Finance Manager Tamara Mortenson recommends Ghosts of Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino.
In Ghosts of Hiroshima, the author and his team cultivated vastly detailed accountings. While graphic and sort of cold – or maybe detached is a better word – in the recounting, it is still deeply moving.
One central figure is Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a 29 year-old naval engineer who miraculously survived the blast at ground zero in Hiroshima. Horribly burned, he took a train returning home to his family in Nagasaki, only to endure the second atomic event just days later.
Accounts from soldiers stationed in and around Japan, to bomb survivors, to the post nuclear event aftermath, are explained comprehensibly.
You get deeply personal accountings of tragedy, unbelievable trauma, and unexpected compassion on the front lines, from both sides.
A cautionary narrative of how the nuclear age has shaped the way conflict is viewed, how close we could be to absolute destruction as a species.
This book is new to The Community Library’s collection as of May 2026. I very much enjoyed reviewing this title, as it is a subject I find moving. The atrocities of war are deeply impactful to the human condition in some cases for generations after the events occur. I am excited to see how James Cameron molds this book into film.
