s of victims and eventually starts his own clinic outside of Hiroshima, where he prospers greatly. Largely unhurt, Rev. Mr. Kiyoshi assumed a bomb had fallen on the house immediately next to him, for pieces of that house showered on him. He spends days caring for the wounded and destitute. He goes back and forth between America and Hiroshima, raising money for Hiroshima peace causes, although he receives much criticism for his work. The extent of demolition was voluminous. Completely annihilated describes the scene at ground zero. Buildings turned to rubble. People turned to ash. Survivors, few as they were, were running mad along the streets in a fog of radiation. Some suffered vast burns, some severed limbs, others, who unfortunately stood outside when the bomb dropped, were completely incinerated. The only thing remaining of these were their shadows, permanently fused with the streets, buildings and sidewalks they happened to be cast upon. Not a thing was left but the cries of survivors. Disastrous as it was, this story leaves large impact on anyone who reads it, myself included. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book because it opened up the world of war in a wider window than I originally gazed out of. I looked at war from the victim’s point of view instead of through the eyes of a victor. Revenge may be drummed into our military and may also be part of American beliefs, but reading Hiroshima leads me to sympathize with the many innocent lives that were taken unjustly to benefit other’s needs. I learned a great deal from this graphic account of the first use of the atomic bomb, and I can only hope that many others will be able to say the same....
