Hiroshima

The Last Witnesses (Embers, Book 1)

By: M. G. Sheftall

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

One of Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction From 2024

The first volume in a two-book series about each of the atomic bomb drops that ended the Pacific War based on years of irreplicable personal interviews with survivors to tell a story of devastation and resilience

In this vividly rendered historical narrative, M. G. Sheftall layers the stories of hibakusha—the Japanese word for atomic bomb survivors—in harrowing detail, to give a minute-by-minute report of August 6, 1945, in the leadup and aftermath of the world-changing bombing mission of Paul Tibbets, Enola Gay, and Little Boy. These survivors and witnesses, who now have an average age over ninety years old, are quite literally the last people who can still provide us with reliable and detailed testimony about life in their cities before the bombings, tell us what they experienced on the day those cities were obliterated, and give us some appreciation of what it has entailed to live with those memories and scars during the subsequent seventy-plus years.

Sheftall has spent years personally interviewing survivors who lived well into the twenty-first century, allowing him to construct portraits of what Hiroshima was like before the bomb, and how catastrophically its citizens’ lives changed in the seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months, and years afterward. He stands out among historians due to his fluency in spoken and written Japanese, and his longtime immersion in Japanese society that has allowed him, a white American, the unheard-of access to these atomic bomb survivors in the waning years of their lives. Their trust in him is evident in the personal and traumatic depths they open up for him as he records their stories.

Hiroshima should be required listening for the modern age. The personal accounts it contains will serve as cautionary tales about the horror and insanity of nuclear warfare, reminding them—it is hoped—that the world still lives with this danger at our doorstep.

©2024 M. G. Sheftall (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“For those who want to understand what happened underneath the mushroom cloud—and shouldn’t we all?—Sheftall’s sweeping, sensitive and deeply researched book is required reading for our human hearts.”—Washington Post

“Painful in substance but lyrical in form, Hiroshima should be required reading for political leaders, those interested in war and peace, and anyone who has grown numb to the specific horrors of World War II.”—BookPage (starred)

“A sweeping and vivid account of the bombing and its aftermath. [Sheftall is] an ideal Virgil for such a nightmarish journey.”—Wall Street Journal

Completenesss

Detail of the witnesses of a disaster so many years ago. The horrific details of injuries and trauma experienced

Hiroshima

I read John Hersey’s Hiroshima and it was different because he wrote it right after the war. This book is more detailed and it explains the experiences of the Hibakusha. I learned a lot.