Letters from the End of the World A Firsthand Account of the Bombing of Hiroshima

Ogura, Toyofumi & Kisaburo Murakami & Shigeru Fujii

ISBN 10: 4770027761 / ISBN 13: 9784770027764

Published by Kodansha USA, Tokyo, 2001

B&W Illustrations; 8.19 X 5.59 X 0.79 inches; 198 pages; Soft cover is black with white lettering on cover and spine. DJ has slight bumping. Pages are clean and tight. Illustrated with b/w photographs. Laid in is a read piece of heavy paper, written in Japanese. Originally published in 1948, this is the first paperback edition, from 2001. Translated by Kisaburo Murakami and Shigero Fujii. "2 weeks after the bombing of Hiroshima [6 August, 1945] the author's wife died from radiation sickness, In an attempt to work through his grief, the author wrote her a series of letters over the following year outlining the things he had seen and heard during her last days. That series of letters became, in1948, the first eyewitness account of an atomic bombing ever published. Ogura, who was on the history faculty of Hiroshima University, turns an unflinching eye on the horrors he confronted after the bombing as he walked the decimated streets of the city for days, searching for hs wife and youngest son.The author's children and even his dead wife add thier voices in a brief appended sections of letters, diary entries and drawings". Seller Inventory # 7354

Synopsis:

A love story in the form of letters to the author's young wife, who died soon after the bombing of Hiroshima.

More than fifty years after the Second World War, the scars left by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima refuse to heal. This compelling account of one man's experience gives a human face to the events of August 6, 1945.

For a week after the bombing, the author, who was an assistant professor at Hiroshima University, wandered the decimated streets of the city, searching for his wife and his youngest son. He finally located them, but his wife died just days later. Grief-stricken, the author wrote her a series of letters over the next year outlining the things he had seen and heard during her last days on earth. In 1948, the letters became the first eyewitness account of an atomic bombing ever published.

This powerful record shows how one family's future was altered in an instant. Comprised of correspondence, diary entries and drawings, Letters from the End of the World presents the events surrounding the close of World War II in terms so personal they will not soon be forgotten.

"By the time we reach the account of Fumiyo's horrifying death on Aug. 20, which we see from both Ogura's perspective and that of his 11-year-old daugther, Kazuko, who kept a diary, the sadness and anger that have been building up through the whole book are almost unbearable. . . . The uncompromising anger toward Japan's military leaders that is expressed throughout is striking and unusual."
Elizabeth Ward, The Japan Times

About the Author: TOYOFUMI OGURA was born in 1899 in Chiba Prefecture. He taught history at Hiroshima University for nearly twenty years, from 1945 through his mandatory retirement in 1963, and was then appointed an honorary professor. His books include critical works on the well-known poet and children's author Kenji Miyazawa and a study of folk belief in the ancient historical figure Prince Shotoku. He died in 1996.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Letters from the End of the World A ...
Publisher: Kodansha USA, Tokyo
Publication Date: 2001
Binding: Soft Cover
Condition: New
Dust Jacket Condition: New
Edition: First Paperback Edition.