Children of the Atomic Bomb

“Testimonies by innocent children provide powerful descriptions of death and destruction from the atomic bombings of 50 years ago and the aftereffects on the survivors. Dr. Yamazaki has woven their message into his interesting autobiographical work. . . . Yamazaki’s story in a single lifetime portrays racial prejudice in the United States, war in Europe, and the human impact of the atomic bomb. He was not prepared for the Nagasaki and Hiroshima death tolls or for the many children who died and were disabled. . . . This fine book is his ‘way of remembering.’ . . . Read it so that you too may remember.” - George L. Voelz MD , JAMA

“Yamazaki, 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. . . .” - Meg Dyer , Bloomsbury Review

"Dr. Yamazaki provides a spellbinding, engrossing manual on the effects of atomic bomb-produced radiation on children, particularly on the developing brain, after birth and in utero. Told within the framework of his autobiography, this accurate handbook of the hazards of atomic radiation and other effects of the bomb reveals a compassionate pediatrician who has devoted his career to the study of the long-term effects of the atomic bomb on the Japanese and Marshallese children who have been its victims." - D. Carleton Gajdusek, Chief, Lab of Central Nervous System Studies, NIH; Nobel Laureate in Medicine (1976)

"Dr. Yamazaki’s 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. While his parents were held in a U.S. internment camp, Yamazaki fought for his country in Europe during World War II. After witnessing firsthand the atrocities of war as a young soldier, Yamazaki went on to study devastation on an even more horrific scale: the impact of a nuclear blast on the children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." - Daniel K. Inouye, United States Senator, Hawaii

"I praise Dr. Yamazaki for drawing international attention to the plight of children who are suffering as a direct result of atomic weapons. The nuclear weapons testing program in the Marshall Islands dramatically affected the health of the people, the environment, the economy, and the culture. I thank Dr. Yamazaki for helping to tell a story that most of the world has turned its back on for too long." - Wilfred I. Kendall, Ambassador to the United States of America, Republic of the Marshall Islands

"It is my earnest hope that Children of the Atomic Bomb, published on the important occasion of the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will be read around the world and help to enhance public awareness of the threat of nuclear weapons and thus promote nuclear disarmament." - Hitoshi Motoshima, Mayor of Nagasaki