In its diversity of perspectives, The Unfinished Atomic Bomb: Shadows and Reflections is testament to the ways in which contemplations of the A-bomb are endlessly shifting, rarely fixed on the same point or perspective. The compilation of this book is significant in this regard, offering Japanese, American, Australian, and European perspectives. In doing so, the essays here represent a complex series of interpretations of the bombing of Hiroshima, and its implications both for history, and for the present day. From Kuznick’s extensive biographical account of the Hiroshima bomb pilot, Paul Tibbets, and contentious questions about the moral and strategic efficacy of dropping the A-bomb and how that has resonated through time, to Jacobs’ reflections on the different ways in which Hiroshima and its memorialization are experienced today, each chapter considers how this moment in time emerges, persistently, in public and cultural consciousness. The discussions here are often difficult, sometimes controversial, and at times oppositional, reflecting the characteristics of A-bomb scholarship more broadly. The aim is to explore the various ways in which Hiroshima is remembered, but also to consider the ongoing legacy and impact of atomic warfare, the reverberations of which remain powerfully felt.
David Lowe is chair in contemporary history at Deakin University.
Cassandra Atherton received a PhD in literary studies from the University of Melbourne.
Alyson Miller is lecturer in writing and literature at Deakin University.
Introduction: An Unfinished Atomic Bomb, David Lowe, Cassandra Atherton, and Alyson Miller
Chapter 1: Defending the Indefensible: The Tragic Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr., Peter J. Kuznick
Chapter 2: Article 9 as Memorial, Carolyn Stevens
Chapter 3: Atomic Bomb Literature for Children: Tatsuharu Kodama’s The Lunch Box and Shin’s Tricycle, Alyson Miller
Chapter 4: Fading Lights: Digital Visualization and the Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mick Broderick
Chapter 5: Two-Way Mirror: The Significance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the U.S.–North Korea Nuclear Crisis, Adam Broinowski
Chapter 6: Hibaku Jumoku, Nature, and Hiroshima’s Recovery after the A-Bomb, Glenn Moore
Chapter 7: “In the Shadow of the Cloud”: Hibakusha Poets as Public Intellectuals, Cassandra Atherton
Chapter 8: The Flowers of Hiroshima, Monica Braw
Chapter 9: The Manhattan Project Historical National Park, David Lowe
Chapter 10: Hi-Roshimon: What We See When We Look at Hiroshima, Robert Jacobs
The atomic bombings, because of the sheer scale of their destruction and the long-term effects on the human mind and body, compelled the survivors to live as hibakusha throughout their entire lives. The essays compiled in this book eloquently describe their struggle to come to terms with their mangled lives and analyze how the wider world tried to remember, and sometimes forget, the human cost of the bombing. This is a compassionate, timely, and extremely readable book that reminds readers that it is our responsibility to pass on the memories of the atomic bombing so that there shall be ‘no more Hiroshima and Nagasaki.’ — Fumiko Nishizaki, University of Tokyo
The cultural, political, and ethical aftershocks of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 are still being felt, perhaps more insistently now than they have for years. As this collection of essays that probe the transnational fault lines of nuclear destruction make clear, the atomic bomb is very much unfinished—both a haunting reminder of historical destruction and a disturbing specter of potential catastrophe to come. The Unfinished Atomic Bomb is important reading, not merely for those wanting to keep abreast of recent developments in ‘bomb scholarship,’ but also for those interested in one of the most compelling issues of our time. — Robin Gerster, Monash University
“The collection of scholarly essays in The Unfinished Atomic Bomb, edited by three Australian scholars, shows that the fi eld of atomic-bombing studies is alive and well.” — Chad R. Diehl, University of Virginia, Assistant Professor; The Journal of Japanese Studies
