Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Hiroshima Maidens : A Story of Courage, Compassion, and Survival

The Hiroshima Maidens : A Story of Courage, Compassion, and Survival
reviewed on + 23 more book reviews


Rodney Barker takes us from the atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima, through the story of 25 surviving girls who were selected to travel to the United States for reconstructive surgery. The book seems to be a well-balanced relating of the experiences of the so-called "Hiroshima Maidens," seen from several different points of view. It relates the struggles the promoters of the trip had, both with the media (trying to prevent it from becoming a P. R. circus) and with the U. S. State Department (avoiding political pitfalls). This is not a political treatise on the wisdom or folly of nuclear warfare, but a straightforward account of the near-miracles that can happen when individuals decide to care about, and for, other individuals.