LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
At times harrowing, and always incredibly humbling, Dr Michihiko Hachiya’s autobiographical account of the immeasurable pain and devastation that came in the wake of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima tells an extraordinary story of survival.
“The hour was early; the morning still, warm, and beautiful. Shimmering leaves, reflecting sunlight from a cloudless sky, made a pleasant contrast with shadows in my garden as I gazed absently through wide-flung doors opening to the south.” And then comes a bright flash as an atomic bomb strikes close to Dr Hachiya’s home. Both injured, he and his wife Yaeko struggle to his hospital, en route encountering “the shadowy forms of people, some of whom looked like walking ghosts. Others moved as though in pain, like scarecrows, their arms held out from their bodies with forearms and hands dangling”.
The immediate aftermath is grim — the hospital is aflame, there are dead bodies, patients and colleagues are burned — while the days and weeks that follow see Dr Hachiya and his colleagues get to grips with an unthinkable situation.
From its visceral chronicling of the horrors encountered in the immediate aftermath of the atomic bomb, through to caring for patients, and investigations into the strange symptoms of radiation sickness, The Doctor of Hiroshima is lucid, uniquely insightful, and suffused in Dr Hachiya’s profound humanity, hope and dedication.
Joanne Owen
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| Primary Genre |
History
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| Other Genres: |
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About
The Doctor of Hiroshima Synopsis
With what this poor woman had been through the sight of her crying tore at my heartstrings. What if something should happen to her; who would care for her little baby? To conceal the fear and terror in my heart I left her, trying to put up a cheerful front. But no one could conceal from her the ominous import of the dark spots that had appeared on her chest.
The Doctor of Hiroshima is the extraordinary true story of Dr Michihiko Hachiya, whose hospital was less than a mile from the centre of the atomic bomb that hit on that warm August day. In immense shock and pain, he and his wife Yaeko dragged themselves to the devastated hospital building and what colleagues they could find.
In time, they begin to heal, and start to treat the impossible numbers of patients - a small girl covered in burns, an elderly man with pneumonia, a young boy and his little sister looking for their parents. They also began to investigate the strange unexplainable symptoms afflicting his patients - things he never dreamed he would see...
Told simply and poignantly in Dr Hachiya's own words, The Doctor of Hiroshima is a unique and deeply moving human story of survival about a small, committed band of hospital staff in the face of unthinkable destruction and loss.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781800961517 |
| Publication date: |
29th February 2024 |
| Author: |
Dr. Michihiko Hachiya |
| Publisher: |
Monoray an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
288 pages |
| Primary Genre |
History
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| Other Genres: |
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Press Reviews
Dr. Michihiko Hachiya Press Reviews
One of the most extraordinary records of human calamity and courage in the history of letters. - Newsweek
Comes closer to telling the real story than anything I have seen outside of Japan. - Norman Cousins
I have read it through as a sitting... It is a simple and unpretentious account of compassion, sorrow, and great courage. - Robert Oppenheimer
A book that we all ought to read in order that we may know what we have done and what will happen in the future if the atomic weapons continue to be used. - Pearl Buck, author of The Good Earth
Author
About Dr. Michihiko Hachiya
Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was Director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital when the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on the city. After the bomb, he continued as Director there for several years before taking on a teaching role at Okayama University Medical School. He retired in Okayama and passed away in the 1980s.
More About Dr. Michihiko Hachiya
