Hiroshima by John Hersey

 

In Schwenger and Treat's article "America's Hiroshima, Hiroshima's America", I came across a passage in Schwenger's column, where he brings up the book Hiroshima. Hiroshima was first published in The New Yorker on August 31st of 1946 by John Hersey (here's a link to the first page from the New Yorker's archive). Within this non-fiction story, Hersey accounts six people who were affected by the blast, their names were Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Dr. Masakazu Fuji, Father Wilhelm Keinsorge, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, and Miss Toshiko Sasaki. Hersey basically talks about what every character was doing respectivley to the chronological chapters titled: "A Noiseless Flash", "The Fire", "Details are Being Investigated", "Panic Grass and Feverfew" and "The Aftermath". This was the first novel to depict what it was like on the ground level and it humanized the disaster of the Atomic Bomb. 

According the Schwenger, "Hersey's book gave the Americans a sense of the terrible human cost, allowed them to see the Japanese as human [...] Yet, Paul Boyer, who records all of these effects and more, concludes that Hersey's book led to very little change, politically and perhaps even psychologically" (9-10). I agree with Boyer's point that despite the humanization of the destruction, and the abundant evidence of a nuclear holocaust, there was very little or even no change at all. People in general who are physically far away and emotionally displaced from the reality that is being depicted cannot fully empathize nor experience the traumatic event at large. I wonder if there is anyone who can give me an argument to why this may not be true. (I am curious and open-minded so I promise I won't bite :) )

**On a side note I tried reading this book when I was in 7th grade and at the time, I was like "why is a white dude writing a book about Japanese people"?! I now see my ignorance as somewhat funny and embarrassing but I have realized that the American people most likely would not have read this work or even acknowledged this story if it was published by a person of Japanese decent. What are your thoughts about this subject of racism in regards to the stigma of a Japanese person publishing a work that would in a way be more affective than the reporting of a Caucasian author? Is this a form of censorship?