A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb. Survivors wonder why they lived when so many others died.
scheduling this to be posted at 8:15 am on august 6th, 2025 -- 80 years to the day since the detonation of an atomic bomb over the city of hiroshima. the work was originally published in the new yorker, which dedicated an entire print edition to this single article. it was prefaced by this notice:
TO OUR READERS. The New Yorker this week devotes its entire editorial space to an article on the almost complete obliteration of a city by one atomic bomb, and what happened to the people of that city. It does so in the conviction that few of us have yet comprehended the all but incredible destructive power of this weapon, and that everyone might well take time to consider the terrible implications of its use. The Editors.
we can argue all day about the "necessity" (morally, legally, ethically, militarily, politically, etc etc etc) of building, stockpiling, and deploying nuclear weapons; but i think we owe it to ourselves, and to the now three(!!) generations of hibakusha affected by the bombings of hiroshima and nagaski, to be aware of their destructive capabilities -- not just on the cataclysmic, world-shattering scale, but within the frame of specific, ordinary human lives.
("hiroshima" was later published as a book, which has never gone out of print; 40 years after the article was written, john hersey followed up with the six survivors. for more hibakusha testimonies, check out the 1945 project, or watch the fantastic documentary "white light/black rain: the destruction of hiroshima/nagasaki".)
