Hiroshima Nagasaki
Hiroshima Nagasaki
paperback
Published:
18 July, 2013
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Description
Japan 1945. In one of the defining moments of the twentieth century, more than 100,000 people were killed instantly by two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US Air Force B29s. Hundreds of thousands more succumbed to their horrific injuries, or slowly perished of radiation-related sickness.
Hiroshima Nagasaki tells the story of the tragedy through the eyes of the survivors, from the twelve-year-olds forced to work in war factories to the wives and children who faced it alone. Through their harrowing personal testimonies, we are reminded that these were ordinary people, given no warning and no chance to escape the horror.
American leaders claimed that the bombings were 'our least abhorrent choice' and fell strictly on 'military targets'. Even today, most people believe they ended the Pacific War and saved millions of American and Japanese lives. Hiroshima Nagasaki challenges this deep-set perception, revealing that the atomic bombings were the final crippling blow to the Japanese in a stratgic air war waged primarily against civilians.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780552778503 |
| ISBN10 | 0552778508 |
| Number Of Pages | 720 |
| Item Weight | 530 g |
| Product Dimensions | 127 x 198 x 48 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Transworld Publishers Ltd |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
[A] vivid, comprehensive and quietly furious account...Paul Ham brings new tools to the job, unearthing fresh evidence of a deeply disturbing sort. He has a magpie eye for the telling detail -- Ben Macintyre * The Times *
We are in Paul Ham's debt for showing that it is unjustifiable to consider ever again dropping an atomic bomb...Comprehensive and horrifying -- Jonathan Mirsky * Literary Review *
Provocative and challenging, Paul Ham's book strips away the cosy myth that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the Second World War...A voice that is both vigorous and passionate -- Christopher Sylvester * Daily Express *
Controversial...Gives an eye-witness picture that leaves Dante's Inferno looking pale...Well documented and stringently argued -- Peter Lewis * Daily Mail *
With more detail than the average text book yet written in a way that pulls you in ... this is essential for anyone remotely interested in our history * Sydney Sunday Telegraph *
THE epic sweep of this book belies its title. Paul Ham's history of the A-bomb combines extensive research with a sure sense of drama. He uses narrative focus to brilliant effect, giving equal clarity to the machinations of the Big Three at Yalta as to a child's lunch box at Hiroshima. Ham humanises the wrangling and power plays of the war's final year, casting personality and strategy as equals. -- Shortlisted for Book of the Year 2012 * The Age *
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Paul Ham is the author of twelve books, including The Soul: A History of the Human Mind, Hiroshima Nagasaki, Passchendaele: The Bloody Battle that Nearly Lost the Allies the War, 1914: The Year the World Ended, Sandakan: The Untold Story of the Sandakan Death Marches, Vietnam: The Australian War and Kokoda.
Hiroshima Nagasaki is being made into a six-part radio drama by Goldhawk and Thoroughbred Studios, due out in 2026.
All Paul's books have won or been shortlisted for major literary prizes in Australia. Vietnam and Kokoda were made into ABC documentaries, which he co-wrote and presented.
A former Sunday Times correspondent, with a Master’s degree from the London School of
Economics, Paul now lives in Paris and devotes his time to writing history and (when possible) teaching a course in Narrative History at Sciences Po, France’s preeminent tertiary school for the humanities.