Notes and references

The information in this article was pulled from a variety of sources. Below is a list of the main sources — books, websites and articles — that we used.

Hiroshima Nagasaki, by Paul Ham

Paul Ham, a former Sunday Times correspondent, argues in his excellent book that the dropping of the atom bombs were less about bringing the war to an early end but part a strategic campaign to target enemy civilians. He talks a length to survivors and gives a detailed account of the suffering of ordinary people.

Atomic Archive website

This website provides details on the workings of the Little Boy bomb. It also documents the human and physical effects of its detonation on Hiroshima and its people. The estimates of the numbers killed in the initial explosion vary significantly but generally run from 80,000 to 140,000 people.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/historymenu.shtml

E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation, by David Bodanis

This book gives a detailed account of the physics, of what happened inside the bomb when it detonated from where the opening of our article was based. He talks about the energy tying the neutrons together “wobbling”, again a phrase used in the story.

Hiroshima, by John Hersey

Hersey’s book was written just a year after the bomb was dropped. It follows the experiences of six Japanese survivors, including two doctors, in the aftermath of the explosion. The text in our article refers to the “sheet of sun” to describe the explosion and “the soundless flash”. The phrases come from Hersey’s book.

Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, by Michihiko Hachiya

Dr Michihiko Hachiya was a hospital doctor and survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. He kept a diary of his experience from 6 August to the end of September. The diary was published in 1955.

Memoirs of a Rebel Journalist: The Autobiography of Wilfred Burchett

The story of Wilfred Burchett’s “scoop of the century” comes from his autobiography published in 2005.

This is Your Life

The story behind the appearance of Enola Gay’s co-pilot Captain Robert Lewis on This is Your Life comes from John Hersey’s book Hiroshima, when the book was updated with a new chapter called ‘Aftermath’ in 1985. There is also an account of the program on the Conelrad website page:

conelrad.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/hiroshima-this-is-your-life.html

Hibakusha section

An account of the Atomic Maidens in America is given in a paper by Dr Robert Jacobs, a historian at Hiroshima City University, called ‘Reconstructing the Perpetrator’s Soul by Reconstructing the Victim’s Body’. It was published in Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific in June 2010. Also see Amanda Jane Graham’s essay – ‘Re-covering the Hiroshima Maidens’, published in the book Medicine, Healing and Performance.

Hibakusha Stories

Hibakusha Stories is a website set up to educate students about the impact of the bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It offers testimonies from survivors about their experiences in the aftermath of the bombs.

http://www.hibakushastories.org/who-are-the-hibakusha/

Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima, by Robert Jay Lifton

Dr Robert Lifton’s book is a classic study looking at the psychological effect of the bomb on the survivors — both immediately after the bomb and in the years that followed.

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 30, 1946.

This document gives a detailed account of what the Americans found when they arrived in the bombed cities. It gives a blunt assessment of the physical effects of the bombs and the destruction they inflicted on the lives of the Japanese. It also suggests that the Americans knew little about the radiation effects of the weapons on people or how those effects should be treated.

The report concludes: “As the implementer and exploiter of this ominous weapon, our nation has a responsibility, which no American should shirk, to lead in establishing and implementing the international guarantees and controls which will prevent its future use.”

docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=rwu_ebooks

The Atomic Bomb Museum website

This website is another detailed education resource on both the making of the bomb and its use.

atomicbombmuseum.org/index.shtml

My Hiroshima by Junko Morimoto

Junko Morimoto’s account of her experience of the Hiroshima bomb as a 13-year-old girl.

Radiation Effects Research Foundation

The history of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission set up in 1946 was always controversial. It was run by the Americans and its aim was to study and monitor the health damage of the bombs rather than treat victims themselves. The commission was frequently accused by the Japanese of using the hibakusha as guinea pigs. In 1975 it was reorganised and renamed the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. The foundation is a joint initiative between the Americans and the Japanese and aims to support the care and treatment of victims. The foundation has produced some of the most detailed, long-term evidence on the effects of atomic bombs on human health.

www.rerf.jp/index_e.html