Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoirs of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands - Hardcover

Yamazaki, James N.; Fleming, Louis B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0822316587 ISBN 13: 9780822316589

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 1995

Synopsis

Despite familiar images of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan and the controversy over its fiftieth anniversary, the human impact of those horrific events often seems lost to view. In this uncommon memoir, Dr. James N. Yamazaki tells us in personal and moving terms of the human toll of nuclear warfare and the specific vulnerability of children to the effects of these weapons. Giving voice to the brutal ironies of racial and cultural conflict, of war and sacrifice, his story creates an inspiring and humbling portrait of events whose lessons remain difficult and troubling fifty years later.
Children of the Atomic Bomb is Dr. Yamazaki’s account of a lifelong effort to understand and document the impact of nuclear explosions on children, particularly the children conceived but not yet born at the time of the explosions. Assigned in 1949 as Physician-in-Charge of the United States Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Nagasaki, Yamazaki had served as a combat surgeon at the Battle of the Bulge where he had been captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Germans. In Japan he was confronted with violence of another dimension—the devastating impact of a nuclear blast and the particularly insidious effects of radiation on children.
Yamazaki’s story is also one of striking juxtapositions, an account of a Japanese-American’s encounter with racism, the story of a man who fought for his country while his parents were interned in a concentration camp in Arkansas. Once the object of discrimination at home, Yamazaki paradoxically found himself in Japan for the first time as an American, part of the Allied occupation forces, and again an outsider. This experience resonates through his work with the children of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and with the Marshallese people who bore the brunt of America’s postwar testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific.
Recalling a career that has spanned five decades, Dr. Yamazaki chronicles the discoveries that helped chart the dangers of nuclear radiation and presents powerful observations of both the medical and social effects of the bomb. He offers an indelible picture of human tragedy, a tale of unimaginable suffering, and a dedication to healing that is ultimately an unwavering, impassioned plea for peace.

About this title

Review

"Dr. Yamazaki provides a spellbinding, engrossing manual on the effects of atomic bomb-produced radiation on children, particularly on the developing brain, after birth and in utero. Told within the framework of his autobiography, this accurate handbook of the hazards of atomic radiation and other effects of the bomb reveals a compassionate pediatrician who has devoted his career to the study of the long-term effects of the atomic bomb on the Japanese and Marshallese children who have been its victims."—D. Carleton Gajdusek, Chief, Lab of Central Nervous System Studies, NIH; Nobel Laureate in Medicine (1976)

"Dr. Yamazaki’s painfully concise observations of children affected by the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki force us to see what actually took place beneath the mushroom cloud. While his parents were held in a U.S. internment camp, Yamazaki fought for his country in Europe during World War II. After witnessing firsthand the atrocities of war as a young soldier, Yamazaki went on to study devastation on an even more horrific scale: the impact of a nuclear blast on the children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."—Daniel K. Inouye, United States Senator, Hawaii

"I praise Dr. Yamazaki for drawing international attention to the plight of children who are suffering as a direct result of atomic weapons. The nuclear weapons testing program in the Marshall Islands dramatically affected the health of the people, the environment, the economy, and the culture. I thank Dr. Yamazaki for helping to tell a story that most of the world has turned its back on for too long."—Wilfred I. Kendall, Ambassador to the United States of America, Republic of the Marshall Islands

"It is my earnest hope that Children of the Atomic Bomb, published on the important occasion of the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will be read around the world and help to enhance public awareness of the threat of nuclear weapons and thus promote nuclear disarmament."—Hitoshi Motoshima, Mayor of Nagasaki

From the Author

James N. Yamazaki is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Louis B. Fleming is a former foreign correspondent and editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times.

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0822316587
• ISBN 13: 9780822316589
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200