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First into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War Audiobook
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(3.03) - 120 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
On September 6, 1945, less than a month after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, George Weller, a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter, became the first free Westerner to enter the devastated city. Going into hospitals and consulting doctors of the bomb’s victims, he was the first to document its unprecedented medical effects. He also became the first to enter the Allied POW camps, which rivaled Nazi camps for cruelty and bested them for death count. Among the prisoners’ untold stories was of their voyage to imprisonment in Japan on “hellships” that transported them so inhumanely that one third of them died in transit.
Heavily censored by General MacArthur, most of these dispatches were never published and believed lost—until now. This historic body of work is a stirring reminder of the courage of rogue reporting that ferrets out the truth.
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"A must read, especially given that we are currently waging a war where serious questions are being asked about detainee treatment - and no answers are being given to us by the goverment."
— Monica (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Rudnicki reads…with a quiet authority…His reading gives a punch and immediacy to Weller’s solidly constructed first-person reports on the horrors of war. The result forcefully documents a superb war correspondent’s eyewitness testimony.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Weller’s dispatches from Nagasaki are riveting even at this late date…a welcome addition to the historical record.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Award-winning narrator Rudnicki provides a low-keyed, semi-voiced performance, allowing the text to speak for itself.”
— Kliatt -
“As the number of nations capable of producing nuclear weapons appears to be growing, this gruesome glimpse at the results of nuclear war is timely and important.”
— Booklist
Awards
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Winner of the Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award
First into Nagasaki Listener Reviews
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" Grabbed me from the first page and I was unable to put it down until I finished. Anthony Weller did a wonderful job compiling his father's work. "
— Suzanne, 10/1/2013 -
" Not bad, got this for Christmas a few years ago from my brother. "
— Lynn, 11/21/2008
About George Weller
George Weller, a graduate of Harvard, wrote for the New York Times but made his name covering World War II for the Chicago Daily News. He won many honors as a foreign correspondent, including a 1943 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on soldiers returning from the frontlines. He continued as a foreign correspondent until his death in 2002.
About Stefan Rudnicki
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.