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Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician’s Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands
 
 
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Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician’s Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands [Hardcover]

James N. Yamazaki (Author), James N. Yamazaki (Author), Louis B. Fleming (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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In 1949, the author, a pediatrician and medical researcher, was sent to Japan to study the effects of nuclear radiation, especially on children still in their mothers' wombs when the bomb was detonated. This report takes a medical look at the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and reviews some of the genetic abnormalities resulting from fetal exposure. The author also passes along information about the fate of Marshall Islanders accidentally exposed to radioactive fallout during the 1954 U.S. thermonuclear test at Bikini. This account is more than a medical report, however; Yamazaki relates his personal story as a Japanese American whose parents were treated roughly in a wartime internment camp in Arkansas while their son fought for America in the Battle of the Bulge. Yet the study is the most involving when he discusses the tragic legacy of the atomic bomb and sounds the alarm about the hazards of radiation in all forms. Yamazaki is on the staff of the UCLA medical school; Fleming is a former foreign correspondent. Illustrations.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

OYamazaki, a Japanese-American doctor who served in World War II, has written an absorbing memoir that is also a sobering account of the continuing effects of radiation and nuclear weapons...O --Meg Dyer, Bloomsbury Review ODr. YamazakiOs painfully concise observations of children affected by the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki force us to see what actually took place beneath the mushroom cloud.O --Daniel K. Inouye, United States Senator, HawaiOi
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4.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly important work, Jan 26 2004
By 
This review is from: Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands (Paperback)
This is the personal and medical memoir of Dr. James Yamazaki, an American of Japanese descent who went to Japan a few years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dr. Yamazaki went to study the effects of radiation exposure on the populace, and particularly its effects on children. Dr. Yamazaki spent several years in Nagasaki before returning to the US to continue research on the effects of radiation on children (as well as having a general pediatric practice.)

In addition to his pioneering medical work, he also talked to government commissions about nuclear disarmament. He told them what he saw in Japan in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. His medical knowledge gave him the authority to speak as a peace activist as well.

A highly recommended, highly moving book. It is short and easy to read and should be essential reading to all human beings about those horrible days in the history of the world.

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fallout, Mar 12 2005
By JMack - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician’s Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands (Hardcover)
"Children of the Atomic Bomb" is a disturbing look into the after effects of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II. In reference to the fallout of radiation, the Marshall Islands incident is also discussed. The author's primary emphasis is placed on the bomb's effects on children, including those still in the womb and those not yet conceived.

There is a great deal of valuable information in this book, though I must admit I found the explanations too short at times. Dr. Yamazaki is an American of Asian descent, who served his country in World War II. Because of his nationality, he endured racism depite being an American. Ironically, even in his research in Japan he endured prejudice because he was seen as an American. This gives an interesting twist to the story.

Dr. Yamazaki's focus began in studying the unborm children of the atomic bomb. While the adults in the fallout tended to develop cancer at high rates later in life, the children had a high motality rate. Cancer and mental retardation were among the primary defects developed in these children. Many were also born with small heads, caused by the soft tissue of the skull solidifing too soon. These "pica babies" or babies of the blinding flash showed an alarming vulnerablity during the eighth and fifteenth weeks of development. Babies in this span of development showed the greatest health problems. Searching for genetic defects is the next goal of the research, though the stigma of being a pica baby makes some reluctant to come forward for research.

One of the things I enjoyed about the book was that Dr. Yamazaki did not choose to argue for or against the use of the bomb. Instead, he chose to pursue the possibility that something like this should never happen again. In American culture, we pay little attention to the after effects of the Atomic Bomb in Japan. Our primary focus in America in studying World War II is the fall of the Nazi regime. This book is an eye-opening experience in the events that unfolded in Japan as the war ended. My only complaint is that the book is often too concise.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly important work, Jan 26 2004
By Moses Alexander - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands (Paperback)
This is the personal and medical memoir of Dr. James Yamazaki, an American of Japanese descent who went to Japan a few years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dr. Yamazaki went to study the effects of radiation exposure on the populace, and particularly its effects on children. Dr. Yamazaki spent several years in Nagasaki before returning to the US to continue research on the effects of radiation on children (as well as having a general pediatric practice.)

In addition to his pioneering medical work, he also talked to government commissions about nuclear disarmament. He told them what he saw in Japan in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. His medical knowledge gave him the authority to speak as a peace activist as well.

A highly recommended, highly moving book. It is short and easy to read and should be essential reading to all human beings about those horrible days in the history of the world.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A moving memoir and an important piece of scholarship from a very good man, Oct 13 2010
By Timothy J. Bazzett "ReedCityBoy" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician’s Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands (Hardcover)
Children of the Atomic Bomb is a surprisingly eloquent little book about the human cost of the most horrific acts of war ever perpetrated by mankind - the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. While it has long been argued that the bombs probably saved tens of thousands of American lives that would have been lost in the attack on Japan, after reading Dr. Yamazaki's stories from the survivors of the attack, one wonders, and hopes that such a thing never happens again. The book itself is in the form of a memoir, and that is probably what makes it so interesting - so fascinating, actually. The author, born in 1916, was a Nisei, a second-generation Japanese-American who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, was captured by the Germans and, as a POW, survived bombing and strafing by Allied aircraft. There are also references here to the prejudice and bigotry perpetrated on Yamazaki's family and friends, including the rounding up and herding off to internment camps during the war. The heart of the story, however, concerns the author's lifelong work as a doctor/pediatrician in studying the effects of radiation and fallout on children. He was an important part of such studies in both Japan and the U.S. from 1950 all the way into the 1990s, when this book was published. I wonder if he is still active in medicine. There is much in this brief study that if horrifying and gruesome, but I was most taken by the forgiving nature of people expressed in the tales here, and with the dedication and passion that Dr. Yamazaki has brought to his work with children in the past 60-plus years. This is a book that can be read quickly but its contents will resonate. An important and moving work by a good man. - Tim Bazzett, author of BOOKLOVER and SOLDIER BOY
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