It took me decades to finally read the classic Hiroshima, which I recently finished but once I heard about Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World, I jumped on it. Very well-written and reported. A perfect companion piece to John Hersey’s classic book. ( )

I found this book absolutely fascinating. I had read Hiroshima as a young adult, and it made an indelible impression. I remained ignorant of the coverup, however, until I read Hiroshima Diary by Dr. Michihiko Hachiya. He talks about the US government censorship in terms of the limitations placed on doctors and the possibility that more lives could have been saved, had doctors been able to openly share information. It took Blume's book for me to understand the extent of the coverup, the methods and motivations of key actors, and how Hersey researched and wrote the New Yorker article that blew the story open. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in WWII, Japan, or journalism. I would encourage readers to pick up Hiroshima first, although it's not necessary in order to read Fallout, I do think it's important reading for everyone living in the nuclear age. ( )

TRIGGER WARNING: Graphic descriptions of the immediate and ongoing effects of atom bombs, including the death of children.

Rating: 8/10

*****

Fallout tells the story of Pulitzer Prize winner John Hersey’s quest to bring the effects of Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the attention of the American public, despite systematic efforts by MacArthur’s military and the Truman government to conceal the true impact of the bombs on the Japanese people.

I was never a very good student in high school, and I was unaware that there had even been a coverup until I read this book. Not that I’m surprised. Governments thrive on secrets, and they had just come out of a lengthy and costly war.

The book is written chronologically and is easy to follow, with a photo insert allowing us to put faces to the names Blume writes about. At no point did feel lost or confused about the timeline. The author is articulate and engaging, and had me experiencing a range of emotions, from horror, to terror, to disgust, to despair, to pity, to melancholy, to sheer rage. Readers should be aware that Blume doesn’t shy away from providing detailed descriptions of the effects and aftermath of atomic bombs, and some of the actions and remarks relayed may be distressing.

The subject matter was new to me beyond the basic general knowledge. I am left with impression that we all owe a debt of gratitude to John Hersey, William Shawn, and Harold Ross, for exposing the peril of these bombs to the public, and the safety such knowledge has brought us. As this book makes clear, the Truman government felt no remorse or regrets over the use of these bombs, and, without this knowledge, and the horror it evokes, becoming widespread, the world’s leaders would have felt no hesitation in using these weapons again.

*****

Words I had to look up

Striver: Someone who works as hard as a slave.

Sybarite: A self-indulgent person with a fondness for luxury. ( )

A very good, if somewhat workmanlike walkthrough of how John Hersey came to write the seminal Hiroshima issue of the New Yorker magazine back in 1946. It still amazes me, after my almost six decades on this planet, and my interest in atomic warfare dating back to being a kid growing up in the last dregs of the Cold War, that somehow, I never discovered Hiroshima, nor even heard of it, until this book.

So, of course, it's now on my TBR pile.

There's a lot to unpack in this short book. The horror of the nuclear devastation heaped on the unsuspecting citizens of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The government's cover-up of the "bad" parts of the nuclear option, primarily the lingering radioactivity and subsequent death, as well as the absolutely shocking destruction of the humans that weren't immediately incinerated, but didn't make it longer than a few minutes to a few days afterward. The manipulation and the censoring of the press.

Seventy-five years later, we've become quite complacent with a particularly steadfast journalist uncovering something horrible, and then the government laughing, making a calming gesture with their hands, and dismissing it with the admonition that it's "fake news". But it did catch me by surprise that an early form of this was going on that long ago.

A really interesting overview of what a small group of people, more concerned with the truth than sensationalism, can accomplish. ( )