To Hell and Back

To Hell and Back 5/5

This is the story of what it is like to be on the receiving end of a nuclear attack. The bombs used in WWII are mere child’s toys when compared to modern nuclear warheads, but there were certainly horrific weapons. The book is nominally about a group of people who were unfortunate enough to be in both nuclear attacks, but the story expands to cover details of each bomb.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* Wow. Geez. My God. Words fail me. How do you tell the story of standing next to someone who, in less time than a human can perceive, goes from a living breathing person to a pile of roughly human-shaped charcoal? And know that it would have been you, except for the presence of some small hill, white cloth or oak tree?

* The tales are horrible, macabre, surreal, otherworldly. Charles Pellegrino doesn’t sensationalize or cheapen the victims’ stories, but he doesn’t sugar coat them either. In many ways, the saddest victims were those that survived the initial blasts, only to die horrific deaths hours, days or years later. There is tragedy and suffering throughout the book, but it is an honest and seemingly truthful look at real events. We meet victims in various states of shock, people acting irrationally, doctors with thousands of badly injured victims and no drugs, medicines, or even a hospital.

* The book also discusses some aspects of post-war Japan that I had never realized. Because of concerns of long-term effects of radiation exposure, survivors of the bombings were treated poorly in Japan. There were avoided as marriage partners and many were forced to conceal their history in order to live normal lives.

* The book is full of the kind of details that make the imagery real. Some of it is gory, but some is almost otherworldly: a doctor suffering from terminal cancer who lives a few more years because of the radiation “therapy” he receives from the bombing; people who no longer need glasses because their eyeballs were reshaped by the blasts; a schoolchild gathering up her books from the rubble, because her parents had scrimped and saved to avoid them.

* The book is purely about the attack as experienced from the ground. There is a brief discussion of the actual bombing missions, including some hair-raising tales, but the book seldom strays from the action on the ground. There are no discussions of the morality, tradeoffs of civilian versus military casualties, or even the war in general. And no matter what your views on those subjects, you can’t help but be touched and moved by the events described.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* The book relies on sketches rather than photos, even in instances where photographs are obviously available. I would guess it is some sort of “artistic license”, but to be honest, it just comes across as annoying.

* The tales can get a little “choppy”. It is sometimes difficult to keep track of exactly whose story you are reading, or the relationships between various named characters. To be honest, it probably doesn’t matter all that much, but it may bother some readers.

* This is a tale of the trees, not the forest. Most of the accounts are based on what individuals personal experienced or saw, so the “scope” of their observations is perhaps a few hundred feet. There is very little discussion of how the cities as a whole were effected, total casualties or losses, or comparisons of different areas. Rather the events and actions of small areas, or groups of people are related individually and not linked to analyzed.

* The last sections of the book describe the later lives of several of the survivors. I was surprised at how many of them lived in, or visited, the United States. It would have been interesting to explore their feelings about the world, and the US, but while that is touched on, it is not the scope of the book.

=== Summary ===

This is not a happy book, or a fun book. It is the brutal reality of what it like to have a million degree fireball dropped on a large city. There is not much discussion of why this happened, or if it should have happened, just that it did and here is the result.

I would hope this book, or something similar is on the reading list of the world’s military academies, and a free copy should be provided to every member of every legislative body in the world. Some events should not be forgotten.

I think most of us view the atrocities inflicted on the Japanese in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII from a comfortable remove. Pellegrino takes us out of our armchairs and plunks us down at ground zero to witness the instant vaporization of tens of thousands, and that's the merciful part. A large majority of the survivors became walking zombies, doomed to die a horrifying and painful death due to burns, and exposure to radiation, with skin sloughing off like loose clothing, and eyeballs blown out of their sockets. Those who didn't die either instantly, or within days, were left to have images such as these imprinted on their minds and souls for the rest of their lives. The strength of spirit that kept these survivors from becoming hopelessly embittered toward America is nothing short of a miracle.
Approximately 2,500 people were killed at Pearl Harbor, with an additional 1,000 wounded. The death toll at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki can only be estimated because the destruction of both cities was so complete that there was no way to record it, but it is estimated that 60,000-80,000 were killed instantly, and the final death toll was approximately 135,000. What's even more disturbing is that the scientists who developed both bombs really had no clue as to the scope of the damage that was to come once the bombs left the bellies of the planes.
This book is definitely not for the squeamish, because the author goes into vivid detail describing the aftermath of the detonation of both atomic bombs, but it brings home his ultimate point; we should do all we can to make sure this never happens again.

I had never read a historical nonfiction account of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am elated that the first time I am able to dive into the history of what happened, it is with To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima. Pellegrino did an amazing job telling the stories of these survivors and everyone involved in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This book was well researched and beautifully executed. Pellegrino has a very simple, matter of fact narrative style that allowed for the history to simply unfold. He went over the facts of what happened explaining the technicalities of the uranium and plutonium bombs with ease. He explained what happened to those at Ground Zero of both sites sparing no details so that readers could capture and understand just how horrifying and disastrous the events were. Pellegrino was unbiased when depicting everyone’s story from those in Japan who weren’t acknowledging just how serious the attacks were, to the pilots flying the planes that would deliver the atomic bombs, to those who survived the attacks and were treated as outsiders. Pellegrino throughout this book respected the seriousness of the tragedy and as part of that respect, spared no detail.

To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima may be one of the best historical, nonfiction books I have ever read. I’m walking away from this book an educated individual on the subject with more empathy than I ever thought imaginable for those whose lives were affected. Pellegrino did an amazing job telling this story without any bias, simply allowing the voices of everyone to be heard, their stories and experiences told and the information communicated.

Seventy years ago the United States dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing unfathomable devastation and loss lo lives. Any book that uses the testimony from actual people who survived or witnessed this destruction and does not focus on the political always proves to have more of an impact. At least for me. There are pictures now in my head that will never leaves, passages I have read that I will not forget.

The author goes int depth of what the actual waves of the bomb did to a person, to the buildings and why it missed some who were so close but survived. Some of this was confusing to me though I felt the author patiently tried to relate this message in simpler terms, I just don't have much of a technical mindset. All in all a memorable, well written book , a book about a time I hope will never come again.

ARC from NetGalley.

The first bomb, and then the second

To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino (Rowman & Littlefield, $29.95).

This book, based on accounts by survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, has an unusual history itself: Five years ago, an earlier edition of the book was withdrawn from publication because of the use of untrustworthy sources. In To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima, Charles Pellegrino offers a revised and carefully edited version of the book, with first-person accounts from the few living hibakusha, those exposed to the blasts.

Among them was a man who survived the bombing from Hiroshima and fled to Nagasaki, where he had relatives, only to survive yet another atomic bombing.

To Hell and Back is detailed, gruesome and emotionally draining; it’s hard not to believe that those who were closest to the bombs and thus vaporized were the lucky ones. Released on the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Pellegrino’s book—like John Hersey’s Hiroshima—is horrible and necessary.

"To Hell and Back" is one of the most affecting books I have ever read. It manages to be both brutal and humane in its exploration of this overlooked aspect of the Hiroshima event. Pellegrino has written a book that everyone who has any interest in foreign affairs, military action, or simple humanity should read. Recommended for all collections.

An important addition to any history collection. Pellegrino details the accounts of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A dark time in history often overlooked or briefly discussed, this book tells the stories that need to be remembered.