I really didn't understand how the bomb worked and how its effect worked afterwards on the victims. But this reporting goes further than that, though censored almost entirely by MacArthur even after his authority to do so had expired.Weller covers the slave labor of POWs in Bataan, the horrifying hellship journeys,the refusal of American authorities to allow reports of what was really going on to reach the American public. In the immediate aftermath of the war it seemed everyone just wanted to forget its horrors asap.Weller explains how excellenet propaganda almost had Americans feeling sorry for winning the war.
It was a long read because Weller also listed brief reports and comments of POWs while their memory was still fresh about the atrocities they endured for many many pages.MacArthur wouldn't allow reporters in for 6 weeks after the bombings but by hook and crook, Weller got there within days illicitly.
The original notes and reports, were all destroyed by MacArthur's people, but the carbons were saved of course by Weller to be recovered 60 years later by his son who edited, commented, and published here. I think it an important book to read as so much was covered up about Japanese atrocities and so much has been told about the Nazis.

Not bad, got this for Christmas a few years ago from my brother.

A terribly sad account of the effects of the bombing of Nagasaki on WWII...with a heart rending and exhaustive account of the mistreatment of Allied prisoners of war by the Japanese empire.

A powerful history, albeit dry at points (as it’s essentially a primary document). At other points, it brims with raw, overwhelming emotion as Weller interviewed the witnesses in the immediate aftermath of the events.

There is some phenomenal information in this book, but sometimes research materials should be left as research materials and this is one such time. I appreciate Anthony Weller’s efforts to transcribe and edit his father’s dispatches and notes, which absolutely provide a valuable look at the experiences of Nagasaki and POWs in Japan. However, rather than transcribe them and make them available in their original form, he edited them in ways that seem purposefully vague when he mentions it (while leaving in a lot of repetitive material), and repackages them with additional writing that turns an important part of 20th century history into an exercise in the hero worship of a father by his son (complete with tracking down former POWs for convenient quotes calling his father a saint and an angel), for profit. I enjoyed the account of Nagasaki, the POW materials were interesting if research material-y, the rest I could have done without.

this is a phenomenal book; the stories of the Japanese prisoner of war camps are not often recounted; the stories of the hell ships should be remembered. these stories make the events depicted in UNBROKEN look like a cake walk in comparison. What happened to the people who perpetrated these war crimes? too many skated with little or no punishment.

A classic bit of reporting from World War II, the original dispatches of which were destroyed by General MacArthur's censors in Tokyo, George Weller snuck into Nagasaki in September, 1945 to record the bomb damage and aftermath and get eyewitness testimony to the second atomic bomb blast. Although later casualty reports were exaggerated, the real thing was horrible enough. The carbon copies of these dispatches were only discovered by Weller's son among his personal papers in 2005, and were never published during Weller's lifetime. He did write a short, truncated version of the events in 1966, and they are also included in this book.

Only a small part of the book covers the effects of the bomb on Nagasaki. But I would highly recommend it based on the POW stories that are told. I think a lot of the time people sum up the war with Japan by 3 events: bombing of pearl harbor, bombing of hiroshima, and bombing of nagasaki. There was so much more that went on that is not as well known. I think this is an importnat part of history as well. This book takes a lot of time to cover the POWs working in the coal mines and the death cruise. It is very interesting and heart breaking stuff.

I so enjoy books that challenge one to reconsider what one thinks one knows. This was exceptionally well done and eye opening.

This is an outstanding book. It is outstanding both for clear writing style and for suppressed history that is IMPORTANT to know. It is mostly about US troops who survived POW camps in Japan. All POW camps are bad. These were incredibly bad. Many survived but many more did not. Their story was never told to the American people. It was suppressed for decades.

Read this now.

George Weller was an American reporter who snuck into Nagasaki a month after the bomb was dropped. He wrote what he saw in the town, the hospital and the surround POW camps. His reports never saw the light of day. General MacArthur and his censors thought it would be better if the American public didn't know what they were up too. More than 60 years later, his son, found his original carbon copies in a trunk and finally published theme.

Why I picked it up: I read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption over the summer and I realized that I needed to learn more about Japan and WWII in the Pacific.

Why I finished it: The Japanese were horrible to the POWs. I had to take this book in small doses because it is overwhelming. And it is something that we don't talk about anymore. I am beginning to understand why the Koreans HATE the Japanese. Weller describes torture, starvation and humilitation that was handed out to the Americans, the Dutch and the British and then follows it up with a sentence like "it was worse for the Koreans."

Discussion points: Military censorship, atomic bombs, POW treatment, historical memory and freedom of the press. This would be an awesome Book Club selection... for those that are not faint of heart.

Pretty good book, gives you an insight of several things that aren't usually explained nor told. I recommend it for people who are looking for new points of view.