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Title details for Hiroshima by M. G. Sheftall - Available

Hiroshima

The Last Witnesses

#1 in series

by M. G. Sheftall
Brian Nishii
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available
One of Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction From 2024
The first volume in a two-book series about each of the atomic bomb drops that ended the Pacific War based on years of irreplicable personal interviews with survivors to tell a story of devastation and resilience

In this vividly rendered historical narrative, M. G. Sheftall layers the stories of hibakusha—the Japanese word for atomic bomb survivors—in harrowing detail, to give a minute-by-minute report of August 6, 1945, in the leadup and aftermath of the world-changing bombing mission of Paul Tibbets, Enola Gay, and Little Boy. These survivors and witnesses, who now have an average age over ninety years old, are quite literally the last people who can still provide us with reliable and detailed testimony about life in their cities before the bombings, tell us what they experienced on the day those cities were obliterated, and give us some appreciation of what it has entailed to live with those memories and scars during the subsequent seventy-plus years.
Sheftall has spent years personally interviewing survivors who lived well into the twenty-first century, allowing him to construct portraits of what Hiroshima was like before the bomb, and how catastrophically its citizens’ lives changed in the seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months, and years afterward. He stands out among historians due to his fluency in spoken and written Japanese, and his longtime immersion in Japanese society that has allowed him, a white American, the unheard-of access to these atomic bomb survivors in the waning years of their lives. Their trust in him is evident in the personal and traumatic depths they open up for him as he records their stories.
Hiroshima should be required reading for the modern age. The personal accounts it contains will serve as cautionary tales about the horror and insanity of nuclear warfare, reminding them—it is hoped—that the world still lives with this danger at our doorstep.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Embers

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 10, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593911976
      • File size: 492716 KB
      • Duration: 17:06:29

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Brian Nishii, who was born and raised in Tokyo, is the perfect voice to narrate these eyewitness accounts of the bombing of Hiroshima. This volume is the first of a two-volume series on the atomic bombings of August 1945. Drawing on extensive interviews with those who survived, called "hibakusha" in Japanese, author Sheftall gives great detail on the day-to-day lives of the Japanese homefront and also provides details on Americans involved--from the crew of the bombers to those who developed the bomb. Nishii's pacing, inflection, and pronunciation are perfect. His Japanese pronunciation is flawless, as one would expect, and add to the overall clarity of the narration. It would be nice if there were some way to see the photos, maps, and bibliography of the print edition. M.T.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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