Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb

[dreamer_easy]

Cut-and-pasted from my Tumblr. :)

It's been years since I sat down and read a whole book in a day. Historian Ronald Takaki's 1995 book Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb makes a strong, concise argument, based on historical documents such as diaries, letters, and memoirs, that the bomb was not dropped with the intention of ending the

Comments

[purrdence]

Yup, hundreds of thousands of Japanese, Koreans, Allied POWs and a handful of other nationalities were killed, maimed or made very ill (sometimes years later); and many would be socially ostracised for years in Japan because of their status as A-bomb survivors for a bit of dick waving between the USA and the USSR.

I can totally believe it.

[dreamer_easy]

I've encountered a few people pointing out that the Hiroshima bomb killed fewer people than the firebombing of Tokyo, but that only adds up if you discount the equal number of victims of the radiation.

Fuck, the Korean forced labourers hadn't even occurred to me until now.

[purrdence]

Yeah, there were Koreans in Hiroshima (not sure about Nagasaki off the top of my head, most of my knowledge comes from Hiroshima, it's an area of interest to me). I saw a memorial to the Korean victims in the Peace Park in Hiroshima.

I did hear about Allied POWs in Nagasaki that only survived the blast as they had been sent down the mines that day.

I've read accounts of German missionaries in the cities too.

Kyoto was almost on the list of potential targets, but one of the top bananas making the decision had been to Kyoto, before the war, and realised how many lovely cultural landmarks (most which have religious significance too) would be destroyed, so he nixed that idea. I've always compared it to dropping the Bomb on the Vatican or Mecca.

--

While it is true that the firebombing of other Japanese cities killed more, numbers wise, imo, the atomic bombs were far more horrific. There's a semi-autobiographic manga series called Barefoot Gen which is about a school boy (Gen) who lives through the bombing of Hiroshima and what he

[dreamer_easy]

To me, growing up in the last quarter of the century and only having the vaguest grasp of history, the indiscriminate mass killing of civilians was just what happened in war. It hadn't occurred to me that it had to be invented - I don't mean as a technical possibility, with planes and bombs and things, but as a deliberate, accepted tactic. I learned about that for the first time this year when I read Command and Control by Eric Schlosser (and Professor Takaki's book briefly reviewed the same history).

Takaki also recounts General Carl Spaatz's attempts to save the POWs at Nagasaki by having it taken off the target list. (In the face of the monster I cling to any glimpse of humanity.)

[purrdence]

How's this for a bit of coincidence? I close this window and my wallpaper on my laptop changed to a shot of the A-bomb Dome during remembrance day.

[lillibet]

Just so you know, I've been learning this since high school. That's not "how didn't you know this?" (I'm not that guy) just that this is fairly widely known and accepted in the US, among people who pay attention to that sort of thing.

There's a quite fascinating book of essays (roots around in the attic), ah, here it is about the controversy surrounding the proposed Enola Gay exhibit at the National Air & Space Museum, back in the 90's. I found it very interesting in terms of how history is (mis)understood through subsequent generations.

[dreamer_easy]

The last time I studied history was something about the Tudors in Year Eight. Everything comes as a surprise to me. Although the more I read, the fewer shocks I get. I seems that Kpop was a good entry point to understanding the events of the Twentieth Century. Who knew.

Thanks for rummaging in your attic! I can easily get my paws on the book, too. (Gods, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and finally read John Hersey's Hiroshima as well, aren't I?)

[purrdence]

There's also a rather good doco called 'Hiroshima'. Narrated by John Hurt.

[dreamer_easy]

Have I the courage??