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UNFORGETTABLE FIRE
A collection of drawings depicting survivors' memories of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.
Preface
Hiroshima on that day
The bomb & I
Bomb flash! 8:15 A.M.
What I saw on that day
The enflamed city
Where is my child? Where is my wife?
Hands of help
The city of the dead
The pictures about the atomic bomb
Index
Preface
Hiroshima on that day
The bomb & I
Bomb flash! 8:15 A.M.
What I saw on that day
The enflamed city
Where is my child? Where is my wife?
Hands of help
The city of the dead
The pictures about the atomic bomb
Index
111 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 10, 2024
heart-wrenching omg 🥺 safe to say I will be crying myself to sleep
May 4, 2014
I picked this up after watching the documentary "White Light/Black Rain," which featured a lot of these devastating depictions of the aftermath of the bombings. The survivors' drawings of what they saw in the moments and days following the blasts are surreal and horrifying and important. This art collection is difficult to get through, but I'd definitely recommend it.
February 16, 2014
This was given me as a birthday present by one I loved but with whom there had never been occasion to become lovers, one who died, shortly after marriage and the birth of a child, in her mid-twenties.
July 7, 2025
unforgettably painful 😣
May 2, 2008
Wow. Just wow.
I read this book during my stay in Japan, loaned to me by a friend who had visited Hiroshima and bought the book as a souvenir. I finished the entire thing on the Shinkansen back to Tokyo from Kyoto, completely engrossed in it.
The book is the result of a project that began some time ago to start collecting drawings of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by those who had experienced it. From full-on paintings by those obviously skilled to those scribbling child-like drawings, from those who were on the edges and sidelines of the bombings to those right in the middle of it, from paintings of mushroom clouds to stacks of the dead bodies, from drawings documenting the horror as well as the beauty of human kindness and helping one another in the face of disaster- it is an amazing collection. The pictures are organized by their content, each chapter headed by a short explanation of the history and meaning of the pictures, to give them some context. There are also often small quotes from the artists themselves accompanying the drawings.
I think it's a natural impulse to want to shy away from discussion and pictures of tragedy . . . or at least it is for me. I simply don't want to dwell on such topics. And yet doing so is about dealing with one's discomfort. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it- and those who want to ignore and whitewash it into a objective historical fact are all the closer to forgetting it.
You can't forget this book.
There is something so raw and visceral in the drawings and paintings that you cannot get from photographs, no matter what they show: it's that extra layer of interpretation. Each picture represents a person who had to dredge up memories and put something to paper, and it's gut-wrenchingly honest. It makes your throat sore and your heart ache. Some of the paintings still haunt me.
This book truly deserves its name: it is unforgettable, incredibly moving, and I would love to have it on my bookshelf.
I read this book during my stay in Japan, loaned to me by a friend who had visited Hiroshima and bought the book as a souvenir. I finished the entire thing on the Shinkansen back to Tokyo from Kyoto, completely engrossed in it.
The book is the result of a project that began some time ago to start collecting drawings of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by those who had experienced it. From full-on paintings by those obviously skilled to those scribbling child-like drawings, from those who were on the edges and sidelines of the bombings to those right in the middle of it, from paintings of mushroom clouds to stacks of the dead bodies, from drawings documenting the horror as well as the beauty of human kindness and helping one another in the face of disaster- it is an amazing collection. The pictures are organized by their content, each chapter headed by a short explanation of the history and meaning of the pictures, to give them some context. There are also often small quotes from the artists themselves accompanying the drawings.
I think it's a natural impulse to want to shy away from discussion and pictures of tragedy . . . or at least it is for me. I simply don't want to dwell on such topics. And yet doing so is about dealing with one's discomfort. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it- and those who want to ignore and whitewash it into a objective historical fact are all the closer to forgetting it.
You can't forget this book.
There is something so raw and visceral in the drawings and paintings that you cannot get from photographs, no matter what they show: it's that extra layer of interpretation. Each picture represents a person who had to dredge up memories and put something to paper, and it's gut-wrenchingly honest. It makes your throat sore and your heart ache. Some of the paintings still haunt me.
This book truly deserves its name: it is unforgettable, incredibly moving, and I would love to have it on my bookshelf.
June 30, 2010
Very, very powerful. Much much more so than John Hersey's book, Hiroshima. Critical as an aid to understanding how important peace is and the devastation of war.
May 28, 2017
Humanity is horrid.
September 12, 2017
Bought this in 1977. Read cover to cover and blown away by the images. Definitely a keeper.
July 22, 2018
Terrible. I was fascinated by the drawing and the words of the survivors . And to know that it still experimented for much more powerful bombs. Sequences on second and third generations are still studied and lived in the flesh in Japan but also by civilian and military survivors of the tests in the Pacific (Australia and Christmas) and French Polynesia and in the Sahara.
to read and see.
to read and see.
February 23, 2017
Powerful, deeply personal visual memories of survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.
January 14, 2009
One day I stumbled upon this at the library. I think I spent 2 hours just going over it page after page in utter horror. This is one of those books that's too important to just fall by the wayside. If you can get your hands on it, please do.
July 31, 2008
There were no extraordinary artistic talents demonstrated in these drawings from Hiroshima survivors, but the images and text were moving.
February 5, 2009
Haunting.
July 10, 2010
Quite chilling. The simple drawings are more powerful than photos. The seemingly throwaway observations from the survivors stay with you for quite a while..
April 24, 2019
More like glanced at this but: wow.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews