logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2024
39m 42s

First-Hand Account of Hiroshima: Before,...

History Unplugged
About this episode
Over the past few years, much has been written and created around Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, but little attention is paid to those whose lives were ended or forever changed when the bombs dropped in Japan.

In this episode, we delve into the experiences of the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. On that day the Enola Gay released its devastating payload, ushering in the nuclear age. The survivors, now with an average age of over 90, provide some of the last living testimonies of the horrors that unfolded in the seconds, minutes, and hours following the explosion.

Today’s guest is M.G. Sheftall, author of The Stories of Hibakusha. Sheftall has spent years interviewing those who were young adolescents at the time of the bombing, now elderly but still haunted by their memories.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Aug 21
James Cook Mapped the Globe Before Dying At the Hands of Hawaiians Who Once Worshipped Him
Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan are known for discoveries, but it was Captain James Cook who made global travel truly possible. Cook was an 18th-century British explorer who mapped vast regions of the Pacific, including New Zealand and Australia’s eastern coast, with ... Show More
56m 56s
Aug 19
American Anarchists: The Original Domestic Extremists
In the early twentieth century, anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman championed a radical vision of a world without states, laws, or private property. Militant and sometimes violent, anarchists were heroes to many working-class immigrants. But to many others, anarch ... Show More
39m 37s
Aug 14
100 Years Before Ford v. Ferrari, a Horse Breeder Revolutionized Thoroughbred Racing Through a Similar Obsession With Progress
Horse racing was the most popular sport in early America, drawing massive crowds and fueling a cultural obsession with horses’ speed and pedigree. In the early 1800s, every town in America with a few thousand people had a horse racing track, with major cities drawing crowds of up ... Show More
1h 14m
Recommended Episodes
Aug 3
Hiroshima: in the shadow of the bomb
At 8.15am on 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. It was an event that changed the course of history, but it was also one driven by individuals. Here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, Iain MacGregor tells this story through the eyes of people whose lives were ... Show More
43m 36s
Mar 2024
#105 The Hiroshima Bombing
📖 Episode Transcripts in Link Below ⬇️ Today, we will discuss the event that forever altered the course of the world: the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. This tragic episode represents a turning point in the history of World War II and humanity as a whole. https://patreon.com/Hist ... Show More
3m 30s
Aug 5
Was the atomic bomb necessary to end war with Japan?
The decision by the United States to drop atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 remains one of the most controversial moments in modern history. Did the atomic bombs force Japan's surrender in the Second World War? Or is this far too simple a narrati ... Show More
36m 57s
Jun 15
The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was the codename for the US government’s top secret programme to develop the first atomic bomb. At the height of World War Two, America’s top scientists - such as Dr Robert Oppenheimer - raced against Nazi Germany to harness the power of nuclear fission, and ... Show More
1h 1m
Jan 2024
The Manhattan Project | Devastating Success | 3
In Spring of 1945, the tides of World War 2 turned. Germany surrendered to the Allies, but Japan vowed to keep fighting. To prevent further casualties, America knew they would have to demonstrate their power, and force Japan to surrender quickly. At Los Alamos, J. Robert Oppenhei ... Show More
40m 32s
May 23
What happens in a nuclear war?
Since the US bombing of Japan in World War II, the world entire has remained terrified of nuclear weapons. Even as scientists and scholars spent decades warning about the existential threat posed by technology that can literally end civilization, countries across the planet raced ... Show More
1h 14m
Aug 2024
Atomic Bomb Literature
This episode is marked mature.In this episode, we take a look at Japanese writing about the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed as many as 215,000 people in August 1945. We’ll start with the history of the atomic bomb, its use, and its effects on the hibakusha ... Show More
59m 28s
Jan 2025
Episode 27 : Du projet Manhattan à la capitulation du Japon, la fin de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale
En juillet 1942 est lancé aux Etats-Unis le projet Manhattan destiné à produire la bombe atomique et gagner ainsi la course contre l'Allemagne sur la recherche nucléaire. Les travaux aboutiront le 16 juillet 1945 à l'explosion de la première bombe atomique de l'histoire à l'occas ... Show More
34m 26s