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無聲的閃光：揭發美國最致命的政府掩蓋事件！首位報導廣島原爆真相的普立茲得獎記者 × 二十世紀美國新聞史上最偉大的祕密調查
被噤聲的廣島原爆真相──
「核災吹哨者」轟動全球的秘密調查，
首位揭露美國政府欲掩蓋的原爆餘波的記者。
★《出版者周刊》&《浮華世界》年度選書
★《城鎮與鄉村》（Town & Country）年度選書
★《紐約時報書評》編輯選書 & 2020年最值得關注的100本書
★ 榮獲2021年美國指標性傳記寫作獎項「斯珀伯圖書獎」（Sperber prize）
「一九四五年以來，讓世界免於核彈災難的，
是對廣島浩劫的記憶。」 ──約翰．赫西 John Hersey
▍「無聲的閃光」粉碎了整座城市，剝奪了數十萬人的未來，也泯滅了人類的良知──
1945年8月6日早晨，暱稱「小男孩」的原子彈劃破廣島的天空，粉碎了整座城市。這是第一枚實際用於戰爭的原子彈，也是當時戰爭史上使用過最大的炸彈。廣島自此成為一片焦土，成為一座怵目驚心、滿是殘骸與灰燼的廢墟；逾十萬名居民被大火吞噬、被建築物活埋重擊，在烈焰中灰飛煙滅。然而，多數美國人和其他國家，對於這項殘虐的新型武器毫不知情，對於其所可能造成的毀滅性後果也一無所知。
美國政府先後於廣島與長崎投下原子彈，促成了二戰的完結，卻也在同一時間開啟了廣島與長崎居民永難擺脫的夢魘。倖存者展開如煉獄般的「後原爆」之路，他們目睹了遠多於自己所能想像的死亡，並飽受原子彈輻射遺毒的侵擾，包含毛髮脫落、口耳鼻冒血、難以癒合的潰爛皮肉、持續高燒、作嘔、喪失食慾與不孕等後遺症。
然而，美國政府在投下原子彈後，開始了一連串秘密宣傳和信息鎮壓運動，並成功隱匿了原子彈長期且致命的輻射危害，他們稱該武器為「威力較大的火砲武器」且「絕無放射性破壞物質」，並形容原子彈「拯救了更多的性命」。經戰爭部審查的媒體報導，向全世界淡化了原爆災後的現實……直到一年後，《紐約客》記者約翰．赫西，以一篇偉大的獨家報導敲響關鍵的警鐘。
▍新聞史上最危險且震撼的調查──無所畏懼的逆風報導，揭露政府不願承認的真相！
在廣島原爆後一年的1946年8月，《紐約客》刊出普立茲獎得主約翰?赫西親赴廣島秘密調查的報導，一舉踢爆美國當局淡化原爆傷亡、掩蓋輻射傷害的政治操作，至今仍是美國新聞史上最震撼人心的調查報導。該獨家報導立即引起全球轟動，激起全球對核武威脅最深層的恐懼與擔憂，並確實在防止核戰再度爆發方面發揮了舉足輕重的作用。
赫西的報導是第一個真正有效且受到國際關注的針對核武的警告，說明了核武對文明所將構成的存亡威脅；此後，它激勵了一代代的社運者與領導人努力避免核戰爆發，我們明瞭了原子浩劫的恐怖，因為赫西向我們展現了它的景象。自報導刊出以後，再也沒有領導人或政黨能在完全不了解核武攻擊的可怕後果的情況下，威脅採取核武行動，也就是說，該行動要不是出於故意的無知，就是虛無主義的殘暴。
▍在戰爭被壓縮成冰冷的傷亡數字之後，請記住每一個數字，都有自己的名字──
知名記者萊斯莉．布魯姆精彩地重溯赫西當年的不畏多方施壓的逆風旅程，他以懾人的筆法忠實呈現六名倖存者的故事，一舉扭轉當時的主流輿論，更影響戰後列強的核武政策。赫西以精煉且冷靜的文字，仔細描述「被爆者」在城市降下死亡時的記憶與後續的創傷，他將原子戰爭的面目與有血有肉的真實臉孔相連，那些臉孔屬於一位撫養三個子女的辛苦寡婦、一位年輕職員、兩位醫師、一位神父和一位牧師，那些臉孔可能是你，也可能是每一個人。
「倘若戰事再起，這便是你和其他數百萬平民百姓可能面臨的遭遇。」這篇偉大的報導打破了冰冷的傷亡統計數字，提醒世人廣島的悲劇真實可及，並持續讓人們在廣島人民身上看見自己。愛因斯坦亦針對報導表示：「赫西先生真實描繪了原子彈對人類造成的駭人影響……文中描繪的景象攸關人類的未來，必定會令所有富責任感的人們深感憂慮。」
「核災吹哨者」轟動全球的秘密調查，
首位揭露美國政府欲掩蓋的原爆餘波的記者。
★《出版者周刊》&《浮華世界》年度選書
★《城鎮與鄉村》（Town & Country）年度選書
★《紐約時報書評》編輯選書 & 2020年最值得關注的100本書
★ 榮獲2021年美國指標性傳記寫作獎項「斯珀伯圖書獎」（Sperber prize）
「一九四五年以來，讓世界免於核彈災難的，
是對廣島浩劫的記憶。」 ──約翰．赫西 John Hersey
▍「無聲的閃光」粉碎了整座城市，剝奪了數十萬人的未來，也泯滅了人類的良知──
1945年8月6日早晨，暱稱「小男孩」的原子彈劃破廣島的天空，粉碎了整座城市。這是第一枚實際用於戰爭的原子彈，也是當時戰爭史上使用過最大的炸彈。廣島自此成為一片焦土，成為一座怵目驚心、滿是殘骸與灰燼的廢墟；逾十萬名居民被大火吞噬、被建築物活埋重擊，在烈焰中灰飛煙滅。然而，多數美國人和其他國家，對於這項殘虐的新型武器毫不知情，對於其所可能造成的毀滅性後果也一無所知。
美國政府先後於廣島與長崎投下原子彈，促成了二戰的完結，卻也在同一時間開啟了廣島與長崎居民永難擺脫的夢魘。倖存者展開如煉獄般的「後原爆」之路，他們目睹了遠多於自己所能想像的死亡，並飽受原子彈輻射遺毒的侵擾，包含毛髮脫落、口耳鼻冒血、難以癒合的潰爛皮肉、持續高燒、作嘔、喪失食慾與不孕等後遺症。
然而，美國政府在投下原子彈後，開始了一連串秘密宣傳和信息鎮壓運動，並成功隱匿了原子彈長期且致命的輻射危害，他們稱該武器為「威力較大的火砲武器」且「絕無放射性破壞物質」，並形容原子彈「拯救了更多的性命」。經戰爭部審查的媒體報導，向全世界淡化了原爆災後的現實……直到一年後，《紐約客》記者約翰．赫西，以一篇偉大的獨家報導敲響關鍵的警鐘。
▍新聞史上最危險且震撼的調查──無所畏懼的逆風報導，揭露政府不願承認的真相！
在廣島原爆後一年的1946年8月，《紐約客》刊出普立茲獎得主約翰?赫西親赴廣島秘密調查的報導，一舉踢爆美國當局淡化原爆傷亡、掩蓋輻射傷害的政治操作，至今仍是美國新聞史上最震撼人心的調查報導。該獨家報導立即引起全球轟動，激起全球對核武威脅最深層的恐懼與擔憂，並確實在防止核戰再度爆發方面發揮了舉足輕重的作用。
赫西的報導是第一個真正有效且受到國際關注的針對核武的警告，說明了核武對文明所將構成的存亡威脅；此後，它激勵了一代代的社運者與領導人努力避免核戰爆發，我們明瞭了原子浩劫的恐怖，因為赫西向我們展現了它的景象。自報導刊出以後，再也沒有領導人或政黨能在完全不了解核武攻擊的可怕後果的情況下，威脅採取核武行動，也就是說，該行動要不是出於故意的無知，就是虛無主義的殘暴。
▍在戰爭被壓縮成冰冷的傷亡數字之後，請記住每一個數字，都有自己的名字──
知名記者萊斯莉．布魯姆精彩地重溯赫西當年的不畏多方施壓的逆風旅程，他以懾人的筆法忠實呈現六名倖存者的故事，一舉扭轉當時的主流輿論，更影響戰後列強的核武政策。赫西以精煉且冷靜的文字，仔細描述「被爆者」在城市降下死亡時的記憶與後續的創傷，他將原子戰爭的面目與有血有肉的真實臉孔相連，那些臉孔屬於一位撫養三個子女的辛苦寡婦、一位年輕職員、兩位醫師、一位神父和一位牧師，那些臉孔可能是你，也可能是每一個人。
「倘若戰事再起，這便是你和其他數百萬平民百姓可能面臨的遭遇。」這篇偉大的報導打破了冰冷的傷亡統計數字，提醒世人廣島的悲劇真實可及，並持續讓人們在廣島人民身上看見自己。愛因斯坦亦針對報導表示：「赫西先生真實描繪了原子彈對人類造成的駭人影響……文中描繪的景象攸關人類的未來，必定會令所有富責任感的人們深感憂慮。」
Paperback
First published August 4, 2020
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About the author
Lesley M.M. Blume
17 books187 followersLesley M. M. Blume is an author, columnist and journalist. She did her undergraduate work at WIlliams College and Oxford University, and took her graduate degree in history from Cambridge University.
She now regularly contributes to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal and Departures magazine.
She now regularly contributes to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal and Departures magazine.
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April 21, 2020
In the Trump era, Americans have become inured to constant lying, misdirection and coverups. But this is not new or unique. Lesley Blume has profiled America’s most egregious coverup and the lies surrounding it in Fallout. It’s the story of the making of the earthshaking magazine article Hiroshima, by John Hersey. It’s a fast-paced thriller of a book, with lessons like no other.
America’s atomic bomb was so secret even Vice President Truman didn’t know about it. When FDR died, it fell to Truman to use it for real. He did, and never looked back. And it wasn’t just Truman. General Douglas MacArthur, who led America’s war with Japan, didn’t know either. He was both surprised and annoyed when he found out. Japan surrendered few days later, and MacArthur moved in, imposing total control. Anyone who wanted to visit Japan had to have army clearance, ie. a good enough reason plus the right attitude. They had to follow his rules, or find themselves without food, transport or gas, and if the army didn’t like what they wrote about MacArthur or the USA, they could face court martial. Everything reporters wrote was steered by Public Relations Officers, ie. minders and spies. And everything published had to be pre-approved. The result was of course, a good, clean, heroic war, as far as American media were concerned. Anything the Japanese got, they deserved.
So the news from Japan was ho-hum. Hiroshima was just a big bomb. General Lesley Groves, who headed up the stifling of information for MacArthur, made sure all journalists toed that line. The pabulum that came out of Japanese war reporting was all Americans could get; it was totally managed. Groves even established the widely known “fact” that death from radiation poisoning was “a very pleasant way to die.” He also spread the lie that there was no such thing as long term effects, that everyone who survived merely picked up and went on with their lives. He maintained there was no such thing as radiation diseases. In 1945, Americans had no other information. They did not know about the long term effects, or even the immediate ones. Nuclear was an unknown to world. There was nothing to question about the news from Japan.
For a year after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this was all Americans knew. MacArthur had the whole thing under wraps. As the first anniversary came up, Groves and company didn’t even think it was news any more, that nothing reported now would hurt them. And so they cockily eased off. When John Hersey applied for access to Hiroshima, he got it. What he did with that access changed everything, worldwide.
Hersey tracked down six survivors and interviewed them at great length. They co-operated and he networked his way through the collapse of their world. Their stories of that day were horrifying, and their ailments resulting from it damaged them for life. A hundred thousand died in Hiroshima alone. Cancers continue to flourish.
When the bomb exploded, 1900 feet up, it produced a blinding flash, but no sound. Instead, the pressure caused roofs to plunge, buildings to collapse, and a hurricane wind of broken glass and wood to fly wildly, stabbing everyone and everything. People were burnt to a crisp, or their skin loosened to where it would fall off. People’s eyes burst and drained down their faces. Then the fires erupted.
Hersey collected the data, and didn’t write it out until he left, saving him from having his notes censored or seized by the American military. When he finally got home a week later, he was polishing a 30,000 word (think 150 page) magazine article. It was for the New Yorker, known for its cartoons and not government or humanitarian scandals. (How the New Yorker ended up with John Hersey and the story is a great tale in itself, well told by Blume). The magazine decided to dedicate an entire issue to just this one story. No cartoons, no Talk of the Town, no features.
In a small irony, the New Yorker used the same tactics as the army. Staff knew nothing of the story. They continued to work on a regular issue that would not be published that week. The chief editors closed their office doors and worked on the story and nothing else, often to 2am. No one questioned them. They carried the dummy up to the Connecticut printers themselves. There was no buzz, no rumors, no expectations and no celebrations the day it hit the stands.
When it broke, it caused a nationwide sensation. Wisely, the magazine allowed other media to reproduce it. It took on a life of its own. The article became a book, was translated into two dozen languages, and was the talk of the world. Used copies sold for 20 times the cover price. Americans wanted to understand what really happened, how they were lied to, and what they didn’t know about nuclear weapons and fallout, now that their own country had suddenly begun deploying it. It became the worldwide best-selling book. Albert Einstein asked for a thousand copies to send to his scientist contacts around the world, and the New Yorker obliged.
What was stunning was the John Hersey and the New Yorker had scooped the world, a full year after the fact. No one thought it was a story worth following up. It was just war, and the war was over. Even the army had no fears that anyone would be interested.
The New Yorker had wisely sent the manuscript directly to General Groves for pre-approval, avoiding the likelihood that some lower rank censor would reduce it to nothing or reject it out of hand. Groves approved it, thinking nothing would be able to overcome the army’s yearlong hammering of the media and indoctrination of the public. And the New Yorker had no national footprint, unlike Time Magazine or the New York Times. The editors’ gamble worked; Groves asked for trivial changes only.
The global effect of the New Yorker story caught the army and the government by surprise. They obfuscated and denied, but then commissioned a blue-ribbon committee to counteract it. McGeorge Bundy and Henry Stimson, both unassailable names, were drafted to lead the counterattack. They pontificated that the atom bomb shortened the war, saved money by sending one bomb where thousands would have been needed to do the same job, and actually saved lives by scaring everyone out of continuing.
Meanwhile, the Russians got approval to send someone to Hiroshima. He reported there was no evidence of anything the article said. It was all just American propaganda. But somehow, Russian support of the army’s position did not mollify the rest of the world. Antinuclear groups formed, the nuclear Armageddon clock was created, and the world became hyper-aware and super-scared of the new nuclear threat hanging over it.
Hiroshima was the largest attack on a civilian population in history, and the US worked hard to cover it up. It almost succeeded. Blume’s message in Fallout is that although the whole world was stunned by the truth about Hiroshima, the world has also long forgotten. She says every generation seems to require a lesson in it. Nuclear war cannot be allowed to happen. Fallout from nuclear weapons will pollute the land, sea and air- and therefore all living things, far beyond human lifetimes. The horrors should not be permitted to fade from memory.
Today, Americans have few qualms about “nuking” another country (lately North Korea or Iran) and starting a nuclear war. Americans suffer from the same disease everyone always has: the farther you are from the front lines, the easier it is to push for the most violent action. As one CBS radio commentator said after reading the Hersey story: If an article like Hiroshima couldn’t save the world, nothing could.
David Wineberg
America’s atomic bomb was so secret even Vice President Truman didn’t know about it. When FDR died, it fell to Truman to use it for real. He did, and never looked back. And it wasn’t just Truman. General Douglas MacArthur, who led America’s war with Japan, didn’t know either. He was both surprised and annoyed when he found out. Japan surrendered few days later, and MacArthur moved in, imposing total control. Anyone who wanted to visit Japan had to have army clearance, ie. a good enough reason plus the right attitude. They had to follow his rules, or find themselves without food, transport or gas, and if the army didn’t like what they wrote about MacArthur or the USA, they could face court martial. Everything reporters wrote was steered by Public Relations Officers, ie. minders and spies. And everything published had to be pre-approved. The result was of course, a good, clean, heroic war, as far as American media were concerned. Anything the Japanese got, they deserved.
So the news from Japan was ho-hum. Hiroshima was just a big bomb. General Lesley Groves, who headed up the stifling of information for MacArthur, made sure all journalists toed that line. The pabulum that came out of Japanese war reporting was all Americans could get; it was totally managed. Groves even established the widely known “fact” that death from radiation poisoning was “a very pleasant way to die.” He also spread the lie that there was no such thing as long term effects, that everyone who survived merely picked up and went on with their lives. He maintained there was no such thing as radiation diseases. In 1945, Americans had no other information. They did not know about the long term effects, or even the immediate ones. Nuclear was an unknown to world. There was nothing to question about the news from Japan.
For a year after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this was all Americans knew. MacArthur had the whole thing under wraps. As the first anniversary came up, Groves and company didn’t even think it was news any more, that nothing reported now would hurt them. And so they cockily eased off. When John Hersey applied for access to Hiroshima, he got it. What he did with that access changed everything, worldwide.
Hersey tracked down six survivors and interviewed them at great length. They co-operated and he networked his way through the collapse of their world. Their stories of that day were horrifying, and their ailments resulting from it damaged them for life. A hundred thousand died in Hiroshima alone. Cancers continue to flourish.
When the bomb exploded, 1900 feet up, it produced a blinding flash, but no sound. Instead, the pressure caused roofs to plunge, buildings to collapse, and a hurricane wind of broken glass and wood to fly wildly, stabbing everyone and everything. People were burnt to a crisp, or their skin loosened to where it would fall off. People’s eyes burst and drained down their faces. Then the fires erupted.
Hersey collected the data, and didn’t write it out until he left, saving him from having his notes censored or seized by the American military. When he finally got home a week later, he was polishing a 30,000 word (think 150 page) magazine article. It was for the New Yorker, known for its cartoons and not government or humanitarian scandals. (How the New Yorker ended up with John Hersey and the story is a great tale in itself, well told by Blume). The magazine decided to dedicate an entire issue to just this one story. No cartoons, no Talk of the Town, no features.
In a small irony, the New Yorker used the same tactics as the army. Staff knew nothing of the story. They continued to work on a regular issue that would not be published that week. The chief editors closed their office doors and worked on the story and nothing else, often to 2am. No one questioned them. They carried the dummy up to the Connecticut printers themselves. There was no buzz, no rumors, no expectations and no celebrations the day it hit the stands.
When it broke, it caused a nationwide sensation. Wisely, the magazine allowed other media to reproduce it. It took on a life of its own. The article became a book, was translated into two dozen languages, and was the talk of the world. Used copies sold for 20 times the cover price. Americans wanted to understand what really happened, how they were lied to, and what they didn’t know about nuclear weapons and fallout, now that their own country had suddenly begun deploying it. It became the worldwide best-selling book. Albert Einstein asked for a thousand copies to send to his scientist contacts around the world, and the New Yorker obliged.
What was stunning was the John Hersey and the New Yorker had scooped the world, a full year after the fact. No one thought it was a story worth following up. It was just war, and the war was over. Even the army had no fears that anyone would be interested.
The New Yorker had wisely sent the manuscript directly to General Groves for pre-approval, avoiding the likelihood that some lower rank censor would reduce it to nothing or reject it out of hand. Groves approved it, thinking nothing would be able to overcome the army’s yearlong hammering of the media and indoctrination of the public. And the New Yorker had no national footprint, unlike Time Magazine or the New York Times. The editors’ gamble worked; Groves asked for trivial changes only.
The global effect of the New Yorker story caught the army and the government by surprise. They obfuscated and denied, but then commissioned a blue-ribbon committee to counteract it. McGeorge Bundy and Henry Stimson, both unassailable names, were drafted to lead the counterattack. They pontificated that the atom bomb shortened the war, saved money by sending one bomb where thousands would have been needed to do the same job, and actually saved lives by scaring everyone out of continuing.
Meanwhile, the Russians got approval to send someone to Hiroshima. He reported there was no evidence of anything the article said. It was all just American propaganda. But somehow, Russian support of the army’s position did not mollify the rest of the world. Antinuclear groups formed, the nuclear Armageddon clock was created, and the world became hyper-aware and super-scared of the new nuclear threat hanging over it.
Hiroshima was the largest attack on a civilian population in history, and the US worked hard to cover it up. It almost succeeded. Blume’s message in Fallout is that although the whole world was stunned by the truth about Hiroshima, the world has also long forgotten. She says every generation seems to require a lesson in it. Nuclear war cannot be allowed to happen. Fallout from nuclear weapons will pollute the land, sea and air- and therefore all living things, far beyond human lifetimes. The horrors should not be permitted to fade from memory.
Today, Americans have few qualms about “nuking” another country (lately North Korea or Iran) and starting a nuclear war. Americans suffer from the same disease everyone always has: the farther you are from the front lines, the easier it is to push for the most violent action. As one CBS radio commentator said after reading the Hersey story: If an article like Hiroshima couldn’t save the world, nothing could.
David Wineberg
September 9, 2021
First off, if you haven't read John Hersey's original longform article Hiroshima, please do read it. It is still a shocking but essential piece of journalism on the bombing of Hiroshima.
"After millennia of contriving increasingly horrible and efficient killing machines, humans had finally invented the means with which to extinguish their entire civilization. Humankind was “stealing God’s stuff,” as E. B. White wrote in the New Yorker."
This book delves into the story of how Hersey approached the writing of the article. This in a time where there still was a taboo on criticising the US' approach in WW2, and the Pentagon had tight control of who was allowed to visit the bomb sites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The book gives an excellent overview of a generally pro-army US press (not that strange of course, it was still under a year since WW2 ended), which makes Hersey and his editors' work that more impressive. The official line from the Pentagon on the bombings was long non-existant, and when it came, it was breathtakingly insincere.
"A poll conducted the day after V-J Day revealed that the vast majority of those surveyed approved of the nuclear attacks on Japan. Nearly a quarter of those polled in a separate survey stated that they wished the United States had been able to use even more atomic bombs on Japan before the Emperor had surrendered."
I welcome any book that drives another stake in the idea that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortened WW2 in any way.
(Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
"After millennia of contriving increasingly horrible and efficient killing machines, humans had finally invented the means with which to extinguish their entire civilization. Humankind was “stealing God’s stuff,” as E. B. White wrote in the New Yorker."
This book delves into the story of how Hersey approached the writing of the article. This in a time where there still was a taboo on criticising the US' approach in WW2, and the Pentagon had tight control of who was allowed to visit the bomb sites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The book gives an excellent overview of a generally pro-army US press (not that strange of course, it was still under a year since WW2 ended), which makes Hersey and his editors' work that more impressive. The official line from the Pentagon on the bombings was long non-existant, and when it came, it was breathtakingly insincere.
"A poll conducted the day after V-J Day revealed that the vast majority of those surveyed approved of the nuclear attacks on Japan. Nearly a quarter of those polled in a separate survey stated that they wished the United States had been able to use even more atomic bombs on Japan before the Emperor had surrendered."
I welcome any book that drives another stake in the idea that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortened WW2 in any way.
(Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
August 15, 2020
On August 6, 2020, the world commemorated the dropping of a “10,000 pound uranium bomb” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The weapon referred to as the atomic bomb unleashed the nuclear age and brought about the threat to human civilization. According to journalist John Hersey the use of the bomb has kept the world safe from its use again because of the memories of the devastation unleashed on Hiroshima.
At the outset, the American government was open about the use of the weapon as President Harry Truman stated it was by far the largest bomb ever used in the history of warfare. As time went on Washington began to clamp down on information circulating as to the effects of the bomb on the city’s landscape and its people. Between 100-280,000 people may have died by the end of 1945, but the actual figure and its effects on future generations will never be known. The government tried to convince its people that the atomic bomb was a conventional superbomb and ignored its radioactive aftermath. The US military limited journalist access to the area to control its message, but reporter John Hersey was able to make his way to the site leading to his 30,000 word essay printed in the New Yorker magazine which ultimately became a book that millions of people have read since its publication in 1946. The story of how Hersey gained access to Hiroshima and the impact of his writing is the back story of Lesley M.M. Blume’s provocative new book, FALLOUT: THE HIROSHIMA COVERUP AND THE REPORTER WHO REVEALED IT TO THE WORLD.
If the reader wonders why there was so little outrage over the use of the bomb one must keep in mind the need for revenge because of Pearl Harbor. In addition, a war that produced the Holocaust, the Japanese rape of China, the eastern front, all contributed to the carnage on such an unprecedented scale that the public began to suffer from what Blume terms “atrocity exhaustion.” According to Blume, Hersey’s goal was to drive home the gruesome reality of what occurred in Hiroshima and “create a work that would help restore a shared sense of humanity,” a difficult task considering the demonization and hatred that existed among the combatants and the societies that supported them. The fallout from Hersey’s article was an embarrassment for the US government, but once the cover-up was blown, the reality of nuclear war would now be permanent.
Blume’s work is an important contribution to the literature that exists on the dropping of the bomb. Hersey’s view of the bomb changed after the second one was dropped on Nagasaki. The first he could rationalize, not the second which he saw as barbaric. Almost immediately the US government began to limit information and journalistic access as reporters were forced into what Wilfred Burchett of the Daily Express described as a “press ghetto.”
Blume focuses a great deal on the role of the New Yorker magazine under the stewardship of its founder and editor, Harold Ross and the magazine’s deputy editor William Shawn and how they supported Hersey’s desire to go to Hiroshima and report on the human element of the bombing’s aftermath. Providing important biographical information of each, Blume does an excellent job recounting their motivations, skill set, and ultimate triumph in eluding military censorship to bring the story to the public.
Blume’s research is impeccable as she quotes General Leslie Groves, the head of the Manhattan Project, particularly his commentary that dying from radiation poisoning was not a bad way to die. Comparing Hersey and Groves’ views is a useful tool that Blume employs throughout the book. Hersey’s approach to his reporting is based on a book by Thornton Wilder, THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY which detailed the lives of five people killed in Peru when a rope suspension bridge over a canyon broke. After reading the book, Hersey admired how Wilder tracked the lead-up to the accident and how these people were led to that tragic moment. Hersey’s research focused on how to connect with actual human faces; those belonging to a struggling widow and her three children, a young clerk, two doctors, a priest, and a pastor. Hersey was lucky enough to establish relationships with Father Superior Hugo Lassalle, Father Wilhelm Kleinnsorge, and Reverend Kiyoshi Taminto upon his arrival in Hiroshima who introduced him to the 25-50 survivors he interviewed during his two weeks in the city.
Blume delves into the psychological component of the survivors in detail as they were confronted with the “atomic disease” that the bomb unleashed. Hersey employed Japanese studies in addition to his own research as he avoided MacArthur’s attempts at repressing information. An excellent source to consult on this aspect of the tragedy is Robert Jay Lifton’s classic, DEATH IN LIFE:SURVIVORS OF HIROSHIMA which describes Lifton’s work in Japan after the bombing.
The narrative brings the reader inside the New Yorker editorial room as Shawn and Ross edited the article and developed a strategy as to how it should be released. Blume’s portrayal of Henry Luce of Time is priceless as the owner of the magazine could not tolerate Hersey, who at one time was his prodigal son and the New Yorker’s success.
Perhaps one of her best chapters, entitled “Aftermath” is eye opening as it portrays the military’s reaction to publication in the August 31, 1946 edition of the New Yorker and the lengths they went to counter act its influence as its cover-up was now in the open. Former Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson penned a rebuttal, and President Truman went out of his way to justify the weapon’s use as the United States now had a “Hiroshima” image problem. The US went from a global savior to a genocidal superpower in the eyes of many. Despite the government’s counter arguments, Hersey had connected atomic war with actual human faces. Once the magazine was released it sold out worldwide as did the book that was also published, fostering forever doubt as to whether the bomb should have been dropped.
Blume’s narrative is presented with an even prose that allows the reader to digest Hersey’s daring efforts and ultimate success in producing one of the most important books of the 20th century. It is a story that has remained in the background for decades, and to Blume’s credit it has now been brought to the public’s attention. FALLOUT provides powerful insights into the length’s governments will go to create a story that covers up real events and the means employed by a reporter to unearth the truth.
At the outset, the American government was open about the use of the weapon as President Harry Truman stated it was by far the largest bomb ever used in the history of warfare. As time went on Washington began to clamp down on information circulating as to the effects of the bomb on the city’s landscape and its people. Between 100-280,000 people may have died by the end of 1945, but the actual figure and its effects on future generations will never be known. The government tried to convince its people that the atomic bomb was a conventional superbomb and ignored its radioactive aftermath. The US military limited journalist access to the area to control its message, but reporter John Hersey was able to make his way to the site leading to his 30,000 word essay printed in the New Yorker magazine which ultimately became a book that millions of people have read since its publication in 1946. The story of how Hersey gained access to Hiroshima and the impact of his writing is the back story of Lesley M.M. Blume’s provocative new book, FALLOUT: THE HIROSHIMA COVERUP AND THE REPORTER WHO REVEALED IT TO THE WORLD.
If the reader wonders why there was so little outrage over the use of the bomb one must keep in mind the need for revenge because of Pearl Harbor. In addition, a war that produced the Holocaust, the Japanese rape of China, the eastern front, all contributed to the carnage on such an unprecedented scale that the public began to suffer from what Blume terms “atrocity exhaustion.” According to Blume, Hersey’s goal was to drive home the gruesome reality of what occurred in Hiroshima and “create a work that would help restore a shared sense of humanity,” a difficult task considering the demonization and hatred that existed among the combatants and the societies that supported them. The fallout from Hersey’s article was an embarrassment for the US government, but once the cover-up was blown, the reality of nuclear war would now be permanent.
Blume’s work is an important contribution to the literature that exists on the dropping of the bomb. Hersey’s view of the bomb changed after the second one was dropped on Nagasaki. The first he could rationalize, not the second which he saw as barbaric. Almost immediately the US government began to limit information and journalistic access as reporters were forced into what Wilfred Burchett of the Daily Express described as a “press ghetto.”
Blume focuses a great deal on the role of the New Yorker magazine under the stewardship of its founder and editor, Harold Ross and the magazine’s deputy editor William Shawn and how they supported Hersey’s desire to go to Hiroshima and report on the human element of the bombing’s aftermath. Providing important biographical information of each, Blume does an excellent job recounting their motivations, skill set, and ultimate triumph in eluding military censorship to bring the story to the public.
Blume’s research is impeccable as she quotes General Leslie Groves, the head of the Manhattan Project, particularly his commentary that dying from radiation poisoning was not a bad way to die. Comparing Hersey and Groves’ views is a useful tool that Blume employs throughout the book. Hersey’s approach to his reporting is based on a book by Thornton Wilder, THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY which detailed the lives of five people killed in Peru when a rope suspension bridge over a canyon broke. After reading the book, Hersey admired how Wilder tracked the lead-up to the accident and how these people were led to that tragic moment. Hersey’s research focused on how to connect with actual human faces; those belonging to a struggling widow and her three children, a young clerk, two doctors, a priest, and a pastor. Hersey was lucky enough to establish relationships with Father Superior Hugo Lassalle, Father Wilhelm Kleinnsorge, and Reverend Kiyoshi Taminto upon his arrival in Hiroshima who introduced him to the 25-50 survivors he interviewed during his two weeks in the city.
Blume delves into the psychological component of the survivors in detail as they were confronted with the “atomic disease” that the bomb unleashed. Hersey employed Japanese studies in addition to his own research as he avoided MacArthur’s attempts at repressing information. An excellent source to consult on this aspect of the tragedy is Robert Jay Lifton’s classic, DEATH IN LIFE:SURVIVORS OF HIROSHIMA which describes Lifton’s work in Japan after the bombing.
The narrative brings the reader inside the New Yorker editorial room as Shawn and Ross edited the article and developed a strategy as to how it should be released. Blume’s portrayal of Henry Luce of Time is priceless as the owner of the magazine could not tolerate Hersey, who at one time was his prodigal son and the New Yorker’s success.
Perhaps one of her best chapters, entitled “Aftermath” is eye opening as it portrays the military’s reaction to publication in the August 31, 1946 edition of the New Yorker and the lengths they went to counter act its influence as its cover-up was now in the open. Former Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson penned a rebuttal, and President Truman went out of his way to justify the weapon’s use as the United States now had a “Hiroshima” image problem. The US went from a global savior to a genocidal superpower in the eyes of many. Despite the government’s counter arguments, Hersey had connected atomic war with actual human faces. Once the magazine was released it sold out worldwide as did the book that was also published, fostering forever doubt as to whether the bomb should have been dropped.
Blume’s narrative is presented with an even prose that allows the reader to digest Hersey’s daring efforts and ultimate success in producing one of the most important books of the 20th century. It is a story that has remained in the background for decades, and to Blume’s credit it has now been brought to the public’s attention. FALLOUT provides powerful insights into the length’s governments will go to create a story that covers up real events and the means employed by a reporter to unearth the truth.
December 25, 2020
A testament to the power of journalism.
May 5, 2021
This is a good companion piece to Hiroshima, but I would have preferred something more concise. This could have been condensed to 15 pages without losing a whole lot. I honestly wish Lesley M.M. Blume could just write an introduction to Hiroshima and they could be published together.
September 12, 2020
Very much enjoyed reading this book, I had no idea about John Hersey's story and the shockwave it created. An important story and a reminder of the importance of freedom of press.
July 23, 2020
Knowing what we know today about the nuclear bomb and its devastating consequences, it’s so amazing to read this thoroughly researched report on the man who, against all odds, exposed to the world the true damage of the bomb when it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“New Yorker” journalist John Hersey was able to infiltrate Japan, meet with the victims, witness the carnage and report it without being filtered by propaganda and misinformation. This was an emotionally strenuous task taken at great cost by Hersey, who was accustomed to writing articles about pretty flowers, happy thoughts, and good things, not total annihilation by a cruel and ongoing invisible bomb that makes no sound.
John’s approach to conveying the horror is what made it so effective: he centered his article on six survivors, giving them the personable and human story that they deserved to be shared with the world. It’s no stretch of the imagination to believe that if Hersey had not persevered and printed his findings, the world would have easily seen more nuclear bombs in its future wars.
With the release of this book on the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, it’s a lucrative piece of history for anyone with any desire to learn what happened and how the world was irrevocably changed that day.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for making it available.)
“New Yorker” journalist John Hersey was able to infiltrate Japan, meet with the victims, witness the carnage and report it without being filtered by propaganda and misinformation. This was an emotionally strenuous task taken at great cost by Hersey, who was accustomed to writing articles about pretty flowers, happy thoughts, and good things, not total annihilation by a cruel and ongoing invisible bomb that makes no sound.
John’s approach to conveying the horror is what made it so effective: he centered his article on six survivors, giving them the personable and human story that they deserved to be shared with the world. It’s no stretch of the imagination to believe that if Hersey had not persevered and printed his findings, the world would have easily seen more nuclear bombs in its future wars.
With the release of this book on the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, it’s a lucrative piece of history for anyone with any desire to learn what happened and how the world was irrevocably changed that day.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for making it available.)
February 16, 2021
Delivers what the title promises, the story of how John Hersey was able to obtain entry into Hiroshima and interview 6 survivors of the atom bomb blast. More interesting, it describes how he decided how to approach his subject matter.
It also asks, is this powerful piece of expose writing still enough to act as a deterrent to the devastation of nuclear war? Is the current generation any more cognizant of all the destruction and negative health effects of such bombs? The WWII generation was deliberately shielded from such grim information. But with the expansion and proliferation of even more powerful weapons today is the current generation wary or just in pursuit of pleasure?
The book also looks at the question of whether dropping these two bombs was really necessary to end the war.
It also asks, is this powerful piece of expose writing still enough to act as a deterrent to the devastation of nuclear war? Is the current generation any more cognizant of all the destruction and negative health effects of such bombs? The WWII generation was deliberately shielded from such grim information. But with the expansion and proliferation of even more powerful weapons today is the current generation wary or just in pursuit of pleasure?
The book also looks at the question of whether dropping these two bombs was really necessary to end the war.
December 13, 2020
The promise of an engrossing detective story about the Hiroshima cover up was enough to convince me to read the book. Curious little book, since the author stated that it could’ve been 250 or 1,000 pages, but it’s only 183, counting the epilogue. The first pages are compelling, but soon the style loses its charm and becomes monotonous and repetitive.
It opens with the following statement: “What has kept the world safe from the bomb since 1945 has been the memory of what happened at Hiroshima.” John Hersey. That could’ve made sense before the US started dropping bombs, but never mind that.
The author states that Hersey’s article “served as an unnerving reminder to the readers that their elected government leaders operated on many clandestine levels, and not always in their best interest.” How deep.
There are harsh words for Leslie Groves, Patton & MacArthur, but the absence of the role in it of the group of brilliant scientists, or politicians like FDR or Truman, made me think that something was missing, something fundamental to the subject. Irrelevancies are quoted, but words referring to the bomb like: “the greatest thing in history” by Truman are not mentioned at all. Neither was the fact that Einstein regretted that he had written to FDR suggesting to start a nuclear program. Why? It seems that Hiroshima happened just because Groves, Patton, and MacArthur were evil, according to the book’s author.
There is a reference to this great tragedy of Hiroshima indicating that 100,000 people were killed by the bomb's power of destruction. However the book barely mentions the Nanjing Massacre (not the Rape). This tragedy was carried out with no atomic bombs by the Japanese troops over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937, and they raped and massacred an estimated 40,000 to 300,000 residents. The exact number is unknown because of the secrecy of the Japanese military records. Where was the free press then?
If we account for other countries where tyranny was rampant, for example the gulags and the whole regime of the Soviet Union, and the Nazi concentration camps, they have this common ideology, inspired by Marx. The number of its victims surpasses many violent confrontations in the world all added together. So, how can we ignore those victims with numbers so large they’re almost inconceivable?
The book seems to single out the US as a power that censors and is an able propagandist. However, comparing Japan vs Japan, what can we say when Hiroshima was censored by Japan, as well as recently when Japan censored reports of Fukushima's radiation?
I’m very much in favor of the ideal of a free and independent press. Who wouldn’t be? But what is the use of calling for a free press when it uses its freedom to silence and mock dissenting voices? What is the use of a free press if its ‘freedom’ is reduced to printing partisan political propaganda? Much of the press is from a particular political party or ideology. And that is a tragedy. Remember, there was a time when a Guardian editor was outed as an agent of the KGB, but his boss tried to persuade him to stay on staff. Another example is the NYT covering up for the Soviet Union vis-a-vis the Ukraine famine, caused by uncle Joe’s policies. Free? to do what exactly?
The author conflated the Hiroshima bombing with other issues. On page 13 she states: “Experts maintain that climate change is contributing to the dangerous nuclear landscape, and civil wars sparked in part by environmental upheaval are a factor in forcing refugee movement in records numbers.” What has that to do with a WWII event?!
According to The Guardian, in an article published before Trump’s taking office, there were these warnings: “Looking back at President Obama’s legacy, the Council on Foreign Relation’s Micah Zenko added up the Defense Department’s data on airstrikes and made a startling revelation: in 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; that’s three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day.”
And don’t forget that Obama launched airstrikes or military raids in at least seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. And we are supposed to believe that is not up to the person who ordered those attacks but was caused by climate change? That’s too much. Where was the free press then? What did a huge refugee crisis provoked by someone making a wrong decision have to do with the environment?
I don’t remember any environmental reason for the rise of Chavez and the subsequent terrible refugee crisis, which was almost completely ignored by the free press.
The book includes some “refreshers” alleging we have not learned anything from the tragedy of Hiroshima. “Nuclear conflict may mean the end of life on this planet. Mass dehumanization can lead to a genocide. The death of an independent press can lead to tyranny and render a population helpless to protect itself against a government that disdains law and conscience.”
At first reading those words seem important. But in examining them more closely I found that, for example, the Krakatoa volcano’s explosion liberated the equivalent to 11,000 atomic bombs. Considering that currently there are 13,890 atomic bombs in the world, one natural event is capable of the destruction that at least 79% of all the arsenal available in the entire world would cause. And yet life on earth didn’t end, despite a much lower population and more rudimentary lifestyle.
What about tyranny and genocide? Have we not had enough of the real Adolf Hitler, Uncle Joe, Pol Pot, Castro, Chavez, Ortega, etc etc. How many of them even knew the phrase “climate change” except for the normal change of seasons?
The words of a no-name journalist are quoted, as if they were vital. Those words are about "Atomic Bill" described as: “a small, dark man… with flattened nose and a wild shock of hair.” As far I know, not counting on the cosmetic surgeries, nobody chooses their physical appearance, so there's no reason to make our countenance equal to “evil,” nor as “good.” Was not this what MLK rejected? Is it not an American ideal to be judged by our character alone? Are we losing that ideal? Sadly, not a word about Atomic Bill’s character, or his leftist ideology, the fact that he participated in the Russian Revolution, emigrated to America, went to Harvard, and shared the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Reporting, is said.
I haven't seen anybody denying that the reporting on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an act of US military censorship and propaganda. History books recognize that as a fact. As it should be. However, nowadays there is a proliferation, promoted by some ex-bureaucrats who think they are indispensable, along with some of their supporters in the media, of the use of nuclear power camouflaged as 'peaceful,' especially in nations known for their repressive regimes. So, I wonder how the same group of people can hold those opposing beliefs in their own mind. It's mindboggling in the least and defies logic. Unfortunately they are a very common type. It is a tragedy of our time that those people hold a big megaphone, silencing the rest of the population, but perhaps it is in that large majority where the answer resides.
Here are some words from the ‘free press’ regarding climate change (from the NYT): “Sometime after the age of 16, most people learn that not even the members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are above self-interest and human error.” (...) “Increasingly, climate agitators want action, not distraction. That often requires demonizing anyone who stands in the way.” It is almost touching that this newspaper tells us not believe those experts.
There are too many words used intending to instill fear. And despite all the current tyrants in the world, of whom the free press seem not to take any notice, humans are not so powerful as to end life on earth, It seems pretty arrogant to assume that. What kind of regulation is so able to stop the explosion of the volcanoes? The book promised to be an engrossing mystery detective story. Maybe it’s time to grab a real one.
It opens with the following statement: “What has kept the world safe from the bomb since 1945 has been the memory of what happened at Hiroshima.” John Hersey. That could’ve made sense before the US started dropping bombs, but never mind that.
The author states that Hersey’s article “served as an unnerving reminder to the readers that their elected government leaders operated on many clandestine levels, and not always in their best interest.” How deep.
There are harsh words for Leslie Groves, Patton & MacArthur, but the absence of the role in it of the group of brilliant scientists, or politicians like FDR or Truman, made me think that something was missing, something fundamental to the subject. Irrelevancies are quoted, but words referring to the bomb like: “the greatest thing in history” by Truman are not mentioned at all. Neither was the fact that Einstein regretted that he had written to FDR suggesting to start a nuclear program. Why? It seems that Hiroshima happened just because Groves, Patton, and MacArthur were evil, according to the book’s author.
There is a reference to this great tragedy of Hiroshima indicating that 100,000 people were killed by the bomb's power of destruction. However the book barely mentions the Nanjing Massacre (not the Rape). This tragedy was carried out with no atomic bombs by the Japanese troops over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937, and they raped and massacred an estimated 40,000 to 300,000 residents. The exact number is unknown because of the secrecy of the Japanese military records. Where was the free press then?
If we account for other countries where tyranny was rampant, for example the gulags and the whole regime of the Soviet Union, and the Nazi concentration camps, they have this common ideology, inspired by Marx. The number of its victims surpasses many violent confrontations in the world all added together. So, how can we ignore those victims with numbers so large they’re almost inconceivable?
The book seems to single out the US as a power that censors and is an able propagandist. However, comparing Japan vs Japan, what can we say when Hiroshima was censored by Japan, as well as recently when Japan censored reports of Fukushima's radiation?
I’m very much in favor of the ideal of a free and independent press. Who wouldn’t be? But what is the use of calling for a free press when it uses its freedom to silence and mock dissenting voices? What is the use of a free press if its ‘freedom’ is reduced to printing partisan political propaganda? Much of the press is from a particular political party or ideology. And that is a tragedy. Remember, there was a time when a Guardian editor was outed as an agent of the KGB, but his boss tried to persuade him to stay on staff. Another example is the NYT covering up for the Soviet Union vis-a-vis the Ukraine famine, caused by uncle Joe’s policies. Free? to do what exactly?
The author conflated the Hiroshima bombing with other issues. On page 13 she states: “Experts maintain that climate change is contributing to the dangerous nuclear landscape, and civil wars sparked in part by environmental upheaval are a factor in forcing refugee movement in records numbers.” What has that to do with a WWII event?!
According to The Guardian, in an article published before Trump’s taking office, there were these warnings: “Looking back at President Obama’s legacy, the Council on Foreign Relation’s Micah Zenko added up the Defense Department’s data on airstrikes and made a startling revelation: in 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; that’s three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day.”
And don’t forget that Obama launched airstrikes or military raids in at least seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. And we are supposed to believe that is not up to the person who ordered those attacks but was caused by climate change? That’s too much. Where was the free press then? What did a huge refugee crisis provoked by someone making a wrong decision have to do with the environment?
I don’t remember any environmental reason for the rise of Chavez and the subsequent terrible refugee crisis, which was almost completely ignored by the free press.
The book includes some “refreshers” alleging we have not learned anything from the tragedy of Hiroshima. “Nuclear conflict may mean the end of life on this planet. Mass dehumanization can lead to a genocide. The death of an independent press can lead to tyranny and render a population helpless to protect itself against a government that disdains law and conscience.”
At first reading those words seem important. But in examining them more closely I found that, for example, the Krakatoa volcano’s explosion liberated the equivalent to 11,000 atomic bombs. Considering that currently there are 13,890 atomic bombs in the world, one natural event is capable of the destruction that at least 79% of all the arsenal available in the entire world would cause. And yet life on earth didn’t end, despite a much lower population and more rudimentary lifestyle.
What about tyranny and genocide? Have we not had enough of the real Adolf Hitler, Uncle Joe, Pol Pot, Castro, Chavez, Ortega, etc etc. How many of them even knew the phrase “climate change” except for the normal change of seasons?
The words of a no-name journalist are quoted, as if they were vital. Those words are about "Atomic Bill" described as: “a small, dark man… with flattened nose and a wild shock of hair.” As far I know, not counting on the cosmetic surgeries, nobody chooses their physical appearance, so there's no reason to make our countenance equal to “evil,” nor as “good.” Was not this what MLK rejected? Is it not an American ideal to be judged by our character alone? Are we losing that ideal? Sadly, not a word about Atomic Bill’s character, or his leftist ideology, the fact that he participated in the Russian Revolution, emigrated to America, went to Harvard, and shared the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Reporting, is said.
I haven't seen anybody denying that the reporting on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an act of US military censorship and propaganda. History books recognize that as a fact. As it should be. However, nowadays there is a proliferation, promoted by some ex-bureaucrats who think they are indispensable, along with some of their supporters in the media, of the use of nuclear power camouflaged as 'peaceful,' especially in nations known for their repressive regimes. So, I wonder how the same group of people can hold those opposing beliefs in their own mind. It's mindboggling in the least and defies logic. Unfortunately they are a very common type. It is a tragedy of our time that those people hold a big megaphone, silencing the rest of the population, but perhaps it is in that large majority where the answer resides.
Here are some words from the ‘free press’ regarding climate change (from the NYT): “Sometime after the age of 16, most people learn that not even the members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are above self-interest and human error.” (...) “Increasingly, climate agitators want action, not distraction. That often requires demonizing anyone who stands in the way.” It is almost touching that this newspaper tells us not believe those experts.
There are too many words used intending to instill fear. And despite all the current tyrants in the world, of whom the free press seem not to take any notice, humans are not so powerful as to end life on earth, It seems pretty arrogant to assume that. What kind of regulation is so able to stop the explosion of the volcanoes? The book promised to be an engrossing mystery detective story. Maybe it’s time to grab a real one.
September 17, 2020
A solid, well-written work of history that does exactly what it set out to do: tell the story of how John Hersey's monumental book "Hiroshima" came to be. There's not a lot of drama, of course -- how could there be: we know how things worked out in the end -- but Blume covers the story well, from Hersey's original idea of the article, to his trip to the devastated city and his encounters with military censorship, the subterfuge Hersey and the New Yorker editors had to use as the work was written and edited, the vetting process, and the aftermath. It is perhaps unsurprisingly, a timely book, given that Hersey was shedding light on something the government would rather have kept in shadows. Blume devotes several pages to the reaction the magazine article (and subsequent book) elicited. Millions were shocked at the damage the A-bombs had done, and publication of the article led to soul-searching about whether this terrible new weapon should ever be used again, as well as anger that the U.S. government had lied about the effects of radioactivity. Others were furious at what they saw as a shocking attack on America, obviously the work of Communists and their sympathizers -- which was ironic, given that the Soviet Union barred the article from being translated into Russian. Las plus ça change...
Underlying the whole story is, of course, a particularly timely defense of how a free press is necessary for a democracy to work. The author makes this point explicitly in the final paragraph of her book.
Underlying the whole story is, of course, a particularly timely defense of how a free press is necessary for a democracy to work. The author makes this point explicitly in the final paragraph of her book.
Read
March 2, 2021Lesley Blume brings a reportorial mastery worthy of her subject, compellingly told on every page. Here, finally discovered, is the dramatic story of how John Hersey produced what is widely regarded as the greatest piece of American journalism of the 20th century.
Carl Bernstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, co-author of All the President’s Men, and author of A Woman in Charge
Fallout is gripping history. A big, important story; deeply researched and well told.Dan Rather
In Fallout, Lesley Blume brilliantly tells the story of how John Hersey made his epic book ‘Hiroshima,’ which had a profound effect on the way people came to regard atomic warfare. But the memory of his book has grown dim, and Fallout serves as an essential reminder of the lessons we once learned from Hersey’s reporting.
William J. Perry, 19th US Secretary of Defense
In documenting how John Hersey pulled off one of the greatest journalistic feats in history, Blume has herself pulled off a great feat. Fallout is a fast-paced, deeply reported revelation.
Gay Talese, award-winning journalist, and author of High Notes and The Voyeur’s Motel
At a time when our world-destroying arsenal of nuclear weapons seems to have been all but forgotten, Lesley Blume’s eloquent rediscovery of the story behind John Hersey’s startling 1946 narrative ‘Hiroshima’ reminds us again of the vast human disaster even a small, primitive atomic bomb can visit upon the world.
Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
A searing testament to the power of journalism, truth-telling, and a story to help us remember our shared humanity … an urgent read.
Sarah Sentilles, author of Draw Your Weapons
Journalism at its finest … Blume’s tight, fast-moving book, pegged to the 75th anniversary of the bombing, tells Hersey’s story as he raced to gather sources, wrote in absolute secrecy, and then published a deeply empathetic, almost unbelievably distressing article.
Bloomberg
Blume uncovers the fascinating backstory to perhaps the most influential piece ever published by an American magazine: John Hersey’s 1946 report on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. A work of historical excavation … [her] narrative never flags in its drama. STARRED REVIEW
Kirkus Reviews
Fallout reveals the inside story of one of history’s most astonishing journalistic scoops, the cynical government cover-up it circumvented, and the extraordinary effort it took to bring the terrible costs of the atomic age to light.
Adam Higginbotham, author of Midnight in Chernobyl
John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’ has been a legend of American journalism since its first appearance in The New Yorker, and the story it tells, and how that story got told, was one we thought we knew. Now Lesley Blume shows us how little we really knew about Hersey and ‘Hiroshima’ both – and gives us a new and truly heroic story of censorship defied, taboos broken, truth sought, and editor and author committed together to serious purpose. This extraordinary book can help restore the morale of American journalism at a time when it badly needs it.
Adam Gopnik, author of A Thousand Small Sanities
[A] thrilling behind-the-scenes account of John Hersey’s seminal 1946 report on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima … This enthralling, fine-grained chronicle reveals what it takes to cut through ‘dangerously anesthetizing’ statistics and speak truth to power. STARRED REVIEW
Publisher’s Weekly
Blume skillfully reconstructs the players involved and the hidden history of one of the greatest cover-ups in modern history.
Town & Country
Blume [is] a tireless researcher and beautiful writer, who moves through her narrative with seeming effortlessness — a trick that belies the skill and hard labour required to produce such prose … Fallout is a warning without being a polemic … a book of serious intent that is nonetheless pleasant to read. There are knowable reasons for this, including Blume’s flawless paragraphs; her clear narrative structure; her compelling stories, subplots and insights.
William Langewiesche, The New York Times
It is a brilliantly conceived and impeccably researched book … [A] testament of the courage of a free press etc.
Lew Whittington, The New York Journal of Books
Blume’s meticulously researched tale of the lengths to which a government will go to keep the truth from reaching its citizens might be exactly what everyone should be reading at this deeply worrisome juncture … The book is timely on its own, however, as the idea that a democracy’s highest officials might use verbal sleights of hand to distract citizens from a crisis has been cropping up of late … is at its most gripping when Blume describes the article’s immediate, dramatic impact on a public that had been kept in the dark about the human devastation in Hiroshima … It’s clear that Blume poured herself into this project. For a sense of the sheer amount of work that went into it, just read her acknowledgments. Where most authors’ acknowledgments are heartfelt but brief, Blume’s run seven pages. Her endnotes take up a whopping 64 pages … [C]ompelling.
Katie Hafner, The Washington Post
As a history lover, I find that Fallout gives powerful insights into the way that a government can weave a story to justify the actions it takes, and also into the fearless reporting about what really happened in Hiroshima. Blume’s tireless reporting gives important context to an understudied slice of US history.
Andrea King Collier, The Christian Science Monitor
[/i>Fallout] is as riveting as it is disturbing.
Fiona Capp, Sydney Morning Herald
Fallout gives the perfect backstory on an article, and an event, that reshaped the world.
Brian Dale, LSJ Online
Totally riveting … It turns out that a lot of the issues that journalists are struggling with now, in terms of slowing down, telling a big story, telling a story of tragedy that resonates with people, was just as hard then as it is now. Hersey cracked the code a bit, and understanding how he did that is really helpful for us moving forward [in the time of COVID]. I really loved this book.
Kyle Pope, editor and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review
[A] cliff-hanging saga of an intrepid young newsman outplaying his own government to get the facts.
The Wall Street Journal
[A] brilliant book … [Fallout] tells the incredible story of how New Yorker journalist John Hersey of Hiroshima fame was able to go to the Japanese city in the aftermath of the bombing and interview six survivors … [T]he book powerfully shows how one courageous American reporter unraveled one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century — the true effects of the atomic bomb.
Sara Z. Kutchesfahani, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Meticulously researched and elegantly written … [Fallout is] an important reminder that the biggest stories may be hiding in plain sight; that breaking news coverage is essential but may not convey the full magnitude of an event; and that a writer may be far better served by laying out a detailed, chronological account in spartan prose, even when the story is so horrific it seems to demand a polemic.
The Nation
[A]n amazing testimony to the courage of [John] Hersey and a stark reminder that anti-proliferation efforts remain necessary.
Octavian Report
[P]articularly relevant now that the US and Russia are moving away from agreements that restrained them from starting a new nuclear arms race. It is a reminder not to ignore the suffering and total destruction a nuclear war can unleash.
The Seattle Times
[C]aptures the beginning of the Atomic Age and shows us how unprepared the world was for it. It also reminds us that even democratically elected governments are inclined to secrecy, and that this inclination rarely benefits the people they serve … [A] book that deserves a wide readership.
The Oregonian
An all-too-vivid and [an] all-too-accurate account of how New Yorker journalist John Hersey's essay, ‘Hiroshima,’ was created … Blume’s work, like Hersey’s, is a testament to the power of fine journalism. She brilliantly recreates his fragile position as the ultimate whistleblower, as well as his earth-shaking reporting.
bookreporter
A lucid and powerful story of a reporter who broke one of the biggest stories of the twentieth century and returned a sense of humanity to the idea of warfare … [O]ne of my favourite books this year.
Jess Walter, author of The Cold Millions
Blume’s literary style is a seamless combination of exceptional journalism, meticulous historical investigation and superb storytelling. Her prose is accessible to both professionals as well as the general public — a feat not often achieved by authors with similar credentials … If you thought you knew everything there is to know about the dawn of the nuclear era, think again. Unless you read Fallout, your education on the subject will remain woefully inadequate. Moreover, if you want to know how your government works — then and now — you need to rush to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of this one. Highly, highly recommended.
Bowling Green Daily News
A clearly written, insightful, and absorbing account of John Hersey … who worked out how to describe the overarching destruction and horror of nuclear war.
Newtown Review of Books
[S]traightforward, tightly structured, and thoroughly researched … The prose is jam-packed and doesn’t pull punches, maximising impact by presenting the contrast between government-endorsed propaganda and Hersey’s survivors’ harsh realities. Even while summarising familiar events, Blume avoids redundancy, seamlessly blending well-known elements with information gleaned through her own extensive research endeavours. Despite the age of the story, it feels timely and fresh, and Blume’s attention to detail and talent for distilling a wealth of information make for a rich, gripping read … A compelling, unsettling success, [Fallout], which doubles as a history lesson and a dire warning, provides her readers with a timely and necessary reminder that will stick with them long after finishing the book.
World Literature Today
An absorbing new book … If the mainstream media ever regains the public’s trust, it will be because of journalists like Hersey who genuinely seek the truth wherever it is to be found, and institutions run by editors who, like Harold Ross, aim to ‘present the truth and the whole truth without fear.’
UnHerd
An engrossing book that offers us all the chance to learn the lessons from one of history’s terrible tragedies.
Military Books Australia
Carl Bernstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, co-author of All the President’s Men, and author of A Woman in Charge
Fallout is gripping history. A big, important story; deeply researched and well told.Dan Rather
In Fallout, Lesley Blume brilliantly tells the story of how John Hersey made his epic book ‘Hiroshima,’ which had a profound effect on the way people came to regard atomic warfare. But the memory of his book has grown dim, and Fallout serves as an essential reminder of the lessons we once learned from Hersey’s reporting.
William J. Perry, 19th US Secretary of Defense
In documenting how John Hersey pulled off one of the greatest journalistic feats in history, Blume has herself pulled off a great feat. Fallout is a fast-paced, deeply reported revelation.
Gay Talese, award-winning journalist, and author of High Notes and The Voyeur’s Motel
At a time when our world-destroying arsenal of nuclear weapons seems to have been all but forgotten, Lesley Blume’s eloquent rediscovery of the story behind John Hersey’s startling 1946 narrative ‘Hiroshima’ reminds us again of the vast human disaster even a small, primitive atomic bomb can visit upon the world.
Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
A searing testament to the power of journalism, truth-telling, and a story to help us remember our shared humanity … an urgent read.
Sarah Sentilles, author of Draw Your Weapons
Journalism at its finest … Blume’s tight, fast-moving book, pegged to the 75th anniversary of the bombing, tells Hersey’s story as he raced to gather sources, wrote in absolute secrecy, and then published a deeply empathetic, almost unbelievably distressing article.
Bloomberg
Blume uncovers the fascinating backstory to perhaps the most influential piece ever published by an American magazine: John Hersey’s 1946 report on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. A work of historical excavation … [her] narrative never flags in its drama. STARRED REVIEW
Kirkus Reviews
Fallout reveals the inside story of one of history’s most astonishing journalistic scoops, the cynical government cover-up it circumvented, and the extraordinary effort it took to bring the terrible costs of the atomic age to light.
Adam Higginbotham, author of Midnight in Chernobyl
John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’ has been a legend of American journalism since its first appearance in The New Yorker, and the story it tells, and how that story got told, was one we thought we knew. Now Lesley Blume shows us how little we really knew about Hersey and ‘Hiroshima’ both – and gives us a new and truly heroic story of censorship defied, taboos broken, truth sought, and editor and author committed together to serious purpose. This extraordinary book can help restore the morale of American journalism at a time when it badly needs it.
Adam Gopnik, author of A Thousand Small Sanities
[A] thrilling behind-the-scenes account of John Hersey’s seminal 1946 report on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima … This enthralling, fine-grained chronicle reveals what it takes to cut through ‘dangerously anesthetizing’ statistics and speak truth to power. STARRED REVIEW
Publisher’s Weekly
Blume skillfully reconstructs the players involved and the hidden history of one of the greatest cover-ups in modern history.
Town & Country
Blume [is] a tireless researcher and beautiful writer, who moves through her narrative with seeming effortlessness — a trick that belies the skill and hard labour required to produce such prose … Fallout is a warning without being a polemic … a book of serious intent that is nonetheless pleasant to read. There are knowable reasons for this, including Blume’s flawless paragraphs; her clear narrative structure; her compelling stories, subplots and insights.
William Langewiesche, The New York Times
It is a brilliantly conceived and impeccably researched book … [A] testament of the courage of a free press etc.
Lew Whittington, The New York Journal of Books
Blume’s meticulously researched tale of the lengths to which a government will go to keep the truth from reaching its citizens might be exactly what everyone should be reading at this deeply worrisome juncture … The book is timely on its own, however, as the idea that a democracy’s highest officials might use verbal sleights of hand to distract citizens from a crisis has been cropping up of late … is at its most gripping when Blume describes the article’s immediate, dramatic impact on a public that had been kept in the dark about the human devastation in Hiroshima … It’s clear that Blume poured herself into this project. For a sense of the sheer amount of work that went into it, just read her acknowledgments. Where most authors’ acknowledgments are heartfelt but brief, Blume’s run seven pages. Her endnotes take up a whopping 64 pages … [C]ompelling.
Katie Hafner, The Washington Post
As a history lover, I find that Fallout gives powerful insights into the way that a government can weave a story to justify the actions it takes, and also into the fearless reporting about what really happened in Hiroshima. Blume’s tireless reporting gives important context to an understudied slice of US history.
Andrea King Collier, The Christian Science Monitor
[/i>Fallout] is as riveting as it is disturbing.
Fiona Capp, Sydney Morning Herald
Fallout gives the perfect backstory on an article, and an event, that reshaped the world.
Brian Dale, LSJ Online
Totally riveting … It turns out that a lot of the issues that journalists are struggling with now, in terms of slowing down, telling a big story, telling a story of tragedy that resonates with people, was just as hard then as it is now. Hersey cracked the code a bit, and understanding how he did that is really helpful for us moving forward [in the time of COVID]. I really loved this book.
Kyle Pope, editor and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review
[A] cliff-hanging saga of an intrepid young newsman outplaying his own government to get the facts.
The Wall Street Journal
[A] brilliant book … [Fallout] tells the incredible story of how New Yorker journalist John Hersey of Hiroshima fame was able to go to the Japanese city in the aftermath of the bombing and interview six survivors … [T]he book powerfully shows how one courageous American reporter unraveled one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century — the true effects of the atomic bomb.
Sara Z. Kutchesfahani, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Meticulously researched and elegantly written … [Fallout is] an important reminder that the biggest stories may be hiding in plain sight; that breaking news coverage is essential but may not convey the full magnitude of an event; and that a writer may be far better served by laying out a detailed, chronological account in spartan prose, even when the story is so horrific it seems to demand a polemic.
The Nation
[A]n amazing testimony to the courage of [John] Hersey and a stark reminder that anti-proliferation efforts remain necessary.
Octavian Report
[P]articularly relevant now that the US and Russia are moving away from agreements that restrained them from starting a new nuclear arms race. It is a reminder not to ignore the suffering and total destruction a nuclear war can unleash.
The Seattle Times
[C]aptures the beginning of the Atomic Age and shows us how unprepared the world was for it. It also reminds us that even democratically elected governments are inclined to secrecy, and that this inclination rarely benefits the people they serve … [A] book that deserves a wide readership.
The Oregonian
An all-too-vivid and [an] all-too-accurate account of how New Yorker journalist John Hersey's essay, ‘Hiroshima,’ was created … Blume’s work, like Hersey’s, is a testament to the power of fine journalism. She brilliantly recreates his fragile position as the ultimate whistleblower, as well as his earth-shaking reporting.
bookreporter
A lucid and powerful story of a reporter who broke one of the biggest stories of the twentieth century and returned a sense of humanity to the idea of warfare … [O]ne of my favourite books this year.
Jess Walter, author of The Cold Millions
Blume’s literary style is a seamless combination of exceptional journalism, meticulous historical investigation and superb storytelling. Her prose is accessible to both professionals as well as the general public — a feat not often achieved by authors with similar credentials … If you thought you knew everything there is to know about the dawn of the nuclear era, think again. Unless you read Fallout, your education on the subject will remain woefully inadequate. Moreover, if you want to know how your government works — then and now — you need to rush to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of this one. Highly, highly recommended.
Bowling Green Daily News
A clearly written, insightful, and absorbing account of John Hersey … who worked out how to describe the overarching destruction and horror of nuclear war.
Newtown Review of Books
[S]traightforward, tightly structured, and thoroughly researched … The prose is jam-packed and doesn’t pull punches, maximising impact by presenting the contrast between government-endorsed propaganda and Hersey’s survivors’ harsh realities. Even while summarising familiar events, Blume avoids redundancy, seamlessly blending well-known elements with information gleaned through her own extensive research endeavours. Despite the age of the story, it feels timely and fresh, and Blume’s attention to detail and talent for distilling a wealth of information make for a rich, gripping read … A compelling, unsettling success, [Fallout], which doubles as a history lesson and a dire warning, provides her readers with a timely and necessary reminder that will stick with them long after finishing the book.
World Literature Today
An absorbing new book … If the mainstream media ever regains the public’s trust, it will be because of journalists like Hersey who genuinely seek the truth wherever it is to be found, and institutions run by editors who, like Harold Ross, aim to ‘present the truth and the whole truth without fear.’
UnHerd
An engrossing book that offers us all the chance to learn the lessons from one of history’s terrible tragedies.
Military Books Australia
September 9, 2024
Fallout tells the story of how journalist John Hersey and The New Yorker achieved "the scoop in plain sight" in August 1946 by publishing the accounts of six survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. As Hersey awaited permission to go to Hiroshima, he read Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey. That book gave Hersey the simple but impactful idea of profiling six individuals whose paths intersected on the day of the bombing. The result was an article that covered an entire issue of The New Yorker--and also put a human face on the tragedy at Hiroshima that cold statistics never could.
I was fascinated reading this alongside Hersey's original Hiroshima piece, which has existed in book form since shortly after its initial publication in 1946. Hiroshima is powerful all on its own, but Fallout really highlights just how unprecedented the piece was at the time, and how many ways the effort might have failed if Hersey and his editors hadn't done everything just right. Fallout also shines a light on Hiroshima's legacy down through ensuing decades.
I was fascinated reading this alongside Hersey's original Hiroshima piece, which has existed in book form since shortly after its initial publication in 1946. Hiroshima is powerful all on its own, but Fallout really highlights just how unprecedented the piece was at the time, and how many ways the effort might have failed if Hersey and his editors hadn't done everything just right. Fallout also shines a light on Hiroshima's legacy down through ensuing decades.
September 4, 2020
Just finished this great book. As a huge Hersey fan, this was like sipping fine wine - an elegant look at a writer of timeless courage and class.
November 5, 2022
I did not enjoy the bias nor the lack of original material. This seems like a book report on John Hershey.
July 30, 2025
Akin to watching the Special Features on a BluRay which incidentally is one of my favourite activities. Unfortunately the writing felt a bit grad school thesis at times which isn't a crime but meant not every punch landed for me. Fabulous as a follow-up to Hiroshima though :)
August 29, 2023
Fallout
Author: Lesley MM Blume
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
________________________________________
The Page 100 Test:
√ ◄ - good to go.
$[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] ◄ - this is money.
‼ ◄ - better than expected
_________________________________________
The Feel:
Based on Americans being Americans, I'm surprised that Hersey and the New Yorker didn't receive death threats. You can feel it in the pages. The jingo hated them. The Feds weren’t sure what to do since they had slipped it through the censors in a novel way, pulling an end run through Groves's office.
Least Favorite Character:
Lesley Groves, general commanding the Manhattan Project, telling the American public and press when the story of the bombs radiation got out that "radiation poisoning is a pleasant way to die." Scumbag.
Course there were plenty of scumbags scattered throughout this story.
Meh-cArthur.
If General Groves had been scrambling back in the States to contain the Hiroshima story, these journalists felt from the beginning that General MacArthur would likely have an additional personal reason for vigorously suppressing reporting on the bombed cities and downplaying the bomb in general: "(jealousy) of the fact that his war of four years had been won by two bombs prepared without his knowledge and dropped without his command," as George Weller put it. In his opinion, MacArthur had 'determined to do his best to erase it from history --or at least blur, as well as censorship, could--the important human lessons of radiation's effects on civilian populations."
That is the most in-character thing I've ever read about Douglas MacArthur.
Since I spend so much time in this review busting Groves's balls, I should spread that around some. Conant was a snake whispering in the ear of the post-Hiroshima US government. If America had a real Dr. Poison, this was the guy. Poison gas formulation work in WW1, and involvement in the political arm, target selection, and management of the Manhattan Project. Maybe that's unfair to him, but it's how he's presented. And reaching beyond the book, the information available makes the same point.
Overused Phrase/Concept:
The massive effort to cover up the devastation of the atomic bomb blasts seem counterintuitive. They wanted the world to know that they needed to be on their toes, but still wanted to be the shining knight of the world. One of the watchwords of the day was that you could get bombed back to the Stone Age, but in reality, it was bombing you into ash and radiation sickness.
Uhm Moments:
Really hope the author isn't about to give Truman, Conant, Stimson, and the propagandists the last word. That would cheapen his entire thesis here.
Wait...the Japanese were preparing to surrender as much as 3 months before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? And had put out peace feelers thru the Soviets? Starts to make using the bomb as much about the next war as it was about ending that one. Their main condition, the Emperor remains on the throne. After the war, the Emperor remained on the throne.
Chicago Daily News reporter George Weller, the first foreign correspondent into post-bomb Nagasaki - "(talking about the American people) They did not want to be fooled. They wanted to hear the truth. They could take it." We were made differently back then.
Wait...What?:
There's a 7-11 at ground zero in Hiroshima. That's obscene.
The Sigh:
Propaganda under propaganda, hidden behind more propaganda.
Whole lotta what-if-ing this away, but failure to look at the work of your own hand is disingenuous. Of course, the government side won. they managed to propagandize to such a degree that their version became deeply embedded in the historical record. Hersey's Hiroshima managed to become part of the conversation too, but there was a full-court press to tamp it down that largely worked. Just look at the history books that Gen X had in school, it’s the propagandized version to the hilt.
Suspension of Disbelief:
General Leslie Groves trying to have his cake and eat it too. Clears the censors' staff on the Hiroshima article, then wants to be part of the propagandist response. Still can't believe that he said on the record that radiation sickness was a pleasant way to die. He saw the Trinity Tests. He had first-hand knowledge of what they were looking at. He had the scientists on hand telling him what that was going to look like. Did he have his head that far up his own ass or was he so jingoed up that he couldn’t see beyond the brightness of the stars?
Your ~ism is Showing:
Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here warned of the rise of toxic populism, vicious government propaganda machines, The assault on truth and the facts, the ascent of despotic leaders, warning that it could indeed happen in the United States even though Americans tended to see themselves as almost compositionally invulnerable to such events. If only that were true.
Wisdom:
The Hiroshima/Nagasaki coverup birthed the era where the shadows grew longer and the secrets grew bigger.
Juxtaposition:
The nationalist jingoism and propaganda were strong in that era. How many pages in before Hersey is called an INSERT SLUR HERE-lover or communist? Just based on the era and attitudes of many of those he's having to interact with, you know it's coming. And, of course, death threats in 3...2...1... Freedom of the press...as long as they say and print exactly what we want them to.
The juxtaposition of this with the history as told and taught casts American leadership at the time in a harsh light. From and including peace overtures that the Japanese made through the Russians before Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Apparently, they were ready to call it quits as much as 3 months earlier. Also, the "a million Allied soldiers would die trying to take Japan," is a lie. Truman had estimates on hand that showed that casualties would've been 4% of that. This is still a lot of guys dying, but taken in the context that we have now, Japan was willing to surrender provided they got to keep the Emperor, which they did in the eventual surrender anyway... A lot of the justification for using the bomb seems to come back to Pearl Harbor and the treatment of POWs and it being about vengeance. Or, the purported, inflated potential for a million casualties. But after reading this, I lean hard on the demonstration/warning to the rest of the world aspect.
Forgotten Lesson/Forgotten Common Sense:
So, the 1 million possible Allied casualties that could have happened if they had invaded Japan at the end of World War 2 was all a propaganda psyop meant to make the atomic bombings look more necessary. Truman apparently had estimates in hand that were less than 4% of that number. I never knew that.
Missed Opportunity:
Wonder if there is an alternate history story out there where MacArthur declared himself Emperor of the conquered Japan? Would make a helluva story.
=======================================
Author: Lesley MM Blume
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
________________________________________
The Page 100 Test:
√ ◄ - good to go.
$[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] ◄ - this is money.
‼ ◄ - better than expected
_________________________________________
The Feel:
Based on Americans being Americans, I'm surprised that Hersey and the New Yorker didn't receive death threats. You can feel it in the pages. The jingo hated them. The Feds weren’t sure what to do since they had slipped it through the censors in a novel way, pulling an end run through Groves's office.
Least Favorite Character:
Lesley Groves, general commanding the Manhattan Project, telling the American public and press when the story of the bombs radiation got out that "radiation poisoning is a pleasant way to die." Scumbag.
Course there were plenty of scumbags scattered throughout this story.
Meh-cArthur.
If General Groves had been scrambling back in the States to contain the Hiroshima story, these journalists felt from the beginning that General MacArthur would likely have an additional personal reason for vigorously suppressing reporting on the bombed cities and downplaying the bomb in general: "(jealousy) of the fact that his war of four years had been won by two bombs prepared without his knowledge and dropped without his command," as George Weller put it. In his opinion, MacArthur had 'determined to do his best to erase it from history --or at least blur, as well as censorship, could--the important human lessons of radiation's effects on civilian populations."
That is the most in-character thing I've ever read about Douglas MacArthur.
Since I spend so much time in this review busting Groves's balls, I should spread that around some. Conant was a snake whispering in the ear of the post-Hiroshima US government. If America had a real Dr. Poison, this was the guy. Poison gas formulation work in WW1, and involvement in the political arm, target selection, and management of the Manhattan Project. Maybe that's unfair to him, but it's how he's presented. And reaching beyond the book, the information available makes the same point.
Overused Phrase/Concept:
The massive effort to cover up the devastation of the atomic bomb blasts seem counterintuitive. They wanted the world to know that they needed to be on their toes, but still wanted to be the shining knight of the world. One of the watchwords of the day was that you could get bombed back to the Stone Age, but in reality, it was bombing you into ash and radiation sickness.
Uhm Moments:
Really hope the author isn't about to give Truman, Conant, Stimson, and the propagandists the last word. That would cheapen his entire thesis here.
Wait...the Japanese were preparing to surrender as much as 3 months before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? And had put out peace feelers thru the Soviets? Starts to make using the bomb as much about the next war as it was about ending that one. Their main condition, the Emperor remains on the throne. After the war, the Emperor remained on the throne.
Chicago Daily News reporter George Weller, the first foreign correspondent into post-bomb Nagasaki - "(talking about the American people) They did not want to be fooled. They wanted to hear the truth. They could take it." We were made differently back then.
Wait...What?:
There's a 7-11 at ground zero in Hiroshima. That's obscene.
The Sigh:
Propaganda under propaganda, hidden behind more propaganda.
Whole lotta what-if-ing this away, but failure to look at the work of your own hand is disingenuous. Of course, the government side won. they managed to propagandize to such a degree that their version became deeply embedded in the historical record. Hersey's Hiroshima managed to become part of the conversation too, but there was a full-court press to tamp it down that largely worked. Just look at the history books that Gen X had in school, it’s the propagandized version to the hilt.
Suspension of Disbelief:
General Leslie Groves trying to have his cake and eat it too. Clears the censors' staff on the Hiroshima article, then wants to be part of the propagandist response. Still can't believe that he said on the record that radiation sickness was a pleasant way to die. He saw the Trinity Tests. He had first-hand knowledge of what they were looking at. He had the scientists on hand telling him what that was going to look like. Did he have his head that far up his own ass or was he so jingoed up that he couldn’t see beyond the brightness of the stars?
Your ~ism is Showing:
Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here warned of the rise of toxic populism, vicious government propaganda machines, The assault on truth and the facts, the ascent of despotic leaders, warning that it could indeed happen in the United States even though Americans tended to see themselves as almost compositionally invulnerable to such events. If only that were true.
Wisdom:
The Hiroshima/Nagasaki coverup birthed the era where the shadows grew longer and the secrets grew bigger.
Juxtaposition:
The nationalist jingoism and propaganda were strong in that era. How many pages in before Hersey is called an INSERT SLUR HERE-lover or communist? Just based on the era and attitudes of many of those he's having to interact with, you know it's coming. And, of course, death threats in 3...2...1... Freedom of the press...as long as they say and print exactly what we want them to.
The juxtaposition of this with the history as told and taught casts American leadership at the time in a harsh light. From and including peace overtures that the Japanese made through the Russians before Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Apparently, they were ready to call it quits as much as 3 months earlier. Also, the "a million Allied soldiers would die trying to take Japan," is a lie. Truman had estimates on hand that showed that casualties would've been 4% of that. This is still a lot of guys dying, but taken in the context that we have now, Japan was willing to surrender provided they got to keep the Emperor, which they did in the eventual surrender anyway... A lot of the justification for using the bomb seems to come back to Pearl Harbor and the treatment of POWs and it being about vengeance. Or, the purported, inflated potential for a million casualties. But after reading this, I lean hard on the demonstration/warning to the rest of the world aspect.
Forgotten Lesson/Forgotten Common Sense:
So, the 1 million possible Allied casualties that could have happened if they had invaded Japan at the end of World War 2 was all a propaganda psyop meant to make the atomic bombings look more necessary. Truman apparently had estimates in hand that were less than 4% of that number. I never knew that.
Missed Opportunity:
Wonder if there is an alternate history story out there where MacArthur declared himself Emperor of the conquered Japan? Would make a helluva story.
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November 16, 2020
This book shows behind the scene of how Hiroshima by John Hersey come to be the book it is today. It went into a little bit of who the author was, where he'd worked and his reaction of the A-bombing. Later, into how he gathered the material for the story, how the publication worked and most importantly how the world reacted to it.
Highly recommend if you've read Hiroshima. If you've not read it yet, what're you doing? Go read it!
December 15, 2020
Lesley Blume tells the story of how John Hersey entered the Japanese city of Hiroshima one year after the dropping of the first atomic bomb used in wartime, and came away with an incredibly moving piece of reporting. While newspaper and magazine accounts of the atomic bombs' aftermaths on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had focused on physical destruction and scientific measures of the weapons' sizes, Hersey chose to focus on six survivors of the explosion. By personalizing the experiences of real people, he revealed the true horror of nuclear warfare, and documented them so we might remember. While Blume's slant pushes the narrative that use of the atomic bombs was unnecessary in bringing Japan to surrender, I find her evidence unconvincing; she simply waves off estimates that nearly 200,000 Americans would have died in an amphibious invasion of Japan, with likely many times that number of Japanese military and civilian deaths. As horrific as Hiroshima's experience proved, I still agree with the contemporary decision to employ the atomic bombs to bring an end to the Pacific war.
October 17, 2020
If you love journalism (when it was really journalism) this is your book. It's the story behind John Hersey's ground breaking expose of the August 1945 Hiroshima nuclear bombing, published in The New Yorker magazine in 1946 and later as a book. By using personalized accounts instead of statistics, Hersey shaped the world's perception of nuclear (at that time atomic) weapons.
August 17, 2021
An timely reminder of the importance of an independent press and the influence one article can have on the understanding of world events. I'm not sure why the extensive investigation and notes didn't include Charles Loeb's reporting in 1945 as recently profiled in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/sc... Still, highly recommended.
December 24, 2025
After I finished The Sixth Extinction, that heavy feeling really stuck with me. I liked how the book weaves together science, history, and real cases in a way that’s easy to follow but hard to shrug off. It doesn’t try to be dramatic or scare you it just calmly shows how big a role humans have played. And while I was reading, it kept sinking in that this isn’t some distant future… it’s already happening.
What got to me most wasn’t any one species going extinct, but that sense that so much of this can’t be undone. When I closed the book, I didn’t feel that “okay, I learned something” kind of relief. It was more like a quiet wake up call that the world is way more fragile than we like to think, and we’re right in the middle of it whether we like it or not.
What got to me most wasn’t any one species going extinct, but that sense that so much of this can’t be undone. When I closed the book, I didn’t feel that “okay, I learned something” kind of relief. It was more like a quiet wake up call that the world is way more fragile than we like to think, and we’re right in the middle of it whether we like it or not.
February 3, 2021
“Liars! Lying, lying liars!”, the Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) shouted at this audiobook.
She is a woman of strong opinion.
The particular liars that drew LSW's wrath on this occasion were in the command of US occupation forces in Japan after the Second World War. They were hell-bent on preventing the world knowing the real effect of the nuclear bombs on a civilian population. One general even told the world that dying in a nuclear explosion was a relatively pleasant way to go.
In retrospect, it seems undiluted lunacy to expect that the effects of a nuclear bomb would remain a secret, but that seemed to be the expectation. John Hersey was the journalist who put an end to this fantasy. This is a narrative about how he got the story and how it found its way into print, and how Hersey told it in a way that humanized the story and made it unforgettable to everyone who read it.
The story of the story is also a good story, and well read. Listening to an audio book about nuclear bombing might not be everyone's idea of a mid-pandemic good time, but I liked it and it held my attention while I made soup and did other chores, except when LSW started hollering.
She is a woman of strong opinion.
The particular liars that drew LSW's wrath on this occasion were in the command of US occupation forces in Japan after the Second World War. They were hell-bent on preventing the world knowing the real effect of the nuclear bombs on a civilian population. One general even told the world that dying in a nuclear explosion was a relatively pleasant way to go.
In retrospect, it seems undiluted lunacy to expect that the effects of a nuclear bomb would remain a secret, but that seemed to be the expectation. John Hersey was the journalist who put an end to this fantasy. This is a narrative about how he got the story and how it found its way into print, and how Hersey told it in a way that humanized the story and made it unforgettable to everyone who read it.
The story of the story is also a good story, and well read. Listening to an audio book about nuclear bombing might not be everyone's idea of a mid-pandemic good time, but I liked it and it held my attention while I made soup and did other chores, except when LSW started hollering.
June 29, 2021
I read Hersey's Hiroshima in high school, and that book has stayed with me all these years. Lesley M.M. Blume explains why. I wish I had time to say more, but we're in the process of moving house. Hope to revisit when we're settled in our new, downsized digs.
August 4, 2022
One of the best books I've ever read. Honestly think everyone should read it, especially Americans.
A true tale of an ethical journalist doing the right thing, and risking it all to uncover government lies and corruption.
Incredibly sad, but also well written, researched, and thought provoking.
A true tale of an ethical journalist doing the right thing, and risking it all to uncover government lies and corruption.
Incredibly sad, but also well written, researched, and thought provoking.
February 5, 2021
Fallout tells the story of John Hersey writing the famous 1946 Hiroshima article for the New Yorker, which was later published as the best-selling book Hiroshima. It really is a companion book for the Hiroshima book, and would be best if you are familiar with the first book prior to reading Fallout. Overall, I thought it was only OK, as I wasn't particularly interested in some of the backstory such as John Hersey's journalistic career.
October 29, 2020
An amazing account of the writing of John Hersey's Hiroshima despite an attempted cover up by the US government. Also a reminder of the impact excellent journalism can have on generations of people, influencing how they understand the important issues of their world. I read Hiroshima for the first time when I was 8, have read it several times since and it continues to be a classic demonstration of the humanizing power of writing.
September 3, 2020
Fascinating topic, but the book lacked real depth.
November 6, 2024
A book club book, this is a heavy historical novel that was difficult to read at times. I never knew that there was a Hiroshima cover up until John Herseys article.
April 2, 2022
A really quick read. Blume teaches the younger generations of how it was that nuclear weapons became stigmatized and delegitimated. It's theorized that this stigmatization, more than anything else, is the reason that nuclear weapons have not been used since the first time they were deployed, yet I had never learned about how that stigmatization came about in the first place. It seemed intrinsic and obvious to me. I had never thought about how, in 1945, nuclear weapons were new, and therefore any possible interpretation of them was feasible. For the first entire year after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, most Americans supported this decision, with 25% answering in a survey that they wished their military had dropped even more atom bombs, so strong was the contempt of the Japanese people at that time. America also considered using the bombs later in Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East.
Journalist John Hersey overcame much of his own prejudice to interview Japanese victims of Hiroshima and treat them as people rather than enemies. The New Yorker, back then a much less well-known magazine, dedicated an entire issue to his 30,000 words about what it was like to live through the bombing. They had imagined they would be competing with other papers that would be commemorating the one-year anniversary of the bombing. In reality, American censorship and propaganda had worked so well that nuclear weapons were already considered old news, and only a handful of short articles were written in the back pages of other newspapers. Many people thought radiation poisoning was Japanese propaganda, and that the nukes had been no different from the bombing campaigns that had destroyed much of Europe.
John Hersey's work thrust the subject matter right into a spotlight that Truman had never wanted to shine. I hadn't realized the extent to which a single piece of journalism had reconstructed America's entire narrative of nuclear weapons. Suddenly, Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not be forgotten. The realities of the nuclear age took more than a year to dawn on Americans, but it did dawn. While there's still a lot that we get wrong about Hiroshima and Nagasaki today—many school curricula still focus on outdated, flatly false myths, like the completely bogus figure that 500,000 Americans would have died if not for the use of the bombs—I'm incredibly grateful to Hersey and his interviewees for educating the American public. Lesley Blume makes clear that the stigmatization of nukes and their proliferation cannot be taken for granted, and that every generation must be educated just as people needed to be right after 1945.
Journalist John Hersey overcame much of his own prejudice to interview Japanese victims of Hiroshima and treat them as people rather than enemies. The New Yorker, back then a much less well-known magazine, dedicated an entire issue to his 30,000 words about what it was like to live through the bombing. They had imagined they would be competing with other papers that would be commemorating the one-year anniversary of the bombing. In reality, American censorship and propaganda had worked so well that nuclear weapons were already considered old news, and only a handful of short articles were written in the back pages of other newspapers. Many people thought radiation poisoning was Japanese propaganda, and that the nukes had been no different from the bombing campaigns that had destroyed much of Europe.
John Hersey's work thrust the subject matter right into a spotlight that Truman had never wanted to shine. I hadn't realized the extent to which a single piece of journalism had reconstructed America's entire narrative of nuclear weapons. Suddenly, Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not be forgotten. The realities of the nuclear age took more than a year to dawn on Americans, but it did dawn. While there's still a lot that we get wrong about Hiroshima and Nagasaki today—many school curricula still focus on outdated, flatly false myths, like the completely bogus figure that 500,000 Americans would have died if not for the use of the bombs—I'm incredibly grateful to Hersey and his interviewees for educating the American public. Lesley Blume makes clear that the stigmatization of nukes and their proliferation cannot be taken for granted, and that every generation must be educated just as people needed to be right after 1945.
September 29, 2020
I am from Los Alamos, New Mexico, the Secret City, the Atomic City, and grew up surrounded by people who worked during the Manhattan Project and for the laboratory in all the years after. I have done a lot of reading about Los Alamos history, the history of the atomic bombs, and the people who designed and built them. There are a lot of people in Los Alamos (past and present) whom I respect and know to be thoughtful, decent people. Having said that, though, this book was a fascinating addition to my awareness of the effects of the bombs on the people who lived in Hiroshima (and Nagasaki although this book is specific to Hiroshima). What appalled me was General Groves's comment that radiation sickness wasn't such a bad way to die; of course it was horrible, and he must have been aware of what happened to Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin, who both worked on the Manhattan Project. This book covers the efforts of New Yorker reporter John Hersey to get the story of six people who were in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and describe what their lives were like since the dropping of the bomb. Getting the information out during this time of censorship was not easy and the story surrounding it is a good read. By 1946, many people in America were happy the war had ended and didn't give much thought to what happened to the Japanese people because their memories of Pearl Harbor were still fresh. But when Hersey's account was published in the New Yorker in its entirety on August 31, 1946, only a year after the dropping of the bomb, it was sensational. For me, it is another reminder that the government will always feed us one side of the story, the part they want to sanitize, and we need journalists to provide transparency.
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