Hiroshima is all about the up close personal stories that people went through right before, during, and after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. John Hersey the author finds six survivors of the August 6^th, 1945 bomb and spent time trying to learn every detail he possibly could about this horrific event caused by the United States. Of course there are other people in the story other then the six he found. The people they ran into during the whole event, their loved ones, and soldiers. There are only five chapters, but the chapters are very long, as the book is 151 pages.

The first chapter is very repetitive because it’s explaining each personal story and the end result was they were hurt, trying to figure out what was going on, where to go, how to get treatment and how to help other people, but it keeps you very interested. The detail John put into his writing just makes you feel like your watching a movie in your head. You can set the scene and picture what the people look like because he is so detailed, John goes as far as what they were wearing and which direction they were facing when the bomb went off (facing the bomb, back to the bomb, sitting, standing, walking, outside, inside, ect.) He also gives you the exact distance they were from the center of the bomb.

Chapter two was about the damage and people trying to work around and out of the damage. The bomb either made a building collapse or it made them catch fire, some did both. After the bomb there were major winds that made the fire spread and grow at a very fast moving pace, the survivors had to jump into a river that was in the city of Hiroshima for protection. That is if they could move and get to protection.

The third chapter was finally people were able to come into the city after a month or so after the bomb was dropped to try and find some answers as to what happened to Hiroshima. No one could figure out why people were getting sick then all of a sudden dying, until scientist came in and did radiation test and found the very high amount of levels, which explained the deaths by illness. After months of the bomb, people still hadn’t received the right care they needed and once the city “reopened” help was finally able to get in better, but still came in very slowly. Before the city “reopened” they had to use what they had and what the military was able to bring in, when they could get in.

Chapter four was about the stages the people who were dying of illness went through. A lot of people said help was coming and it never came, or that they would survive the radiation illness because their case “wasn’t that severe” and then they died. There was a lot of lying going on to ease the minds of the wounded and ill and to keep them from going crazy to get the help they needed. Chapter five was very boring, of all the chapters that’s the one chapter I did not like. It was just talking about the rebuilding of the city and how they made the city more “bomb proof”, he goes on a whole year after the bomb and it just got really dry and boring.

A little about the author John Hersey, he was born on June 17^th 1914 and died March 24^th 1993 at the age of 78. He’s a journalist, novelist and a professor. He writes nonfiction, essayist, journalist and fiction, and he’s most notable writing was Hiroshima. John Hersey was born in Tientsin China and his family moved back to the United Station when he was ten years old. John learned Chinese before he spoke English. He was so good with his work he was able to give you all 5 senses, when he wrote the reader is able to hear in their head what’s going on, they are able to smell the burning of bodies and burning of buildings, you could picture the destruction, the condition the victims were in, and so on.

I’d give this book a three point five out of four stars. The last chapter is what lost that half point. I enjoyed this book till the end. It is one of those books where you can just lose track of time. I like how I felt like I was watching the movie to this book in my head as I was reading because John’s description was done so well. Before I read this book I didn’t know much about the bombing of Hiroshima, and although this book isn’t to give you the history of the event but a more realistic since as if you were actually there, made me learn more about the event.