John Hersey’s Hiroshima

Synopsis

Soon after the war, The New Yorker, bore a light-hearted cover of a summer picnic in a park. There was no hint to what was inside. Hersey’s article began where the magazine’s regular "Talk of the Town" column usually began, immediately after the theater listings. At the bottom of the page, the editors appended a short note: "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." (August 31, 1946)

Containing a detailed description of the bomb’s effects, the article was a publishing sensation. In plain prose, Hersey described the horrifying aftermath of the atomic device: people with melted eyeballs, or people vaporized, leaving only their shadows etched onto walls. It was an immediate best seller and sold out at newsstands within hours. Many requests for reprints were received by the magazine’s offices. The ABC Radio Network preempted regular programming to broadcast readings of the complete text by well-known actors in four half-hour programs.
Hersey introduces the six characters: two doctors, a Protestant minister, a widowed seamstress, a young female factory worker and a German Catholic priest. It describes their mornings before the bomb was dropped. Through the book, the lives of these six people overlap as they share similar experiences. Each chapter covers a time period from the morning of the bombing to one year later for each witness.

Language

English (United States)

Country

United States

Year of production

1948

Subjects

Health & safety; History

Keywords

nuclear disarmament; nuclear weapons; bomb threats

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£19.50

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

20 minutes

Year

2019

Distributor

Name

Concord Media

Email

sales@concordmedia.org.uk

Web

http://www.concordmedia.org.uk/ External site opens in new window

Phone

01473 726 012

Address

Rosehill Centre
22 Hines Road
Ipswich
IP3 9BG

Notes

A long-established, not-for-profit organisation with a large collection DVDs, specialising in the sectors of general and mental health, child care, race relations, war and peace, addictions, the third world, ecology, civil rights, personal relationships, educational issues, and social work training. Concord also handles titles made for the Graves Medical Audio-visual Library. Sale on DVD. Formerly known as Concord Video and Film Council. In 2014 Concord began to offer selected films as Video on Demand, via Vimeo.

 

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