Hiroshima

By: John Hersey

Narrated by: George Guidall

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author John Hersey's seminal work of narrative nonfiction which has defined the way we think about nuclear warfare. “One of the great classics of the war" (The New Republic) that tells what happened in Hiroshima during World War II through the memories of the survivors of the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city.

"The perspective [Hiroshima] offers from the bomb’s actual victims is the mandatory counterpart to any Oppenheimer viewing." —GQ Magazine

“Nothing can be said about this book that can equal what the book has to say. It speaks for itself, and in an unforgettable way, for humanity.” —The New York Times

Hiroshima is the story of six human beings who lived through the greatest single manmade disaster in history. John Hersey tells what these six -- a clerk, a widowed seamstress, a physician, a Methodist minister, a young surgeon, and a German Catholic priest -- were doing at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, when Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city. Then he follows the course of their lives hour by hour, day by day.

The New Yorker of August 31, 1946, devoted all its space to this story. The immediate repercussions were vast: newspapers here and abroad reprinted it; during evening half-hours it was read over the network of the American Broadcasting Company; leading editorials were devoted to it in uncounted newspapers.

Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book John Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told. His account of what he discovered about them -- the variety of ways in which they responded to the past and went on with their lives -- is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.

Critic reviews

“Nothing can be said about this book that can equal what the book has to say. It speaks for itself, and in an unforgettable way, for humanity.” —The New York Times

“One of the great classics of the war.” —The New Republic

“Everyone able to read should read it.” —Saturday Review of Literature

Worth a listen. Good story. Great narration.

Listening to this book, you can tell that it was an anthology that was later stitched together. But Hersey did a good job of it. I especially liked the later stories from the six subjects.

Guidall's narration was excellent. As someone who narrates for a living, I truly appreciated his ability to go from Japanese to German to English without making anything seem out of place.

Wow

Wish i read this years ago. Eye opener. Will look for his other audio books now

Must read book

I don't recall ever learning too much about Hiroshima in school at all. To hear these first hand accounts of people that went through this horrible event is heart wrenching. I feel this book should be read by everyone at any age to fully comprehend what happened to all those innocent, helpless people and to understand the ramifications of this type of warfare.

thank you

must read , for the sake of ALL human life.

please teach and display Compassion daily.

things don't matter.

Analysis of citizens’ trauma

I liked the audiobook very much. I didn’t know much about the subject and learned a lot.