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To Hell and Back
- The Last Train from Hiroshima
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
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To Hell and Back
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Summary
To Hell and Back offers listeners a stunning "you are there" time capsule, wrapped in elegant prose. Charles Pellegrino's scientific authority and close relationship with the A-bomb survivors make his account the most gripping and authoritative ever written.
At the narrative's core are eyewitness accounts of those who experienced the atomic explosions firsthand - the Japanese civilians on the ground. As the first city targeted, Hiroshima is the focus of most histories. Pellegrino gives equal weight to the bombing of Nagasaki, symbolized by the 30 people who are known to have fled Hiroshima for Nagasaki - where they arrived just in time to survive the second bomb. One of them, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, is the only person who experienced the full effects of both cataclysms within Ground Zero. The second time, the blast effects were diverted around the stairwell behind which Yamaguchi's office conference was convened - placing him and few others in a shock cocoon that offered protection while the entire building disappeared around them.
Pellegrino weaves spellbinding stories together within a narrative that challenges the "official report", showing exactly what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki - and why.
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What listeners say about To Hell and Back
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-01-24
Deeply troubling and thought provoking
There’s barely a single paragraph in this book that doesn’t contain a deeply unsettling account or detail. Every leader of a nuclear armed nation should have to listen to the description of the short term and generational impact of a nuclear weapon. From the initial blast impact through to the deeply unsettling effects of radiation on humans (and animal) the sheer scale and variety of harm these weapons can do is far worse than I ever imagined.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David C
- 03-09-22
Brilliant and harrowing
A dark part of human history that has to be told. Glad this book was released after the uproar over the last train from Hiroshima.
This and the previous edition are my favourite books I have ever come across. The people involved had to live through an unreality that is impossible to grasp. Then the survivors / victims where treated like diseased untouchables. Thank you Charles Pellegrino for this.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Fountain of ALL Knowledge
- 04-03-22
Easily the book I would recommend as a must read.
This is equally a historic record of survivors stories, as it is a thought provoking and deeply emotional book.
Told through accounts of survivors who experienced the bombings first hand. The narrative is gripping, and an emotional journey unlike any I have experienced.
The whole story is covered, from those that dropped the bombs to those who witnessed the bombings first hand. The descriptions convey the horrors of atomic weapons in the language of those who suffered the effects.
I cannot recommend this book enough. It is read in a reverent and easy to listen to manor. The juxtaposition of the voice and the horrors descried are rightly unsettling. These are stories that need to be told. A warning from history that we all need to hear.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- T. Hodge
- 01-04-22
True 5 stars
The first chapter of this meaningful and moving book struck me with the overwhelming force of the Omaha Beach scenes in Saving Private Ryan. The body of the book was superbly written and narrated. The conclusions are sensible and ptovoke thought.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-02-23
Terrible story that had to be told.
Hard to read but a light needs to be kept focused on this to remind the world of what we did and should never do again.
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