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The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back (John MacRae Books) |  | Author: Charles Pellegrino
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Category: Book
Buy New: $85.00
as of 7/29/2010 22:37 EDT details
New (13) Used (11) Collectible (2) from $56.99
Seller: GregSalida
Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 73224
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.4
ISBN: 0805087966
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5425219540922
EAN: 9780805087963
ASIN: 0805087966
Publication Date: January 19, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
From Henry Holt and Company and Macmillan Books
It is with deep regret that Henry Holt and Company announces that we will no longer print, correct or ship copies of Charles Pellegrino's The Last Train from Hiroshima due to the discovery of a dishonest sources of information for the book.
It is easy to understand how even the most diligent author could be duped by a source, but we also understand that opens that book to very detailed scrutiny. The author of any work of non-fiction must stand behind its content. We must rely on our authors to answer questions that may arise as to the accuracy of their work and reliability of their sources. Unfortunately, Mr. Pellegrino was not able to answer the additional questions that have arisen about his book to our satisfaction.
Mr. Pellegrino has a long history in the publishing world, and we were very proud and honored to publish his history of such an important historical event. But without the confidence that we can stand behind the work in its entirety, we cannot continue to sell this product to our customers.
Product Description
Drawing on the voices of atomic-bomb survivors and the new science of forensic archaeology, Charles Pellegrino describes the events and aftermath of two days in August when nuclear devices detonated over Japan changed life on Earth forever Last Train from Hiroshima offers readers a stunning “you are there” time capsule, gracefully wrapped in elegant prose. Charles Pellegrino’s scientific authority and close relationship with the A-bomb’s survivors make his account the most gripping and authoritative ever written. At the narrative’s core are eyewitness accounts of those who experienced the atomic explosions firsthand—the Japanese civilians on the ground and the American flyers in the air. Thirty people are known to have fled Hiroshima for Nagasaki—where they arrived just in time to survive the second bomb. One of them, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, is the only person who experienced the full effects of the cataclysm at ground zero both times. The second time, the blast effects were diverted around the stairwell in which Yamaguchi had been standing, placing him and a few others in a shock coccoon that offered protection, while the entire building disappeared around them. Pellegrino weaves spellbinding stories together within an illustrated narrative that challenges the “official report,” showing exactly what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and why.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
 stunning book! Humanity, character, science. What a lesson. July 28, 2010
Gail Merrill (New Canaan, CT USA)
This is a stunning, powerful book! What an education! The humanity, character, cruelty, courage, the generals on both sides and the many ways lives were and are affected by hideous bombs dropped, for generations. Shocking to learn that a general attempted to shut up the survivors of the most horrific nightmare and deny then publishing. How very frightening to not know what is happening to people around you. To read of so many innocent victims (non military) and their efforts to cope. The science. So much in this book. And to think some people still think nuclear is good.
I had non-genetic cancer and found the US government nuclear map lining up with the government breast cancer mortality map, across the country. Now nuclear emissions show up in baby teeth ([...]). It seems the nuclear destruction continues. This is one of the best books I have read. Fabulously talented author, with scientific background.
Personally, I think everyone should know this book. A life lesson to all.
Unforgettable Reading Experience January 21, 2010
Ronald J. Lupo (New York)
20 out of 34 found this review helpful
This book was incredible and unforgettable. The intense chain of events that played out over the days of the bombs dropping and their aftermath was well researched and captured by Charlie and written as only he could write it. The reading was not difficult, but reading about the lives and deaths of the people was.
We can only hope this NEVER happens again to anyone.
If you read only one book of human drama and pain, The Last Train From Hiroshima is the one.
Ron Lupo - January 2010
Frighteningly Detailed View of Hell on Earth X 2 January 22, 2010
C. Bleakley (Central Illinois)
18 out of 31 found this review helpful
It's difficult to imagine a more extreme situation than surviving a nuclear bomb. Well, you don't have to imagine it anymore. Using an impressive array of survivor's accounts from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Charles Pelligrino provides the blood-chilling details of life and death during and after the atomic attacks. These descriptions are not for the squeamish, and are more detailed and from more viewpoints than anything else I have read on the subject. But I never felt the author indulged in grisliness for it's own sake. The graphic details are there to convey the magnitude and horror of these attacks, whose primary victims were not buildings and cities, but people--hundreds of thousands of them.
It's largely due to this attention to detail that I actually learned things I didn't know. For example, some people survived closer to Ground Zero than others through effects like "shadow-sheilding" and "blast cocoons." Life and death could literally depend on whether you were standing in front of a window or crouching below it--or on which side of a hill you happenned to be standing, or if you were quick enough into a protective air-raid tunnel. These gripping, sometimes ghastly details more than make up for the author's occasional stylistic infelicities.
I was also suprised to learn of the number of people who made their way out of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the blast only to head straight for Nagasaki and another encounter with hell on earth.
I'm amazed this book hasn't given me nightmares--at least not yet. But even if that happens, I'll be able to wake up from my nightmares, which is far more than the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki could do--a point this book drives home with forceful clarity and conviction.
A Remarkable Book January 25, 2010
Gene R. Obrien (Union, New Jersey)
15 out of 27 found this review helpful
I bought this book today after hearing Dr. Pellegrino on The John Batchelor Show last night. I've read the first chapter and I was both fascinated and horrified by the detail he presents. I also found myself in tears especially at the children of Hiroshima who seemed to sense that 'something bad' was about to happen. This is an utterly remarkable and fascinating book that I only stopped reading long enough to write this review. It is THAT good. It is, to use a cliche, a 'page-turner'. The detail is amazing as you read exactly what happens in the first moments of an atomic bomb explosion and the physics that follow. Even more fascinating are the eye-witness accounts by those who were there and what they saw.
I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in eye-witness history and fascinating forensics. Stop reading this review and start reading The Last Train From Hiroshima.
Right or wrong--I loved this book... June 14, 2010
Sigrid Olsen (Salem, OR United States)
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I found Pellegrino's account to be harrowing, and his writing verging on "poetic." Even if some of the facts were false, this is still a wonderful read. This is a rare case where the writing transcends truth, and may be even closer to the truth (because of its poetic descriptions)--than the facts themselves. Though I am disappointed to learn of the controversy, my advice would be to not "throw the baby out with the bathwater." I loved this book, and despite its flaws, I understood what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki much better. The account of a husband carrying his wife's skull back home, a young girl's near escape, and a mother's guilt for failing to help her burned daughter riveted this reader. Pellegrino is a curious writer, who, I am convinced, has a bit of a poet in him, for his words create the terrible beauty of the nuclear age.
Oppenheimer himself was a lover of words and poetry. Indeed, he admired Herbert's The Collar--
Is the yeare onely lost to me ?
Have I no bayes to crown it ?
No flowers, no garlands gay ? all blasted ?
All wasted ?
Pelligrino's account, though leavened with mistakes, describes Hiroshima and Nagasaki as blasted and wasted in ways that few writers could. For me, that is truth.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
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