Hiroshima

            
             John Hersey's Hiroshima gives us the experience of six people who survived the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. Over a hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb and Hersey tells of these six people who were among the survivors. Hersey gives their stories and has returned to find them forty years later to tell you their fates. These six people vary in gender, age and profession, they are: Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works; Dr. Masakazu Fuji, a physician; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a tailor's widow; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young surgeon and The Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church. The atomic bomb had a big impact on Hiroshima and Hersey helps convey the impact and the inhumanity of the atomic bomb through the eyes of these six individuals. .
             The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and also Nagasaki in 1945 killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese people. The official reason given by then United States President Harry Truman was that it would save more American lives than it would kill Japanese. Prior to the Americans dropping the atomic bomb, many Americans had become upset by the behavior the Japanese had displayed concerning the bombing of Pearl Harbor and their particular cruelty to prisoners of war. The bombing of Pearl Harbor destroyed a huge amount of American bomber planes and naval fleets that were parked and harbored on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. As well as destroying the planes and sailing vessels, the Japanese killed over 2000 members of the US Navy, and numerous members of the army and a small margin of civilians. The Japanese also managed to destroy four US battleships. They caused massive damage and devastation and killed hundreds of people. Added to the fact that many prisoners of war died in their hands due to murder, starvation and torture, the bombing was, to some people, a valid revenge.