A newly discovered firsthand account of the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath from one of the survivors-a lost classic that brings unprecedented immediacy to our understanding of this world-changing event. ''A stunning historical discovery and a heartrending testimony.'' -Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor of American Prometheus The whole city was covered with dark clouds, and conflagrations were breaking out in various directions. Could all of this have happened at once? It was then that black drops of rain, as big as blackberries, began to fall - rain caused by the atomic bomb. I wondered what had happened to my home and church. With a pale face, I ran down the Koi highway... When the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima at 8.15am on 6 August 1945, Methodist minister Kiyoshi Tanimoto was just beginning his day with the usual bowl of soybean and rice bran porridge. Unbeknownst to him at that moment, the aftermath that will unfold before him over days and weeks is full of horror, but through his courageous determination to save his family, church and city from total devastation, Tanimoto would become internationally recognised as a hero of Hiroshima. In 1946, he featured in American journalist John Hersey''s seminal book Hiroshima which catapulted Tanimoto into global fame - but it is only now that we have discovered the manuscript that he wrote in his own words. With a powerful introduction from Tanimoto''s daughter, Koko Kondo, a renowned peace activist in her own right, What Divides Us is a remarkable eyewitness account of this devastating moment of history. Although written only a couple of years after the bomb, the manuscript had been lost for many decades and was only recently discovered in a university archive. Today, over eighty years later in a world fraught with conflict, Tanimoto''s story is a moving and powerful reminder of how the strength, love and resilience of the human spirit will always triumph over the things that divide us. ...

Autorentext
Kiyoshi Tanimoto (1909-1986) was a Methodist minister from Hiroshima, who become known globally for his heroic actions in the aftermath of the atomic bomb of 1945. He was one of the six characters featured in John Hersey's Hiroshima (1946) and dedicated his life to helping those impacted by the bomb for decades after, the most notable example being his support of the Hiroshima Maidens. He was married to Chisa Tanimoto, and they had five children, including Koko Kondo, the anti-nuclear peace activist.Koko Tanimoto Kondo was born in Hiroshima, Japan, and was just eight months old when the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. Her father, Kiyoshi Tanimoto, became globally known for his work helping victims of the bomb. She is now a prominent peace activist, and has campaigned against the use of nuclear weapons for most of her life. Through her work over the years, she has met with political and religious figures, including Pope Leo XIV, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, and Pearl Buck.