To Hell and Back cover art

To Hell and Back

The Last Train from Hiroshima

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

To Hell and Back

By: Charles Pellegrino
Narrated by: David Colacci
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

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.

©2015 Rowman & Littlefield (P)2020 Tantor
Japan Military Weapons & Warfare
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Hiroshima cover art
Toxic cover art
Hiroshima Nagasaki cover art
Denial [Movie Tie-in] cover art
Blood, Metal and Dust cover art
Mengele cover art
The Indifferent Stars Above cover art
A Feather on the Water cover art
Under a Flaming Sky cover art
My Real Name Is Hanna cover art
Bright Angel cover art
Warday cover art
Black Snow cover art
Resistance Women cover art
Tears of Amber cover art
Alive cover art

What listeners say about To Hell and Back

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly informative

Never “read” a book like it. Appreciate its existence. Gave me much to think about. Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!