Nagasaki Spirits Hiroshima Voices

This collection of factual reports, short stories, poems and drawings expresses in a deeply personal voice the devastating effects of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This collection of factual reports, short stories, poems and drawings expresses in a deeply personal voice the devastating effects of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Harry S. Truman, the president of the United States, and his military advisers were committed to using all available means to finish the war as soon as possible. Around 80,000 people were killed when the Little Boy atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on the morning of August 6 by the B-29 bomber Enola Gay. More than 40,000 people were killed by another atomic bomb codenamed Fat Man that was dropped over Nagasaki three days later on August 9 by bomber B-29 named Bock’s Car. One particular group of people had to deal with something else when world leaders and common people struggled to digest the metaphorical aftershocks. Before it was a global event, the arrival of the bomb was a personal one for the hibakushas of those destroyed cities. It may be good fortune, fate, or intelligence that preserved them in the midst of death and ruin, preserving the voices that can still describe to the world what it looks like when people find new and awful ways to harm one another. The hibakushas have spoken about their experiences in the aftermath of the twin bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki though many of the survivors were reluctant to share their stories because of the stigma attached to these hibakushas of Japan. Follow the journey of the survivors from 6 and 9 August 1945. Their Unforgettable stories of courage and resilience in this must-read copy will show the importance of peace and understanding in the world.

Hiroshima is the story of six people—a clerk, a widowed seamstress, a physician, a Methodist minister, a young surgeon, and a German Catholic priest—who lived through the greatest single manmade disaster in history. In vivid and indelible prose, Pulitzer Prize–winner John Hersey traces the stories of these half-dozen individuals from 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, when Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city, through the hours and days that followed. Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told, and his account of what he discovered is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.

This book describes the creation of and development of learning communities that are changing the conversation about what schools can be and do.

On August 9th, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. It killed a third of the population instantly, and the survivors, or hibakusha, would be affected by the life-altering medical conditions caused by the radiation for the rest of their lives. They were also marked with the stigma of their exposure to radiation, and fears of the consequences for their children. Nagasaki follows the previously unknown stories of five survivors and their families, from 1945 to the present day. It captures the full range of pain, fear, bravery and compassion unleashed by the destruction of a city.Susan Southard has interviewed the hibakusha over many years and her intimate portraits of their lives show the consequences of nuclear war. Nagasaki tells the neglected story of life after nuclear war and will help shape public debate over one of the most controversial wartime acts in history. Published for the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, this is the first study to be based on eye-witness accounts of Nagasaki in the style of John Hersey's Hiroshima. On August 9th, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a 5-tonne plutonium bomb was dropped on the small, coastal city of Nagasaki. The explosion destroyed factories, shops and homes and killed 74,000 people while injuring another 75,000. The two atomic bombs marked the end of a global war but for the tens of thousands of survivors it was the beginning of a new life marked with the stigma of being hibakusha (atomic bomb-affected people). Susan Southard has spent a decade interviewing and researching the lives of the hibakusha, raw, emotive eye-witness accounts, which reconstruct the days, months and years after the bombing, the isolation of their hospitalisation and recovery, the difficulty of re-entering daily life and the enduring impact of life as the only people in history who have lived through a nuclear attack and its aftermath. Following five teenage survivors from 1945 to the present day Southard unveils the lives they have led, their injuries in the annihilation of the bomb, the dozens of radiation-related cancers and illnesses they have suffered, the humiliating and frightening choices about marriage they were forced into as a result of their fears of the genetic diseases that may be passed through their families for generations to come. The power of Nagasaki lies in the detail of the survivors' stories, as deaths continued for decades because of the radiation contamination, which caused various forms of cancer. Intimate and compassionate, while being grounded in historical research Nagasaki reveals the censorship that kept the suffering endured by the hibakusha 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. As we pass the seventieth anniversary of the only atomic bomb attacks in history Susan Southard captures the full range of pain, fear, bravery and compassion unleashed by the destruction of a city. The personal stories of those who survived beneath the mushroom clouds will transform the abstract perception of nuclear war into a visceral human experience. Nagasaki tells the neglected story of life after nuclear war and will help shape public discussion and debate over one of the most controversial wartime acts in history.

"Eleven Hibakusha - survivors of August 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - relate their first-hand experience of the blast and its impact on their lives. Each pleads for abolishing nuclear weapons and promoting peace. Includes original art and poetry, CD of survivors' stories, background on WWII, resources for further information and study guide for educators"--Provided by publisher.

In the early part of the 21st century a new religion begins to recruit followers, men and women left cold by modern society who flock to The Spirit of Nagasaki. This movement provides them with support and a God-given meaning to their days, but behind the welcoming embrace a trio of cult leaders have their own ideas, about exploiting lost souls and realising their ambitions, causing death and havoc when everything they have built comes crashing down.Equal parts drama, mystery and thriller, the story of the rise and fall of a religious cult is told in flashback through the major players as events degenerate towards murderous destruction. Meanwhile Special Investigator Joe Sweeney attempts to pick up the pieces, pulling together evidence and tracking down suspects through the aftermath of the crimes. A compelling and timely study of evil's slow progress, The Spirit Of Nagasaki touches on the darkest of our collective fears on its way to a truly devastating climax.

In August 1945, the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What is hardly known is that 4,000 Nisei (Japanese Americans), the sons and daughters of Japanese immigrants who had been sent back to Japan to be educated before World War II erupted, were caught in the Hiroshima bombing. This extraordinary book commemorates the 3,000 Nisei who died from the atomic blast in Hiroshima and documents the plight of another 1,000 hibakusha (survivors of the bomb) who returned to the West Coast after the war.Branded as ?foreigners? in wartime Japan and as ?enemies? in postwar United States, their existence as victims of the atomic blast has not been recognized by either the Japanese or the U.S. government, both of which have refused to alleviate the medical and political problems of the survivors. Drawing on primary sources and rich interview data, Rinjiro Sodei has contributed an original scholarly work to the literature on World War II and the Asian-American experience. This book bears witness to the human calamities of the nuclear age and to the dignity of these Japanese Americans striving to obtain their rights and sustain their bicultural identity.