How horrible.

My maternal grandfather went into Nagasaki with the US Navy at the time covered by these reports, so it was really meaningful for me. But even beyond that, the descriptions of conditions there are important to remember. The writing is good period journalism; it includes the common ethnic slurs of the time, but that's part of how things were. It also includes the story of two Americans who were left behind on Wake Island and hid out for months from the Japanese military there.

Dispatches from George Weller following the surender of Japan in World War II. He is the first westerner to enter Nagaski about a month after the bombing and there was still smoldering buildings at that time. The story really revolves around the censurship of MacArthur and theories why the government banned the publication of these accounts. Interesting information on how the US defends the atoimic bomb as a non-chemical weapon. Best stories relate to the ghost ship transfers of American POWs and there subsequent treatment in Japan.

This is a terrific book composed of first person accounts by former POWs and others in Japan after WW2. As these are direct account they really give a sense for how the people felt. One thing I learned was that despite all the theories about how the A-bomb did not need to be used. Everyone then who was involved in the war wanted it ended soon and wanted to use every weapon possible if it meant fewer US soldiers getting killed.

A great book for all WW2 history buffs.

This was a hard book to read and rate.

It had some very disturbing descriptions (especially dealing with the prisoners of war in Japan) and just the nature of the book made some sections difficult to read. The book took press dispatches that were never published due to censorship and just published them as they were originally written. So there is often no prose or real narrative. Whole sections were just one sentence responses by prisoners when they found out the war was over. So the information is interesting from a historical perspective but the format sometimes made it less readable. The dispatches were originally intended to be used to write a newspaper article and not published as is.

Still the content was invaluable for anyone interested in WWII history and what is said about censorship makes you think.

A notable and remarkable book. George Weller was the first correspondent into Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped. The book includes first-hand reports brutal POW camps, a saga of the worst of the Japanese “hellships” which carried U.S. prisoners. Weller provides a moving, unparalleled look at the bomb that killed more than 70,000 people and ended WWII. Recommended.

This is a different type of book that everyone should read at least excerpts from. Written for newspaper print, George Weller's first hand accounts of Japan after its surrender are stomach clenching. I was ignorant of the Japanese front of the World War II before this book.

A bit of a disjointed account, but still very interesting. The conditions that allied POW's had to survive were horrific. While I have not made a detailed reading of German camp life, I have read a few books- the Japanese come across as far more sadistic and heartless. Contains a detailed and harrowing account of a Japanese prison ship crossing, as well as the somewhat amusing account of two US civilian contractors who hid out on Wake Island for almost 90 days after its capture.

Eye opening in so many ways, definitely makes me want to continue down my WW2 rabbit hole though

The key here is the subtitle of the book: "The censored eyewitness dispatches on post-atomic Japan and its prisoners of war." The book is not just about Nagaski. It covers a variety of themes:


1. Extreme censorship by MacArthur of information relating to what had happened in Japan due to the atomic bombs.


2. Extreme control by MacArthur who basically shut down parts of Japan to reporters.


3. Absolutely terrible stories of what happened to prisoners-of-war under Japanese control.


4. How many Japanese responsible for the horrible treatment of prisoners-of-war got away unpunished.


5. How the Americans let off people from the Unit 731 unit that performed unspeakable experiments on living beings, simply because the US wanted the information they had obtained from there biological warfare and other experiments.


6. What Nagasaki was like a month after the bomb had been dropped.


Weller was a reporter who made his way to Nagasaki even though at the time no reporters were allowed in that portion of Japan at all. He talked to numerous prisoners-of-war and various Japanese and wrote up a series of stories on what he had learned, only to have the stories censored, if not outright destroyed, by MacArthur's censors.


The parts about Nagasaki actually form only a very small portion of the book. The strongest part is the part about what happened to the prisoners-of-war, including the "death ships" where numerous prisoners died while being transported to Japan and other places.


in command would sicken virtually anyone. Nowhere else have I read such a vivid description of exactly what happened. This is absolutely not the type of material that should be read by anyone who is really sensitive and easily disturbed.


At a time when many in Japan's government want to take a revisionist view on what Japan did during World War II, this is a book that is a must to read (for those not easily upset), to remember that there was a time when the Japanese military behaved in a totally bestial fashion. Excuses are always made, of course (the military training was harsh, they expected people to die rather than be taken prisoner, etc.), but he bottom-line truth is that numerous American prisoners-of-war, and prisoners-of-war from other countries, died directly due to the cruelty of their Japanese captors. Even the Nazis treated their prisoners-of-war better


The past can be forgiven, but it must never be forgotten.

I just couldn't get into this one. It's pretty raw. I feel like a good writer could take the content and make a really great account of Weller's experience. Did not finish.

This book was a complete surprise to me. I thought it would be the straight facts I already knew and fairly dry as written by a reporter as opposed to what we call a "journalist".
I was wrong. Not only fascinating and horrific but the political manipulation of public relations and the press and data and information was chilling. So much was kept from the public to cast a more favorable light on our decisions and to make sure we looked moral and to play down the horror of the bomb.. One wonders today if anything is reported truthfully. Brilliant insights and I agree, a must read for WW2 readers.
I happen to agree with the decision to drop the bomb but I still didn't know about our true "Wag the Dog" mentality in this case.