Rachel Harris's List: Hiroshima

• A year after World War II ended, a leading American weekly magazine published a  striking description of what life was like for those who survived a nuclear  attack. The article, simply titled "Hiroshima," was published by The New  Yorker in its August 31, 1946 issue. The thirty- one thousand word article  displaced virtually all other editorial matter in the issue.
• The article, written by John Hersey, created a blast of its own in the  publishing world.
• "Hiroshima" was not the first exposure that readers had to the events
• But most of these stories steered clear of details that would help readers  identify with the dead or the survivors
• The direct effect of "Hiroshima" on the American public is difficult to gauge
• But certainly the vivid depictions in the book must have been a strong  contributor to a pervasive sense of dread (and guilt) about nuclear weaponry  felt by many Americans ever since August 1945.
• illustrate the human dimension of the effects of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.
• what had actually happened in Hiroshima itself... was being ignored
• I felt I would like to write about what happened not to buildings but to human  beings
• "Hiroshima" was written in a dry, calm manner that struck some readers as  emotionless but permitted the survivors' stories to speak for themselves.
• Every American who has permitted himself to make jokes about atom bombs, or who  has come to regard them as just one sensational phenomenon that can now be  accepted as part of civilization, like the airplane and the gasoline engine, or  who has allowed himself to speculate as to what we might do with them if we were  forced into another war, ought to read Mr. Hersey. When this magazine article  appears in book form the critics will say that it is in its fashion a classic.  But it is rather more than that.
• "The death and destruction not merely of people and cities but of the human  conscience is clearly involved."
• "Once in a lifetime you read a magazine article that makes you want to bounce up  out of your easy chair and go running around to your neighbors, thrusting the  magazine under their noses and saying: 'Read this! Read it now! ' "
• A Manhattan Project scientist
• I am filled with shame to recall the whoopee spirit ... when we came back from  lunch to find others who had returned with the first extras announcing the  bombing of Hiroshima. That evening we had a hastily arranged champagne dinner,  some forty of us; ... [we felt] relief at the relaxation of security, pride in  our part in ending the war, and even pride in the effectiveness of the weapon.
• We didn't realize. I wonder if we do yet.
• The fact that many historians doubt these figures as well as the rationale  presented in the Harper's piece doesn't make "The Decision to Use the  Atomic Bomb" less of a powerful influence in American political culture.
  
• "Everything in his book was just as he said it was. It was remarkable to see how  accurate and careful he was with the facts. When he came to visit me, I didn't  know that he was a journalist... so I gave him brief answers.... It was very  interesting to see that he remembered every word of our three- hour  conversation."
• "Hiroshima" was not presented as a call to action; it was instead offered as a  clear-eyed report about the reality of the atom bomb as seen through the eyes of  the survivors. Pacifists and militarists alike could read the book and better  appreciate the point of view of those left alive after a nuclear catastrophe
• Of course, superb and imaginative reporting doesn't necessarily result in  concrete action and social change. Sometimes it leads to awareness and  contemplation only. Certainly the millions of people who have read "Hiroshima"  during the last five decades have found a chilling and unforgettable description  of life after nuclear annihilation. It is hard to believe that these readers  ever felt the same way again about the possible use of nuclear weapons, and in  some respect their understanding of the reality of nuclear war must have  continued to have at least some impact on their social and political  activities.
  

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