Resurrecting Nagasaki: Reconstruction and the Formation of Atomic Narratives

by Chad R. Diehl

Overview

In Resurrecting Nagasaki, Chad R. Diehl explores the genesis of narratives surrounding the atomic bombing of August 9, 1945, by following the individuals and groups who contributed to the shaping of Nagasaki City's postwar identity. Municipal officials, survivor-activist groups, the Catholic community, and American occupation officials all interpreted the destruction and reconstruction of the city from different, sometimes disparate perspectives. Diehl's analysis reveals how these atomic narratives shaped both the way Nagasaki rebuilt and the ways in which popular discourse on the atomic bombings framed the city's experience for decades.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501755255
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2021
Series:	Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Chad R. Diehl is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia. Follow him on X @ProfDiehlLoyola.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Envisioning Nagasaki
2. Coexisting in the Valley of Death
3. The "Saint" of Urakami
4. Writing Nagasaki
5. Walls of Silence
6. Ruins of Memory
Conclusion
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Lori Watt

Diehl poses a deceptively simple question: when considering the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945, why does Hiroshima, and not Nagasaki, come to mind? This deeply researched and beautifully written study of how different constituencies in Nagasaki responded to the bomb substantially enriches our understanding of the only other atomically bombed city in history.

Franziska Seraphim

Diehl immerses the reader deeply in the look, sound, and feel of the city via his ‘social cartography’ of reconstruction in the first twenty-five years after the bombing. He makes the city and its inhabitants come to life by showing the interactions of real people, the dovetailing of unlikely interests and interpretations, indeed the collusions that produced Nagasaki's relationship with its atomic past in ways that are significantly different from Hiroshima’s.

Editorial Reviews

Resurrecting Nagasaki deserves to be read as a foundational work on the post-atomic history of Nagasaki.

-- "Pacific Historical Review"

Resurrecting Nagasaki is the first scholarly work in English on the history of Nagasaki after the atomic bombing on 9 August 1945. Chad Diehl's book is therefore a welcome first work on the topic, one that can extend the frontiers of our understanding about how people have struggled to deal with the aftermath of unprecedented devastation. It should serve as a valuable springboard for further explorations into the history of postatomic Nagasaki.

-- "Monumenta Nipponica"

A nicely written monograph--also the first in English, as it turns out--on Nagasaki the bombed, Nagasaki the resurrected, and Nagasaki the mirror image of its ghastly twinned counterpart, Hiroshima.

-- "Kirk Center"

The book makes a significant contribution to the understudied history of Nagasaki. Resurrecting Nagasaki is an important book for anyone who is interested in nuclear history, US Japan relations, US public diplomacy, and urban studies.

-- "Japanese Studies"

From the Publisher

Resurrecting Nagasaki is the first scholarly work in English on the history of Nagasaki after the atomic bombing on 9 August 1945. Chad Diehl's book is therefore a welcome first work on the topic, one that can extend the frontiers of our understanding about how people have struggled to deal with the aftermath of unprecedented devastation. It should serve as a valuable springboard for further explorations into the history of postatomic Nagasaki.

Monumenta Nipponica

A nicely written monograph—also the first in English, as it turns out—on Nagasaki the bombed, Nagasaki the resurrected, and Nagasaki the mirror image of its ghastly twinned counterpart, Hiroshima.

Kirk Center

The book makes a significant contribution to the understudied history of Nagasaki. Resurrecting Nagasaki is an important book for anyone who is interested in nuclear history, US Japan relations, US public diplomacy, and urban studies.

Japanese Studies

Resurrecting Nagasaki deserves to be read as a foundational work on the post-atomic history of Nagasaki.

Pacific Historical Review

"Diehl poses a deceptively simple question: when considering the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945, why does Hiroshima, and not Nagasaki, come to mind? This deeply researched and beautifully written study of how different constituencies in Nagasaki responded to the bomb substantially enriches our understanding of the only other atomically bombed city in history."

Lori Watt

"Diehl immerses the reader deeply in the look, sound, and feel of the city via his ‘social cartography’ of reconstruction in the first twenty-five years after the bombing. He makes the city and its inhabitants come to life by showing the interactions of real people, the dovetailing of unlikely interests and interpretations, indeed the collusions that produced Nagasaki's relationship with its atomic past in ways that are significantly different from Hiroshima’s."

Franziska Seraphim