Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Literary Reviews
  • Home
  • OUR BOOK SHOP
    • Erotic Novels
    • BEST SELLING BOOKS
    • Science Fiction Books
    • Business and Management
    • Computing and IT
    • Cooking
    • Education
    • Religion & Spirituality
    • Self Help
    • Teens & Young Adults
  • Literary Review
  • Literature
  • Book Writing
  • Kindle Publishing
  • Romantic
  • Science Fiction
  • Cooking
  • MORE
    • Erotic
    • Mysteries, Thrillers
    • Literary Themes
    • Business and Management
    • Literary Agents
    • Literary Devices
    • New Books
    • Self Help
    • Teens & Young Adults Novels
    • Computing and IT
    • Education
    • Religion & Spirituality Novels
No Result
View All Result
Literary Reviews
Home New Books

‘Fallout’: New book sobering reminder of nuclear devastation 75 years after entering atomic age

admin by admin
August 31, 2020
in New Books
0
‘Fallout’: New book sobering reminder of nuclear devastation 75 years after entering atomic age
0
SHARES
1
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


 Editor’s note: This book review contains graphic depictions of violence.

New Mexicans are perhaps more acutely aware of U.S. nuclear capabilities and the bomb, “Little Boy,” dropped on Hiroshima, since its predecessors were developed and tested in our own backyard. However, most people alive today will not remember the immediate aftereffects of the outsized attack on Japanese citizens that capped off the second world war.

Related posts

College tuition is priced like airplane seats, says new book

College tuition is priced like airplane seats, says new book

January 27, 2021
SHIFT managing partner releases new book – Maryland Daily Record

SHIFT managing partner releases new book – Maryland Daily Record

January 27, 2021

Modern awareness of the atomic bomb and the events of WWII are mostly relegated to fictionalized accounts contained in films such as “Pearl Harbor” and “Schindler’s List.” The events surrounding WWII have long since become a cultural legend, and first-person memories of these events no longer exist. We’ve simply forgotten the horrors of global war — until now.

Leslie M. M. Blume set out to refresh our collective memory regarding the widely recognized end of WWII in “Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World.” She has done so in spectacular fashion – recalling our consciousness to the famous New Yorker article written by one John Hersey.

Blume details the difficulties Hersey confronted in reporting the truth of the atomic bomb’s lingering effects on Japanese citizens and the censorship levied against war correspondents prior to and during Hersey’s investigative presence in Japan.

Blume somehow manages to insert the reader in a manner usually only employed by fiction novels. She plies the reader with insight into how Hersey was able to convince Japanese victims to talk to him – a man they had every reason to hate and mistrust as a representative of their enemies in the U.S.

She explains that Hersey’s interviewees found him affable, educated and empathetic. His personal qualities endeared him to these people who would otherwise have gladly sent him on his way without a word.

Reading this book provides a timely and poignant reminder on the 75th anniversary of the bombings. One is forced to confront the human cost of nuclear weapons. Blume brilliantly interweaves Hersey’s reporting with her own so the reader is able to feel present with Hersey during his research and the victims of Little Boy’s aftereffects.

It becomes more and more clear that those who perished immediately with the bomb’s initial blast were the lucky ones.

Hersey and Blume graphically recount the physiological and psychological trauma Little Boy’s victims endured. One particularly memorable excerpt states, “(Japanese soldiers’) eyes had melted away in their sockets; the liquid had run in rivulets down their faces, which were burned beyond recognition.” Other excerpts tell of victims whose faces had “melted” with the blast so that their appearance seemed blurred.

Clearly, this novel contains sensitive and graphic depictions of physical trauma suffered by Japanese citizens of Hiroshima. This fact takes nothing away from the importance of the reader confronting these depictions to truly understand the catastrophic risks of nuclear war.

Fictional chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm (played memorably by Jeff Goldblum) said in the film “Jurassic Park,” “Your scientists were so concerned with figuring out if they could that they didn’t stop to ask themselves whether or not they should.” This concept and ethical philosophy is perhaps more applicable to the invention of the atomic bomb — a weapon capable of far more devastating effects, up to and including nuclear winter, environmental devastation and species annihilation, than a few stray T-Rexes in a theme park.

As Hersey conveys and Blume emphasizes, nuclear weapons are a tool that could potentially bring about humanity’s self-inflicted extinction. Hersey’s reporting on the atomic bomb’s effects on the citizens of Hiroshima is perhaps a deterrent preventing nuclear disaster, but we must keep these consequences at the front of our minds to continue avoiding the doomsday clock finally tolling the midnight hour. “Fallout” is the poignant reminder we need right now.

Hevyn Heckes is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @H_Squared90



Tags: AgeatomicBOOKDevastationenteringFalloutnuclearremindersoberingyears
Previous Post

Dancer Just Dancing: On Literature and Leisure in 2020

Next Post

'Lucifer' Star Aimee Garcia Co-Writing New 'Dungeons & Dragons' Comic Book Series With Former Wrestler

Next Post
‘Lucifer’ Star Aimee Garcia Co-Writing New ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Comic Book Series With Former Wrestler

'Lucifer' Star Aimee Garcia Co-Writing New 'Dungeons & Dragons' Comic Book Series With Former Wrestler

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED NEWS

The best new books to pack for your 2020 summer staycation

The best new books to pack for your 2020 summer staycation

6 months ago
What is the Kindle Paperwhite? Everything you need to know

What is the Kindle Paperwhite? Everything you need to know

3 weeks ago
Yasnel Pompa Torriente’s new book El Guía Perfecto, a galvanizing story that shares the harrowing and unfair true life of the author’s brethren

Yasnel Pompa Torriente’s new book El Guía Perfecto, a galvanizing story that shares the harrowing and unfair true life of the author’s brethren

6 months ago
Fog Computing for Industrial Automation Market To Observe Exponential Growth By 2020-2026

Fog Computing for Industrial Automation Market To Observe Exponential Growth By 2020-2026

6 months ago

Products

  • Salvation (The Salvation Sequence Book 1) £4.99
  • Half a World Away: The heart-warming, heart-breaking Richard and Judy Book Club selection £7.99
  • A Complete Guide to the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training (Further Education): Second Edition £19.39
  • Higher Business Management: Preparation and Support for Teacher Assessment (Leckie Higher Complete Revision & Practice) £9.56
  • Essential Food Safety Management 2020 Year Book: Food Hygiene Recording Diary Pages. Page a Day Dated Diary for ALL… £28.99

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

  • Book Writing
  • Business and Management
  • Computing and IT
  • Cooking Books
  • Education
  • Erotic
  • Kindle Publishing
  • Literary Agents
  • Literary Devices
  • Literary Review
  • Literary Themes
  • Literature
  • Mysteries, Thrillers & Suspense
  • New Books
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Romantic Novels
  • Science Fiction
  • Self Help

RELATED PRODUCTS

  • Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think £16.19
  • HBR's 10 Must Reads Boxed Set (6 Books) (HBR's 10 Must Reads) £113.42
  • This is esports (and How to Spell it) – LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK AWARD 2020: An Insider’s Guide to… £8.99
  • Dear Zoo: Lift the Flaps £4.00
  • The World’s Worst Parents £6.99

PRODUCT CATEGORIES

  • Best Selling Books
  • Erotic
  • Science Fiction Books
  • Cooking
  • Business and Management
  • Education
  • Computing and IT
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Teens & Young Adults
  • Self Help
  • Mysteries, Thrillers & Suspense
  • Romance Books
Literary Reviews

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • Mysteries and thrillers to lose yourself in this winter
  • Literary Agency Fires Employee for Using Parler, Gab
  • Global Literature Review Software Market: Synthesis Research Inc, VERBI GmbH – KSU

Category

  • Book Writing
  • Business and Management
  • Computing and IT
  • Cooking Books
  • Education
  • Erotic
  • Kindle Publishing
  • Literary Agents
  • Literary Devices
  • Literary Review
  • Literary Themes
  • Literature
  • Mysteries, Thrillers & Suspense
  • New Books
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Romantic Novels
  • Science Fiction
  • Self Help

Recent News

Mysteries and thrillers to lose yourself in this winter

Mysteries and thrillers to lose yourself in this winter

January 27, 2021
Literary Agency Fires Employee for Using Parler, Gab

Literary Agency Fires Employee for Using Parler, Gab

January 27, 2021
  • Home
  • OUR BOOK SHOP
  • Literary Review
  • Literature
  • Book Writing
  • Kindle Publishing
  • Romantic
  • Science Fiction
  • Cooking
  • MORE

© 2020 literaryreviews

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • OUR BOOK SHOP
    • Erotic Novels
    • BEST SELLING BOOKS
    • Science Fiction Books
    • Business and Management
    • Computing and IT
    • Cooking
    • Education
    • Religion & Spirituality
    • Self Help
    • Teens & Young Adults
  • Literary Review
  • Literature
  • Book Writing
  • Kindle Publishing
  • Romantic
  • Science Fiction
  • Cooking
  • MORE
    • Erotic
    • Mysteries, Thrillers
    • Literary Themes
    • Business and Management
    • Literary Agents
    • Literary Devices
    • New Books
    • Self Help
    • Teens & Young Adults Novels
    • Computing and IT
    • Education
    • Religion & Spirituality Novels

© 2020 literaryreviews

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In