle of the aftermath of nuclear war, focusing on the last atomic bomb ever used in a war. And yet, I waver between 3 and 4 stars because of the omnipresent bias in the book. Southard tells us that “Americans’ perceptions of the atomic bombings are infused with inaccurate assumptions” because of brainwashing propaganda. She believes that American understanding is limited because of “fury over Pearl Harbor, Japan’s mistreatment and killings of Allied POWs, and its slaughter of civilians across Asia....” Southard, however, believes she is “compelled by a greater understanding of these historical influences,” and because of her travels she possesses a clearer view of the history. She relies on histories written in the 60s to base her argument that the people of Nagasaki were “violated by my country.”
And while I'm tempted to refute the points I disagree with (after all, I have my own feelings based upon what I've read on the subject), I don't have the time or inclination and will instead humbly agree with Ms. Southard that war is a terrible tragedy and I'm profoundly sorry for those who were affected by these events. And because I believe her book has merit, I'll round up to 4 stars for my review and recommend it to any who are interested in the subject.
Nagasaki often falls in the atomic shadow of Hiroshima, and many people don't know or remember that a second atomic bomb was dropped on August 9th, 1945 before Japan finally surrendered. Estimates of those killed in Nagasaki vary from 35,000 to 75,000, mostly civilians. Many of those not killed immediately suffered the effects of radiation later in their lives. Susan Southard presents the stories of the hibakusha (pronounced hee-bakh-sha), or those who survived the bombing, and focuses on a handful who became anti-nuclear weapon activists. She documents their lives from before the war to their deaths and the present day, along with the changes that have occurred in the city.
The occupation troops did not turn out to be violent and cruel as the Japanese people had been indoctrinated to believe.... Children, in particular, were enamored with the American soldiers, who played hopscotch and catch with them, and offered them chewing gum, chocolate, and milk, exotic treats that were otherwise unattainable in the months after the war’s end. — page 117
This is a very important chronicle of the aftermath of nuclear war, focusing on the last atomic bomb ever used in a war. And yet, I waver between 3 and 4 stars because of the omnipresent bias in the book. Southard tells us that “Americans’ perceptions of the atomic bombings are infused with inaccurate assumptions” because of brainwashing propaganda. She believes that American understanding is limited because of “fury over Pearl Harbor, Japan’s mistreatment and killings of Allied POWs, and its slaughter of civilians across Asia....” Southard, however, believes she is “compelled by a greater understanding of these historical influences,” and because of her travels she possesses a clearer view of the history. She relies on histories written in the 60s to base her argument that the people of Nagasaki were “violated by my country.”
And while I'm tempted to refute the points I disagree with (after all, I have my own feelings based upon what I've read on the subject), I don't have the time or inclination and will instead humbly agree with Ms. Southard that war is a terrible tragedy and I'm profoundly sorry for those who were affected by these events. And because I believe her book has merit, I'll round up to 4 stars for my review and recommend it to any who are interested in the subject.
August 14, 2015
Summary: This was a difficult book to read, but incredibly well written and worthwhile.
I hoped to write a review of this book on August 9th, the 70th anniversary of the day an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Unfortunately, life interfered, but this horrific event still deserves to be remembered today. Drawing on extensive interviews, the author is able to share the stories of five survivors, from the time of the bombing through the present. She also places their personal stories in the greater historical context, both leading up to the decision to use the atomic bomb and following the way the decision was presented afterwards.
This was just as difficult a read as you might expect. The author related the survivors' stories compassionately and without sensationalism, but the truth alone was hard to bear. The author is unflinching in her portrayal of the survivors' suffering. Injuries are described explicitly and there are several black and white pictures. I think the author's decision to include this unforgettable documentation of the effects of the atomic bomb was the right one. Although there is debate about the necessity of dropping even one atomic bomb, much less a second one, I think the utility is irrelevant. After reading this book, I can't convince myself that using a weapon that will inevitably inflict unimaginable injuries on children could ever be justified. Not even to save the lives of soldiers.
The author does an incredible job putting this event and the survivors' stories in a larger context. She clearly explains the decision-making process leading up to the use of the bomb. She also focuses a critical gaze on the way the bombing was portrayed or hidden by American and Japanese governments. The author showed where each individual's' story fit into this narrative and where their stories intersected one another. A map showing important locations made it easy to follow a long, complex narrative. This was a very well written book, but I recommend it most highly as a learning experience. This is a terrible event that we should all understand fully in order to make informed decisions in the future.
Do you read books that you know will include situations that are hard to hear about? Do you have any topics you always avoid?
This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
I hoped to write a review of this book on August 9th, the 70th anniversary of the day an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Unfortunately, life interfered, but this horrific event still deserves to be remembered today. Drawing on extensive interviews, the author is able to share the stories of five survivors, from the time of the bombing through the present. She also places their personal stories in the greater historical context, both leading up to the decision to use the atomic bomb and following the way the decision was presented afterwards.
This was just as difficult a read as you might expect. The author related the survivors' stories compassionately and without sensationalism, but the truth alone was hard to bear. The author is unflinching in her portrayal of the survivors' suffering. Injuries are described explicitly and there are several black and white pictures. I think the author's decision to include this unforgettable documentation of the effects of the atomic bomb was the right one. Although there is debate about the necessity of dropping even one atomic bomb, much less a second one, I think the utility is irrelevant. After reading this book, I can't convince myself that using a weapon that will inevitably inflict unimaginable injuries on children could ever be justified. Not even to save the lives of soldiers.
The author does an incredible job putting this event and the survivors' stories in a larger context. She clearly explains the decision-making process leading up to the use of the bomb. She also focuses a critical gaze on the way the bombing was portrayed or hidden by American and Japanese governments. The author showed where each individual's' story fit into this narrative and where their stories intersected one another. A map showing important locations made it easy to follow a long, complex narrative. This was a very well written book, but I recommend it most highly as a learning experience. This is a terrible event that we should all understand fully in order to make informed decisions in the future.
Do you read books that you know will include situations that are hard to hear about? Do you have any topics you always avoid?
This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
August 22, 2015
The remaining survivors of the nuclear bomb attacks at Hiroshima and Nagasaki are dwindling. The author has done a very good job of weaving the history of the attack at Nagasaki with the stories of five survivors. Although the subject is difficult and sad, I think it's important that we don't forget what happened there and why. The historical record after 70 years is showing that the bombs were used with little understanding of the devastation they would cause, and that the usual U.S. defense of saying that their use was needed to save thousands of American lives was not necessarily true. The peace activities of the survivors are inspiring. An important book.
June 17, 2022
If there is a book that shows just how devastating a nuclear bomb is, read this book.
You will read about the town that was before the explosion, during the explosion, and after.
The town of Nagaski was rebuilt, but the devastation continues. In the form of cancers and other illnesses that no one ever considered nor were they aware of what would really happen when the bomb was detenated.
The survivors were shunned and hid in their homes for years. But two brave people stepped out of their homes and decided the best thing they could do was demonstrate that they were just people, who were disfigured but the explosion but still human.
They made it their mission to try to end the manufacture and use of nuclear bombs by showing the world what had happened to them and thousands of others.
The US refused to help or share medical records that could have helped millions.
It remains one of the shameful ways that the US experimented on people for our benefit.
With the nations arming themselves with more nuclear weapons as I write this if we can't find so way to stop this madness, we as a race of people may live to regret that the first bomb was ever built. The only reason to build these weapons is to wipe out millions of people.
You will read about the town that was before the explosion, during the explosion, and after.
The town of Nagaski was rebuilt, but the devastation continues. In the form of cancers and other illnesses that no one ever considered nor were they aware of what would really happen when the bomb was detenated.
The survivors were shunned and hid in their homes for years. But two brave people stepped out of their homes and decided the best thing they could do was demonstrate that they were just people, who were disfigured but the explosion but still human.
They made it their mission to try to end the manufacture and use of nuclear bombs by showing the world what had happened to them and thousands of others.
The US refused to help or share medical records that could have helped millions.
It remains one of the shameful ways that the US experimented on people for our benefit.
With the nations arming themselves with more nuclear weapons as I write this if we can't find so way to stop this madness, we as a race of people may live to regret that the first bomb was ever built. The only reason to build these weapons is to wipe out millions of people.
October 1, 2015
Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War was an incredibly engaging read. Utterly heart-wrenching, filled to the brim with facts and information which is never included or talked about in the American education system. There's a profound amount of ignorance among the American population about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which Southard addresses later in her work. If it is mentioned, it's only to say that the bombing of those two cities ended World War II, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
The truth is endlessly more complicated.
I was luckier than some, because my mother gave me the classic Hiroshima to read when I was in 7th grade. Before that, as far as I'd thought, the war had ended with the planes carrying the atomic bombs being loaded up and flying off into the sunset. To say I felt shocked and devastated afterwards was an understatement. I still remember asking my dad "What we did was wrong, wasn't it?" to which he replied "Yes, it was terrible. But it would've been so much worse otherwise."
It wasn't willful disacknowledgment on his part, but what he had been taught: what the American government said and made sure was presented in the days afterward, as, despite its best efforts, the truth of the hell that they had unleashed came out.
Told with the utmost respect from the perspectives of five different hibakusha (survivors of the bomb), who Southard interviewed over the course of many years, this book details the lives of the survivors: before, during, and after the bomb; the long, agonizing recovery, both for themselves and the city of Nagasaki. I'd consider this to be a must read for anyone with any interest in modern history, as well as those with any concern that we forget what we have done, and not learn for the horrific mistakes of our past.
The truth is endlessly more complicated.
I was luckier than some, because my mother gave me the classic Hiroshima to read when I was in 7th grade. Before that, as far as I'd thought, the war had ended with the planes carrying the atomic bombs being loaded up and flying off into the sunset. To say I felt shocked and devastated afterwards was an understatement. I still remember asking my dad "What we did was wrong, wasn't it?" to which he replied "Yes, it was terrible. But it would've been so much worse otherwise."
It wasn't willful disacknowledgment on his part, but what he had been taught: what the American government said and made sure was presented in the days afterward, as, despite its best efforts, the truth of the hell that they had unleashed came out.
Told with the utmost respect from the perspectives of five different hibakusha (survivors of the bomb), who Southard interviewed over the course of many years, this book details the lives of the survivors: before, during, and after the bomb; the long, agonizing recovery, both for themselves and the city of Nagasaki. I'd consider this to be a must read for anyone with any interest in modern history, as well as those with any concern that we forget what we have done, and not learn for the horrific mistakes of our past.
July 12, 2020
This is a harrowing and emotional journey into the lives of Nagasaki atomic bomb victims (hibakusha). Susan Southard details the terrifying moment the nuclear bomb exploded over the city, its immediate aftermath and the long term repercussions of the attacks.
January 26, 2022
It feels very strange to rate this book so highly when it made me about as angry as a book has ever made me. Straightforwardly, the narrative is excellent, the research impeccable, and the stories that the book contains are beyond horrifying. This is a monumentally important book, filled with compassion and facts -- no matter how uncomfortable these facts might be. Southard is a remarkable author, because how on earth she managed to present these facts neutrally, without letting any of the anger that anyone would feel reading about this slip in, I have no idea. There is no agenda here; no pointing of fingers. She simply states the facts, but she does not have to embellish. They speak for themselves.
The book made me angry because of these facts. I began it knowing the basics about what happened in Nagasaki, but not too much about the Pacific War aside from the stand-out incidents. Therefore, I wondered if I might be missing something when it came to the subject of America's decision to nuke Japan. Surely something catastrophic must have happened to make them use such terrible force, right? Well... no. Even after reading everything laid out before me, I cannot understand why this happened. Of course, there are plenty of potential reasons, but this book cuts through them like butter. The estimated figure of the "millions of lives" that were saved by dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are now widely understood to be grossly exaggerated and not based in fact. That Japan was on the verge of surrending even before the bomb is irrefutable. The only thing that is consistent is the question of Pearl Harbor -- to the extent that when these survivors from Nagasaki speak in American schools, as late as the 90s and 00s, they still get asked by students: "But what about Pearl Harbor?"
That the nuclear attack on Japan was a) revenge for Pearl Harbor and b) a case of morbid curiosity has always been my opinion, but now I cannot believe how accurate it is. Pearl Harbor was a tragedy, as is all war, but it was also a military base in a time of war. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilian towns. Yes, Japan dealt the opening blow -- but on a legitimate military target, with the intention of going to war. Do I support this? No. I am intensely anti-war. But only an idiot wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the attack on an enemy base with the intention of going to war, military to military, and the nuclear bombing of two civilian cities. An enemy military attacking the citizens of a country and openly massacring them is a war crime. Yet America clings to its lies and insists it was necessary and that it was justified. A huge part of this justification is Japan's own atrocities in the Second World War -- atrocities that are well known, and that there are no excuses for. But nearly one thousand of these war criminals were brought to trial and executed after Japan's surrender. Nobody who committed those atrocities was in Hiroshima or Nagasaki those mornings. And the civilians who lived there, who were victims of their own government, had nothing to do with this war. Yes, there were "legitimate" targets in Nagasaki; places where munitions and weapons were built. Bombing these places, with regular devices, would be a legitimate war tactic. But nuking an entire city? There is no excuse. There is no excuse at all.
America's response to these attacks, and the disgusting way it manipulated research and censored Japanese findings, further backs up the fact that this was all about seeing what happened. The Americans had these new bombs and they were desperate to find out what they could do. The Japanese, after years of racist propaganda depicting them as sub-human, were a convenient target. In the aftermath of the bombing, American research into long-term effects of full-body radiation exposure was frantic. They knew nothing about their own weapon. If I am to be as charitable as possible, I would say that they had no idea that it would be this bad, and they were horrified at what they had done. When you make such a catastrophic error, all you can do is double down on how right it was -- you'd go insane otherwise. I remain convinced that deep down, everyone involved with this quickly realised how completely evil it was, and instead of facing the facts -- the consequences of their own weapons, which they willingly used -- they decided to be cowards, and to convince themselves they were righteous, and to deny the reality of the suffering they inflicting upon civilians. The American thinking in the aftermath of these attacks was delusional. To use a few quotes that have stuck with me:
I cannot describe to you how fucking insane a person has to be to murder tens of thousands of civilians and doom countless others to lifetimes of suffering and premature death, and then say it was a gift given by God and that God wants them to use nukes for His purposes. I am going absolutely fucking insane.
This person stood up in front of the Senate, under oath, and swore that dying of radiation exposure -- universally agreed to be the most horrific way to die on the planet -- was "very pleasant".
There is no justifying this. There is no justifying any of it. Is this a typical review for a book? No. The book is good; the book is excellent; you need to read it. But be prepared to be angrier than you've been in a long time. This is the story of an absolute atrocity, and the constant attempts by America to justify it are riddled through right until the time of the book's writing. Veterans blocked an exhibition about these bombings because it made Japan look too sympathetic -- first they insisted that Japan's own atrocities be described in the same exhibit, and when that still wasn't enough, so they kicked off until it was cancelled. I have to ask why they want Japan's atrocities there, alongside this? But we know the answer -- the subtle implication that Japan deserved it. That because of the atrocities committed by their military, these civilian men, women, and children deserved to die and suffer in perhaps the worst way imaginable to humans.
And if anybody wants to argue about this, don't waste your breath. You are not going to convince me that there is a single thing that any country can do that would result in them deserving to be nuked. There is absolutely nothing. And if you still want to defend the use of these weapons with those outdated numbers and lies, or deny the scope of damage and suffering that has been proven beyond all doubt, I'll leave the final words to a veteran of the war, Dell Herndon:
The book made me angry because of these facts. I began it knowing the basics about what happened in Nagasaki, but not too much about the Pacific War aside from the stand-out incidents. Therefore, I wondered if I might be missing something when it came to the subject of America's decision to nuke Japan. Surely something catastrophic must have happened to make them use such terrible force, right? Well... no. Even after reading everything laid out before me, I cannot understand why this happened. Of course, there are plenty of potential reasons, but this book cuts through them like butter. The estimated figure of the "millions of lives" that were saved by dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are now widely understood to be grossly exaggerated and not based in fact. That Japan was on the verge of surrending even before the bomb is irrefutable. The only thing that is consistent is the question of Pearl Harbor -- to the extent that when these survivors from Nagasaki speak in American schools, as late as the 90s and 00s, they still get asked by students: "But what about Pearl Harbor?"
That the nuclear attack on Japan was a) revenge for Pearl Harbor and b) a case of morbid curiosity has always been my opinion, but now I cannot believe how accurate it is. Pearl Harbor was a tragedy, as is all war, but it was also a military base in a time of war. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilian towns. Yes, Japan dealt the opening blow -- but on a legitimate military target, with the intention of going to war. Do I support this? No. I am intensely anti-war. But only an idiot wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the attack on an enemy base with the intention of going to war, military to military, and the nuclear bombing of two civilian cities. An enemy military attacking the citizens of a country and openly massacring them is a war crime. Yet America clings to its lies and insists it was necessary and that it was justified. A huge part of this justification is Japan's own atrocities in the Second World War -- atrocities that are well known, and that there are no excuses for. But nearly one thousand of these war criminals were brought to trial and executed after Japan's surrender. Nobody who committed those atrocities was in Hiroshima or Nagasaki those mornings. And the civilians who lived there, who were victims of their own government, had nothing to do with this war. Yes, there were "legitimate" targets in Nagasaki; places where munitions and weapons were built. Bombing these places, with regular devices, would be a legitimate war tactic. But nuking an entire city? There is no excuse. There is no excuse at all.
America's response to these attacks, and the disgusting way it manipulated research and censored Japanese findings, further backs up the fact that this was all about seeing what happened. The Americans had these new bombs and they were desperate to find out what they could do. The Japanese, after years of racist propaganda depicting them as sub-human, were a convenient target. In the aftermath of the bombing, American research into long-term effects of full-body radiation exposure was frantic. They knew nothing about their own weapon. If I am to be as charitable as possible, I would say that they had no idea that it would be this bad, and they were horrified at what they had done. When you make such a catastrophic error, all you can do is double down on how right it was -- you'd go insane otherwise. I remain convinced that deep down, everyone involved with this quickly realised how completely evil it was, and instead of facing the facts -- the consequences of their own weapons, which they willingly used -- they decided to be cowards, and to convince themselves they were righteous, and to deny the reality of the suffering they inflicting upon civilians. The American thinking in the aftermath of these attacks was delusional. To use a few quotes that have stuck with me:
[President Truman] also made a short statement about the United States' duty with regard to atomic weapons: "We must constitute ourselves trustees of this new force -- to prevent its misuse, and to turn it into the channels of service for mankind," he said. "It is an awful responsibility that has come to us. We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.
I cannot describe to you how fucking insane a person has to be to murder tens of thousands of civilians and doom countless others to lifetimes of suffering and premature death, and then say it was a gift given by God and that God wants them to use nukes for His purposes. I am going absolutely fucking insane.
In combination with censorship of the Japanese media, most reports about the human impact of the bombs were effectively suspended in both Japan and the United States. Later that year, General Groves testified before the U.S. Senate that death from high-dose radiation exposure is "without undue suffering" and "a very pleasant way to die."
This person stood up in front of the Senate, under oath, and swore that dying of radiation exposure -- universally agreed to be the most horrific way to die on the planet -- was "very pleasant".
There is no justifying this. There is no justifying any of it. Is this a typical review for a book? No. The book is good; the book is excellent; you need to read it. But be prepared to be angrier than you've been in a long time. This is the story of an absolute atrocity, and the constant attempts by America to justify it are riddled through right until the time of the book's writing. Veterans blocked an exhibition about these bombings because it made Japan look too sympathetic -- first they insisted that Japan's own atrocities be described in the same exhibit, and when that still wasn't enough, so they kicked off until it was cancelled. I have to ask why they want Japan's atrocities there, alongside this? But we know the answer -- the subtle implication that Japan deserved it. That because of the atrocities committed by their military, these civilian men, women, and children deserved to die and suffer in perhaps the worst way imaginable to humans.
And if anybody wants to argue about this, don't waste your breath. You are not going to convince me that there is a single thing that any country can do that would result in them deserving to be nuked. There is absolutely nothing. And if you still want to defend the use of these weapons with those outdated numbers and lies, or deny the scope of damage and suffering that has been proven beyond all doubt, I'll leave the final words to a veteran of the war, Dell Herndon:
"Even if it is true that the atomic bombings saved thousands of Americans, it is our patriotic duty to acknowledge the results of those bombs."
January 13, 2019
Books like Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War are why I read non-fiction: throughly researched cohesive narratives giving perspectives into lives or experiences of others that would otherwise be inaccessible to me.
In Nagasaki, Southard presents the story of the atomic bomb which hit the city in August 1945, as told from the experience of 5 locals who were children or teenagers at the time. There is some pre-amble giving context about the war which was helpful if, like me, it has been years since you learnt about it at school and are foggy on the details. We then go onto follow the five in the aftermath of the bomb, up until the present day.
The balance between facts and personal experiences is handled well, and while this took me almost a week to read it never felt like a slog. Although it's early days I'm sure this will be one of the best non-fiction books I read in 2019.
In Nagasaki, Southard presents the story of the atomic bomb which hit the city in August 1945, as told from the experience of 5 locals who were children or teenagers at the time. There is some pre-amble giving context about the war which was helpful if, like me, it has been years since you learnt about it at school and are foggy on the details. We then go onto follow the five in the aftermath of the bomb, up until the present day.
The balance between facts and personal experiences is handled well, and while this took me almost a week to read it never felt like a slog. Although it's early days I'm sure this will be one of the best non-fiction books I read in 2019.
June 27, 2022
Unreal first 150 pages, but unfortunately it got real slow.
January 30, 2024
I really did not want to read this, because it looked depressing, but my dear spouse gave it to me for Christmas, and, in addition to being a very kind person, she is also a book lover.
So I read it. And it was actually quite good. Not nearly as depressing as I had feared and a much more interesting read than I had imagined. The first one-third is the moment-by-moment tracing of the personal experiences of a handful of kids who were in Nagasaki on the day of, and the days after, they dropped the A-bomb. Their experiences are interspersed with the US and Japanese government discussions around surrender.
The second third of the book describes the long recovery of these kids, over the first ten years after the bomb, as they grew into adults, the attempts by local doctors and foreign journalists to study and report on the radiological effects of the atomic bomb, and the US Army and Executive Branch attempts to cut off any investigation or reporting, and justify their decision to use such a weapon. Starting in 1946, the U.S. government starts a medical program to study the effects of the bomb by examining the surviving victims, and it is (at least initially) creepy as hell.
By the last third of the book, the Japanese government has finally given in to the multitude of requests for medical assistance. Through all this the narrative continues to follow the lives of the five persons, now grown, as they cope with their injuries and medical problems long term. Eventually, although painful, each begins to speak publicly about their experience. It is sometimes sad, but also uplifting. They are brave souls, as are their families, and they bring a good message.
Note: I visited the A-bomb museum in Hiroshima at age 12, more than 45 years ago. The shock of that visit remains with me to this day.
So I read it. And it was actually quite good. Not nearly as depressing as I had feared and a much more interesting read than I had imagined. The first one-third is the moment-by-moment tracing of the personal experiences of a handful of kids who were in Nagasaki on the day of, and the days after, they dropped the A-bomb. Their experiences are interspersed with the US and Japanese government discussions around surrender.
The second third of the book describes the long recovery of these kids, over the first ten years after the bomb, as they grew into adults, the attempts by local doctors and foreign journalists to study and report on the radiological effects of the atomic bomb, and the US Army and Executive Branch attempts to cut off any investigation or reporting, and justify their decision to use such a weapon. Starting in 1946, the U.S. government starts a medical program to study the effects of the bomb by examining the surviving victims, and it is (at least initially) creepy as hell.
By the last third of the book, the Japanese government has finally given in to the multitude of requests for medical assistance. Through all this the narrative continues to follow the lives of the five persons, now grown, as they cope with their injuries and medical problems long term. Eventually, although painful, each begins to speak publicly about their experience. It is sometimes sad, but also uplifting. They are brave souls, as are their families, and they bring a good message.
Note: I visited the A-bomb museum in Hiroshima at age 12, more than 45 years ago. The shock of that visit remains with me to this day.
July 27, 2022
Books like this are so important, because Americans are taught only that the bombs had to be dropped to end the war and were therefore good. We don’t learn of the consequences or how many civilians were killed, injured, or left with lifelong disabilities and illnesses from the fallout. If I taught world history, I would absolutely use excerpts from this book in my class, even though it would likely anger a certain demographic of parents.
November 2, 2015
Whether the politics are right or wrong, the devastation of war falls most frequently on those who are just living their lives, raising their families and worshiping their God. This book, received through Goodreads, was a nuclear bomb of words, thought provoking and emotion searing.
June 6, 2021
This is an important and excellent work. It is not for the faint of heart, but it is something that must be read.
I was shocked to learn how many people simply do not know about Nagasaki, or who have forgotten. Southard follows the stories of 5 people — hibakusha — who survived the atomic bomb dropped by the United States on August 9, 1945, through the immediate aftermath, years of recovery from their initial injuries, efforts to hide their identities, and to their separate realizations that they needed to share their stories so that “Nagasaki remain the last nuclear-bombed city in history.” (Pg 272)
Southard also debunks the “patriotic” myth that the atomic bombs were instrumental in bring the war with Japan to a swift end, and investigates how the US used hibakusha for scientific and strategic research purposes, while contributing very little to help meet their very complex medical needs.
She also does an excellent job of rendering the city of Nagasaki as a character of its own, and the sense of place in this book is very strong.
So much more could be said; more people should read this.
I was shocked to learn how many people simply do not know about Nagasaki, or who have forgotten. Southard follows the stories of 5 people — hibakusha — who survived the atomic bomb dropped by the United States on August 9, 1945, through the immediate aftermath, years of recovery from their initial injuries, efforts to hide their identities, and to their separate realizations that they needed to share their stories so that “Nagasaki remain the last nuclear-bombed city in history.” (Pg 272)
Southard also debunks the “patriotic” myth that the atomic bombs were instrumental in bring the war with Japan to a swift end, and investigates how the US used hibakusha for scientific and strategic research purposes, while contributing very little to help meet their very complex medical needs.
She also does an excellent job of rendering the city of Nagasaki as a character of its own, and the sense of place in this book is very strong.
So much more could be said; more people should read this.
April 30, 2023
Nagasaki - ennen atomipommia, sen pudotuksen hetkellä ja sen jälkeen. Teoksessa seurataan viiden selviytyjän, hibakushan, elämää ja järkyttävän kokemuksen vaikutusta niin kehoihin kuin mieliin. Millaista on maata sairaalassa vuosia, koska iho on tuhoutunut? Tai kerätä perheenjäsenten ruumiinosia maasta tuhkaamista varten? Henkilökohtaisten tarinoiden rinnalla kulkee poliittisia virtauksia, sodan jälkimaininkeja ja toive maailmasta ilman ydinaseita. Olen käynyt Nagasakissa useamman kerran ja voin sanoa, että en tule unohtamaan vierailuja kaupungin atomipommimuseoon tai muistomerkeille asetettuja täysiä vesipulloja, jotka muistuttavat uhrien janosta tuhon keskellä. Suosittelen tätä kirjaa kaikille.
September 29, 2020
3.5 Stars!
“Death from high-dose radiation exposure is “without undue suffering” and “a very pleasant way to die.””
So said General Groves as he testified before the US Senate.
“I didn’t do anything.” So said one of the young boy victims to a friend, before breathing his last breath and dying of his horrendous injuries.
Southard makes a very good point in saying that when most people talk about the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 that Hiroshima seems to take up the vast amount of conversation and attention, with it being the first. And yet an astonishing number of people died at Nagasaki. Well over 70'000 on the day, but of course for many more the real pain and suffering was only beginning, as radiation led to widespread deformities, illness and many cancers.
I had no idea that Nagasaki was Japan’s earliest Westernised city, and that it was unmatched for around four centuries leading up to WWII for its exposure to European cultures through the extensive trade which took place through its port. We learn that between 1889 and 1903 the population nearly tripled from 55,000 to 150,000, making it Japan’s seventh largest city and it eventually became the third largest ship building city in the world.
We get some gruesome and fairly in depth accounts from some of the surviving Hibakusha (the name given to the survivors of the bombs). It reminds you of the sheer will of humans to stay alive and how much pain and suffering they can endure in order to keep on living. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki heralded a new darker era of human suffering as we saw the lengths people are willing to go to in order to win a war.
By August 1945 the Allies had incinerated all or part of 64 Japanese cities and yet no sign of surrender was forthcoming, this included the firebombing of Tokyo, which alone killed over 100’000 people and left over 1 million homeless. Even after Hiroshima, there was still no surrender?...so three days later the second one was dropped and still no immediate surrender?...Not so much toxic masculinity as utter insanity, so again the Americans carried out even more bombing, killing thousands more people who didn’t need to die, until eventually the Japanese thought it was eventually time to surrender.
This mentality gives us a deep and telling insight into what America and the other nations involved in the Pacific Theatre were up against. This was beyond all reason, human life treated so cheap and disposable, mere numbers as long as Japanese honour was preserved?...It seemed astonishing that in spite of being in no position to dictate terms, the Japanese still did and even more astonishing is that the Americans indulged it. That is unforgiveable and an insult to everyone who died or suffered as a result of both country’s actions, so that after all of those years of killing, murder and misery we are left in no doubt whatsoever as to what still remained the most important priority for those in the higher echelons of Japan, to protect their emperor’s fragile little ego and the illusion of Japanese honour, even after such an overwhelming and humiliating defeat they were still in total denial in the belief it would save face and preserve respect. Hirohito got to remain in power, albeit in a far diminished sense, no war crime trial for him and he got live out a full and comfortable life until his death in 1989 at the grand old age of 87, unlike the millions who died as a result of his orders.
From Unit 731 and the Nanking Massacre to the abuse of Korean comfort women and the death railway at Kanchanaburi, Japan was a nation who was responsible for some of the most atrocious acts of the 20th Century, an army which seemed to display an almost insatiable appetite for killing and cruelty, who for more than a decade had tortured, enslaved, raped, and stolen their way across Asia and the Pacific and when they weren’t killing themselves in bizarre and idiotic ways they were killing hundreds of thousands of others in often unimaginably cruel and vindictive ways out of boredom or for pure pleasure.
This was a nation that seemed oblivious to reason, compassion or humanity as it committed a catalogue of war crimes. It was also a nation who chose to enter WWII by attacking the US on its own territory. As one American says making a great point, about it being very nice of a Japanese victim at Nagasaki no longer hating America for the atom bomb, but do they ever stop to think whether or not the victims or their families have forgiven the Japanese for Pearl Harbour?...
“Death from high-dose radiation exposure is “without undue suffering” and “a very pleasant way to die.””
So said General Groves as he testified before the US Senate.
“I didn’t do anything.” So said one of the young boy victims to a friend, before breathing his last breath and dying of his horrendous injuries.
Southard makes a very good point in saying that when most people talk about the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 that Hiroshima seems to take up the vast amount of conversation and attention, with it being the first. And yet an astonishing number of people died at Nagasaki. Well over 70'000 on the day, but of course for many more the real pain and suffering was only beginning, as radiation led to widespread deformities, illness and many cancers.
I had no idea that Nagasaki was Japan’s earliest Westernised city, and that it was unmatched for around four centuries leading up to WWII for its exposure to European cultures through the extensive trade which took place through its port. We learn that between 1889 and 1903 the population nearly tripled from 55,000 to 150,000, making it Japan’s seventh largest city and it eventually became the third largest ship building city in the world.
We get some gruesome and fairly in depth accounts from some of the surviving Hibakusha (the name given to the survivors of the bombs). It reminds you of the sheer will of humans to stay alive and how much pain and suffering they can endure in order to keep on living. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki heralded a new darker era of human suffering as we saw the lengths people are willing to go to in order to win a war.
By August 1945 the Allies had incinerated all or part of 64 Japanese cities and yet no sign of surrender was forthcoming, this included the firebombing of Tokyo, which alone killed over 100’000 people and left over 1 million homeless. Even after Hiroshima, there was still no surrender?...so three days later the second one was dropped and still no immediate surrender?...Not so much toxic masculinity as utter insanity, so again the Americans carried out even more bombing, killing thousands more people who didn’t need to die, until eventually the Japanese thought it was eventually time to surrender.
This mentality gives us a deep and telling insight into what America and the other nations involved in the Pacific Theatre were up against. This was beyond all reason, human life treated so cheap and disposable, mere numbers as long as Japanese honour was preserved?...It seemed astonishing that in spite of being in no position to dictate terms, the Japanese still did and even more astonishing is that the Americans indulged it. That is unforgiveable and an insult to everyone who died or suffered as a result of both country’s actions, so that after all of those years of killing, murder and misery we are left in no doubt whatsoever as to what still remained the most important priority for those in the higher echelons of Japan, to protect their emperor’s fragile little ego and the illusion of Japanese honour, even after such an overwhelming and humiliating defeat they were still in total denial in the belief it would save face and preserve respect. Hirohito got to remain in power, albeit in a far diminished sense, no war crime trial for him and he got live out a full and comfortable life until his death in 1989 at the grand old age of 87, unlike the millions who died as a result of his orders.
From Unit 731 and the Nanking Massacre to the abuse of Korean comfort women and the death railway at Kanchanaburi, Japan was a nation who was responsible for some of the most atrocious acts of the 20th Century, an army which seemed to display an almost insatiable appetite for killing and cruelty, who for more than a decade had tortured, enslaved, raped, and stolen their way across Asia and the Pacific and when they weren’t killing themselves in bizarre and idiotic ways they were killing hundreds of thousands of others in often unimaginably cruel and vindictive ways out of boredom or for pure pleasure.
This was a nation that seemed oblivious to reason, compassion or humanity as it committed a catalogue of war crimes. It was also a nation who chose to enter WWII by attacking the US on its own territory. As one American says making a great point, about it being very nice of a Japanese victim at Nagasaki no longer hating America for the atom bomb, but do they ever stop to think whether or not the victims or their families have forgiven the Japanese for Pearl Harbour?...
April 11, 2022
Top-shelf WWII book that easily becomes one of my favourite reads of the year even though we still have eight months to go. Read this if you need ONE book to understand the nuclear bomb and its agonizing aftermath. I love how NY Times put it "Susan Southard's harrowing descriptions give us some idea of what it must have been like for people who were unlucky enough not to be killed instantly."
Susan's journalistic style significantly contributed to the success of this book. She didn't exaggerate or play it down — her authentic narration of what had happened made us shudder about the fates of Nagasaki, which is less talked about than Hiroshima, and its people. And above all, this book is an account of Japanese gaman (我慢) (tolerance) — how they survived the unsurvivable and once again rose from the ashes.
Susan's journalistic style significantly contributed to the success of this book. She didn't exaggerate or play it down — her authentic narration of what had happened made us shudder about the fates of Nagasaki, which is less talked about than Hiroshima, and its people. And above all, this book is an account of Japanese gaman (我慢) (tolerance) — how they survived the unsurvivable and once again rose from the ashes.
July 25, 2015
*I requested this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In her preface to Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War, Susan Southard talks about living in Yokohama in high school as an international student. On a school trip, her class visited Nagasaki, and only there did she realize the lack of knowledge she had about this city's role in World War II.
As I mentioned in my Pacific War reading post, I felt (and feel) the same way. Southard - and others who write on this topic - discuss that many people do not even realize that there was a second bombing. Hiroshima was the first, and for many, it dominated the news, leaving Nagasaki to suffer quietly.
Strangely, though, Nagasaki was subjected to the more powerful of the two bombs, a plutonium bomb. Just three days after the devastation of Hiroshima, when news of the extent of the destruction had not yet reached Tokyo, the U.S. flew by its original destination because of low visibility and headed to its next target, Nagasaki.
Though some survivors of Hiroshima arrived in Nagasaki and were able to warn family and friends to wear white and lay low, the majority of the city was immune to the air raid sirens, and no siren sounded prior to the bombing. The result was utter decimation of a city, its people, and its culture.
The hibakusha, "bomb-affected people," survived against all odds. Those not initially killed suffered from flash burns, inhaled glass and other matter, and, what would soon come to be called, Disease X, or radiation disease.
As Pellegrino does, Southard illustrates the mayhem directly following the bombing, but she specifically tracks five hibakusha and their struggle to recover, both physically and mentally.
Japan was already hurting, and citizens of Nagasaki were hungry and malnourished. With little medicine and virtually no support, survivors depended on the doctors and others who worked, some ill themselves, to provide them with whatever care they could. Once Japan surrendered and MacArthur and his troops stepped in, the general's censorship left the country with little to no knowledge of the effects of the atomic bombings. The spread of misinformation to the rest of the world and America's unwillingness to treat hibakusha lest such an act look like an apology, further restricted the help available.
The unknown and terrifying effects of radiation disease made hibakusha pariahs, and many refused to leave home because the physical marks of the bombs made them easily identifiable. Later, some hibakusha were unable to obtain jobs and marriages because of their statuses, forcing many to live in silence.
Southard talks about the challenges in telling the stories of Taniguchi, Do-oh Mineko, Nagano Etsuko, Wada Koichi, and Yoshida Katsuji, acknowledging, as she says, "the inherent limitation and unreliability of memory, especially traumatic memory" and counters this through extensive research and fact checking. Photographic evidence and vivid scarring reinforce their stories, and these five travel often, speaking of their experiences and calling for an end to nuclear warfare.
Their remarkable stories and desire to speak globally for peace makes for a sobering, necessary book, yes, especially 70 years after the fact. Southard quotes Yoshida: "At first I hated Americans for what they did to me...I didn't understand how any nation could use such a cruel weapon on human beings. But in my old age, I have learned that holding a grudge does nobody any good. I no longer hate Americans. I only hate war."
Regardless of your own (hopefully) conflicted notions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War will certainly further develop a story many of us may have only seen as a mushroom cloud, illuminating those beneath it.
In her preface to Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War, Susan Southard talks about living in Yokohama in high school as an international student. On a school trip, her class visited Nagasaki, and only there did she realize the lack of knowledge she had about this city's role in World War II.
As I mentioned in my Pacific War reading post, I felt (and feel) the same way. Southard - and others who write on this topic - discuss that many people do not even realize that there was a second bombing. Hiroshima was the first, and for many, it dominated the news, leaving Nagasaki to suffer quietly.
Strangely, though, Nagasaki was subjected to the more powerful of the two bombs, a plutonium bomb. Just three days after the devastation of Hiroshima, when news of the extent of the destruction had not yet reached Tokyo, the U.S. flew by its original destination because of low visibility and headed to its next target, Nagasaki.
Though some survivors of Hiroshima arrived in Nagasaki and were able to warn family and friends to wear white and lay low, the majority of the city was immune to the air raid sirens, and no siren sounded prior to the bombing. The result was utter decimation of a city, its people, and its culture.
The hibakusha, "bomb-affected people," survived against all odds. Those not initially killed suffered from flash burns, inhaled glass and other matter, and, what would soon come to be called, Disease X, or radiation disease.
As Pellegrino does, Southard illustrates the mayhem directly following the bombing, but she specifically tracks five hibakusha and their struggle to recover, both physically and mentally.
Japan was already hurting, and citizens of Nagasaki were hungry and malnourished. With little medicine and virtually no support, survivors depended on the doctors and others who worked, some ill themselves, to provide them with whatever care they could. Once Japan surrendered and MacArthur and his troops stepped in, the general's censorship left the country with little to no knowledge of the effects of the atomic bombings. The spread of misinformation to the rest of the world and America's unwillingness to treat hibakusha lest such an act look like an apology, further restricted the help available.
The unknown and terrifying effects of radiation disease made hibakusha pariahs, and many refused to leave home because the physical marks of the bombs made them easily identifiable. Later, some hibakusha were unable to obtain jobs and marriages because of their statuses, forcing many to live in silence.
Southard talks about the challenges in telling the stories of Taniguchi, Do-oh Mineko, Nagano Etsuko, Wada Koichi, and Yoshida Katsuji, acknowledging, as she says, "the inherent limitation and unreliability of memory, especially traumatic memory" and counters this through extensive research and fact checking. Photographic evidence and vivid scarring reinforce their stories, and these five travel often, speaking of their experiences and calling for an end to nuclear warfare.
Their remarkable stories and desire to speak globally for peace makes for a sobering, necessary book, yes, especially 70 years after the fact. Southard quotes Yoshida: "At first I hated Americans for what they did to me...I didn't understand how any nation could use such a cruel weapon on human beings. But in my old age, I have learned that holding a grudge does nobody any good. I no longer hate Americans. I only hate war."
Regardless of your own (hopefully) conflicted notions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War will certainly further develop a story many of us may have only seen as a mushroom cloud, illuminating those beneath it.
December 16, 2015
My copy of this book is published by Souvenir Press with this cover from Amazon.co.uk - http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...
Nagasaki: Life after Nuclear War by Susan Southard is an amazing, heart-wrenching book.
The facts are horrendous – on August 9th 1945, two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a five-ton plutonium bomb was dropped on the small coastal town of Nagasaki. The effects were cataclysmic.
This must be one of the most devastatingly sad and depressing books I’ve read and yet also one of the most uplifting, detailing the dropping of the bomb, which killed 74,000 people and injured another 75,000. As the subtitle indicates this book is not just about the events of 9 August 1945 but it follows the lives of five of the survivors from then to the present day. And it is their accounts which make this such an emotive and uplifting book, as it shows their bravery, how they survived, and how they were eventually able to tell others about their experiences. Along with all the facts about the after effects of the bombing, the destruction, and radiation, it exposes the true horror of atomic warfare, making it an impressive and most compelling account of pain, fear, bravery and compassion.
Throughout the book the black and white photos illustrate the true horror of the effects of the bomb – photos of Nagasaki both before and after the bomb was dropped, of five survivors – Wada Kohi (aged 18 in August 1945), a street car operator; Nagano Etsuko (aged 16), who worked on a production line in a Mitsubishi airplane parts factory; Taniguchi Sumiteru (aged 16), who worked at Minchino-o Post Office; Yoshida Katsuji (aged 13), a student at Nagasaki Prefecture Technical School on a ship building course; and Do-oh Mineko (aged 15), formerly a student at Keiho Girls High School, working at the Mitsubishi Arms Factory Onashi Plant. There are also maps showing Japan today and of Nagasaki 1945 showing the Scope of Atomic Bomb Damage.
Susan Southard’s ten years of research has resulted in this impressive book as she reveals what happened in particular to these five survivors, their immediate injuries, the radiation-related cancers and illnesses they have suffered, and their difficulties of daily living still in pain both physical and emotional.
In addition to all that Nagasaki ‘reveals the censorship that kept the suffering endured by the hibakusha [atomic bomb-affected people] hidden around the world. For years after the bombings news reports and scientific research were censored by U.S. occupation forces and the U.S. government led an efficient campaign to justify the necessity and morality of dropping the bombs’ (from the jacket sleeve).
I knew a bit about Hiroshima and Nagasaki before I read this book but it has opened my eyes to the true horror of nuclear war and the need to prevent anything like this happening again.
Nagasaki: Life after Nuclear War by Susan Southard is an amazing, heart-wrenching book.
The facts are horrendous – on August 9th 1945, two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a five-ton plutonium bomb was dropped on the small coastal town of Nagasaki. The effects were cataclysmic.
This must be one of the most devastatingly sad and depressing books I’ve read and yet also one of the most uplifting, detailing the dropping of the bomb, which killed 74,000 people and injured another 75,000. As the subtitle indicates this book is not just about the events of 9 August 1945 but it follows the lives of five of the survivors from then to the present day. And it is their accounts which make this such an emotive and uplifting book, as it shows their bravery, how they survived, and how they were eventually able to tell others about their experiences. Along with all the facts about the after effects of the bombing, the destruction, and radiation, it exposes the true horror of atomic warfare, making it an impressive and most compelling account of pain, fear, bravery and compassion.
Throughout the book the black and white photos illustrate the true horror of the effects of the bomb – photos of Nagasaki both before and after the bomb was dropped, of five survivors – Wada Kohi (aged 18 in August 1945), a street car operator; Nagano Etsuko (aged 16), who worked on a production line in a Mitsubishi airplane parts factory; Taniguchi Sumiteru (aged 16), who worked at Minchino-o Post Office; Yoshida Katsuji (aged 13), a student at Nagasaki Prefecture Technical School on a ship building course; and Do-oh Mineko (aged 15), formerly a student at Keiho Girls High School, working at the Mitsubishi Arms Factory Onashi Plant. There are also maps showing Japan today and of Nagasaki 1945 showing the Scope of Atomic Bomb Damage.
Susan Southard’s ten years of research has resulted in this impressive book as she reveals what happened in particular to these five survivors, their immediate injuries, the radiation-related cancers and illnesses they have suffered, and their difficulties of daily living still in pain both physical and emotional.
In addition to all that Nagasaki ‘reveals the censorship that kept the suffering endured by the hibakusha [atomic bomb-affected people] hidden around the world. For years after the bombings news reports and scientific research were censored by U.S. occupation forces and the U.S. government led an efficient campaign to justify the necessity and morality of dropping the bombs’ (from the jacket sleeve).
I knew a bit about Hiroshima and Nagasaki before I read this book but it has opened my eyes to the true horror of nuclear war and the need to prevent anything like this happening again.
January 25, 2017
“Do-oh died on March 14, 2007, just as the buds of her beloved drooping cherry trees behind her house were ready to burst. Having surpassed by two years her goal to live until seventy-five, she had, by her own measure, defeated the atomic bomb. "What I mean is - I mean, they dropped the bombs thinking everyone will die, right? But not everyone was killed. I think it takes great emotional strength and force of will to triumph over nuclear weapons.”
― Susan Southard
This book will haunt me for the rest of my life! Harrowing, heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time.
Going beyond the events of August 9th 1945, when the American's dropped "Fat Boy" on the town of Nagasaki. Going from before the cataclysmic events to recent years it follows survivors and their families.
Drawing on in depth interviews with survivors Susan Southard builds a timeline of events and makes no apologies for the horror within. This book should be essential reading for anyone that is interested in history and those that believe that nuclear weapons are still the way forward for mankind.
I had to stop reading this at night because my mind couldn't switch off, but I forced myself to continue. I'm glad I read it, even though it brought me to tears and led to discussions with my husband about how people can still deny the after affects of the detonation.
(
)
How could the military deny the cruelty of a bomb that killed and injured hundreds of thousands of innocent people. They're still feeling the fallout from the detonation today (no pun intended) and generations of Japanese have struggled to find closure, medical help and psychological assistance since.
Mandatory reading, as I said, but also a wake up call for people who say that the Japanese people deserved this after the horrific bombing of Pearl Harbor.
― Susan Southard
This book will haunt me for the rest of my life! Harrowing, heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time.
Going beyond the events of August 9th 1945, when the American's dropped "Fat Boy" on the town of Nagasaki. Going from before the cataclysmic events to recent years it follows survivors and their families.
Drawing on in depth interviews with survivors Susan Southard builds a timeline of events and makes no apologies for the horror within. This book should be essential reading for anyone that is interested in history and those that believe that nuclear weapons are still the way forward for mankind.
I had to stop reading this at night because my mind couldn't switch off, but I forced myself to continue. I'm glad I read it, even though it brought me to tears and led to discussions with my husband about how people can still deny the after affects of the detonation.
(
How could the military deny the cruelty of a bomb that killed and injured hundreds of thousands of innocent people. They're still feeling the fallout from the detonation today (no pun intended) and generations of Japanese have struggled to find closure, medical help and psychological assistance since.
Mandatory reading, as I said, but also a wake up call for people who say that the Japanese people deserved this after the horrific bombing of Pearl Harbor.
August 17, 2015
This is an absolutely brilliant work. If you're going to read just one nonfiction book this year, let this one be the one.
I thought I was pretty well-read on the subject of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I learned so much from this book. The writing flows beautifully, and the research is incredibly detailed and thorough. Kudos to the author!
Of course this is a hard book to read emotionally. Though it reads very smoothly and logically, you have to put it down and walk away at times. But that is just the sort of impact a book like this should have. Should the bomb have been dropped on Nagasaki? This has been discussed to pieces elsewhere and it is not the point of this book. What followed AFTER the bomb, and the actions of both the US and Japan, is a travesty that most of us don't know about. It is a convincing eye-opener, and the author simply presents her findings. One could dig deep and think hard based on this book.
The research in this book speaks for itself. Read it.
I thought I was pretty well-read on the subject of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I learned so much from this book. The writing flows beautifully, and the research is incredibly detailed and thorough. Kudos to the author!
Of course this is a hard book to read emotionally. Though it reads very smoothly and logically, you have to put it down and walk away at times. But that is just the sort of impact a book like this should have. Should the bomb have been dropped on Nagasaki? This has been discussed to pieces elsewhere and it is not the point of this book. What followed AFTER the bomb, and the actions of both the US and Japan, is a travesty that most of us don't know about. It is a convincing eye-opener, and the author simply presents her findings. One could dig deep and think hard based on this book.
The research in this book speaks for itself. Read it.
January 27, 2016
It is difficult for me to write reviews on books such as Nagasaki because I have a hard time putting into words the way they make me feel. Before reading this book and studying the topic further, I was guilty of holding the same belief the US hoped its citizens would carry to justify use of the atomic bomb - that the bomb ultimately ended the war and saved millions of American lives. I no longer feel this is the case. While the issue is multilayered and complicated in ways I can never fully understand, the use of nuclear weapons, in my opinion and thanks to the words and examples of the hibakusha, can never be justified. The cost is simply not worth it.
I am grateful to Southard for her tireless efforts and sacrifices to research and bring us these stories. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is important.
I am grateful to Southard for her tireless efforts and sacrifices to research and bring us these stories. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is important.
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