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Rating: 
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!
Review: American people, it is time for a reality check. Read this amazing book and learn the TRUTH about the human cost of the nuclear genocide of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This book is based on FACT, actual documents, journals and eye-witness accounts. Ibuse does a masterful job of putting together disparate accounts of the bomb and its wretched aftermath, yet in a narrative framework that maintains the reader's interest thorughout. Readers, please ignore the "review" below by Mariposa. It is complete rubbish! READ this book, WATCH the film (quite different, by the director Imamura Shohei) and THINK about the consequences of American Empire/Militarism/Facism. This should be required reading for Bush and his cabal. Perhaps they would not be so quick to jump to "military solutions" (which is an oxymoron).
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!
Review: American people, it is time for a reality check. Read this amazing book and learn the TRUTH about the human cost of the nuclear genocide of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This book is based on FACT, actual documents, journals and eye-witness accounts. Ibuse does a masterful job of putting together disparate accounts of the bomb and its wretched aftermath, yet in a narrative framework that maintains the reader's interest thorughout. Readers, please ignore the "review" below by Mariposa. It is complete rubbish! READ this book, WATCH the film (quite different, by the director Imamura Shohei) and THINK about the consequences of American Empire/Militarism/Facism. This should be required reading for Bush and his cabal. Perhaps they would not be so quick to jump to "military solutions" (which is an oxymoron).
Rating:
Summary: YOU get real, Mariposa (and other morons out there)
Review: I cannot believe that people feel sorry for the Japanese for what they did to us. How can we compare the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which spared the lives of hundreds of American soldiers who would have been killed in an invaison with the evil and underhanded attack on Pearl Harbor. I just cannot feel sorry for the people who were responsible for that act of Terrorism.
Rating: 
Summary: Get real people!
Review: I cannot believe that people feel sorry for the Japanese for what they did to us. How can we compare the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which spared the lives of hundreds of American soldiers who would have been killed in an invaison with the evil and underhanded attack on Pearl Harbor. I just cannot feel sorry for the people who were responsible for that act of Terrorism.
Rating:
Summary: It never leaves
Review: I read this book for a college course 15 years ago, and have never forgotten it. It brought me out of my safe American home into a reality the most people don't want to know about. I have recommended it to many, with warnings of course, and am buying a copy to share with others. It does not preach for or against nuclear power, it just shows the result.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Perspective.
Review: I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan for two years, and was able to visit Hiroshima several times. I visited the Peace Park memorial there, and toured the museum. It was, to say the least, a very sobering experience.Reading this book was also sobering, but I gained an interesting perspective from doing so. The great thing about this book is that it shows the bombing from the perspective of regular Japanese people and how it affected them. They didn't really know what had happened when the bomb went off. People didn't know about atomic bombs back then the way we know now. The book also affords a very neutral perspective on the bombing. It isn't necessarily either anti-american or pro-japanese. It just tells the story as it happened. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about what happened to people in Hiroshima and how it affected their lives.
Rating:
Summary: Kuroi Ame
Review: I was shocked to see that only five people have reviewed this book before me. It is such an important book in showing the tragedy caused by the Atomic bomb. The book begins by describing the peaceful life of Shigematsu a man who worked for a clothing company during WW II. At first the reader learns that Shigematsu is trying to beat radiation sickness by taking it easy and raising fish. Howerer, his idealic life is disturbed because no man is willing to marry Yasuko, his adopted daughter, because they are worried that she suffers from radiation poisoning. To help prove that she is okay. He writes out his full account of the time of the bombing. This book is mesmerizing. It shpws it graphic detail the ddestruction of the bomb. It is not blaming anyone, it is just showing the facts
Rating:
Summary: All of you need to read more books than 1 or 2 in a lifetime
Review: The past three reviewers have their facts wrong. No you cannot equate the attack on Pearl Harbor with the Bombing of Hiroshima. Neither can anyone say that it was unnecessary to end the war with their use. FACT: the war ended because the Emperor ended it on a Radio Broadcast after the bombing of Nagasaki. The government was willing to hold out for a negotiated surrender! FACT: The Japanese Military had a strangle hold on the government and were training every man, woman and child to meet the invading American's on the beaches with sharpened bamboo pikes.CHILDREN fighting Marines on the beach! Yes, it would have cost more American lives to invade , but the cost in Japanese civilian lives would have been much higher than the total lost in the dropping of both bombs. Remember the US Air force had fire bombed Tokyo to the ground. Millions more died and would have continue dying in those raids. The fact that they continued to resist surrendering after so much destruction should have convinced the three previous reviewers of the steadfast determination of the Japanese people to defend their honor and their freedom from invaders. After the war when the Japanese people learned that their government and the Military had lied to them about the reasons why they went to war against America and the atrocities that their Army committed throughout Asia, they all voted to abolish their military capability, and participation in Offensive military action. The dropping of the Atomic bomb, though a horrible trajedy, was a mindset changing event. The mere fact that Emperor realized that the Nation was going to go down in death for his sake convinced him that he had to break the code and tradition, by speaking directly to his people and end the suffering. Read this book and many others. Learn both sides before you quickly jump to an ill-concieved notion about why things happen the way they do or did (in the past).
Rating:
Summary: very powerful
Review: This book is one in about five books I've ever read that I would give a five star rating. The beauty of his writing style reminds me of 'The Grapes of Wrath'. His almost constant descriptions of the horrors of the initial blast and the minutes afterwards pound into the readers mind, time and time again, how incredible the human suffering really was. To me, it wasn't about whether it was the right decision or not but rather about the undeniable fact that things really got that bad. Without being sentimental at all every page had me on the verge of weeping for humanity.
Rating:
Summary: YOU get real, Mariposa (and other morons out there)
Review: To potential readers of this book: 1) Ignore the moron listed below (Mariposa), whose "review" is completely beside the point--by which I mean that equating the attack on Pearl Harbor (a military target in a US colony), though horrific in its own way, with the atomic destruction of two civilian targets (Hiroshima, which Black Rain is about, had approximately 350,000 people living within its limits; approx. the size of Denver, CO at the time) AND to assert that thousands or even "millions" of American lives were saved from a bloody invasion (which scholars and military commanders refute, since Japan was ready to surrender--go read Gar Alperovitz and get your facts straight, Mariposa!) is simply wrong (not to mention heartless); 2) go out and get your hands on this book immediately and get a dose of the TRUTH (for a change)! In these pages you will read about the human face of nuclear genocide--the fact that these bombs were dropped ON PEOPLE, not simply "cities". Hiroshima and nagasaki constitute two of the largest war crimes in world history. If you are an American, it is your duty to read what was done in your name and to work so that it does not happen again. Turn off the FOX network, get your head out of your behind, and start reading about the cost of American militarism! Ibuse's masterful novel charts the lives of a family caught in the atomic fallout and it follows them to the countryside, where they attempt to rebuild their lives. It will show you several aspects of Japanese culture, but the main reason for reading this text (based on real documents and eye-witness accounts) is to learn what happened to people on the ground in Hiroshima (and Nagasaki), rather than always avoiding reality and adopting the viewpoint of the murderers in the Enola Gay, safely flying away from the mushroom cloud. Americans--wake up! Yes, we "won the war"--but at what price?... we paid with our souls.
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