“I am determined to keep telling the reality of nuclear war ... to realize a world without wars and nuclear weapons.” —Taniguchi Sumiteru
Vermont Business Magazine Rootstock Publishing, a Montpelier-based publisher and an imprint of Multicultural Media, Inc., is honored to publish the English language translation of The Atomic Bomb on My Back: A Life Story of Survival and Activism by Taniguchi Sumiteru.
On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped its second atomic bomb on the port city of Nagasaki, where Taniguchi lived. That bomb killed 73,884 people—about half as many as had died three days earlier in Hiroshima. Six days later, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.
On the day of the Nagasaki bombing, Taniguchi Sumiteru, then 16 years old, was delivering mail on his bicycle in the northern corner of the city, just over a mile from ground zero. When the bomb detonated in the skies overhead, the force of the explosion tossed him into the air and the heat of the bomb immediately melted his cotton shirt and seared the skin off his back and one arm. Three months later, he was taken to a navy hospital where he lay on his stomach for nearly two years. In that position, bedsores formed on his chest and left permanent scars.
In 1946, United States forces filmed his treatment. That footage was shared across the world, and Mr. Taniguchi became known as “the boy with a red back.” When giving speeches calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, he would often show the photo of his burns to illustrate the intense suffering that resulted from the bombings. He spent a total of more than three-and-a-half years in the hospital after the bombing.
A decade after the end of the war, when Mr. Taniguchi had learned to sit up, stand, and walk again, he joined a youth group for survivors and began working as an activist, which he was for the rest of his life. This book is the story of his activism, his commitment, and his worldwide efforts to end nuclear proliferation.
The Atomic Bomb on My Back: A Life Story of Survival and Activism is available wherever books are sold (Amazon, IndieBound, local bookstores) and on Rootstock’s website (www.rootstockpublishing.com). The original Japanese language edition, titled “Genbaku wo seotte (Having A-bomb on My Back)” was published in August 2014 by Nishinippon Shimbunsha and was translated into English by the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo).
August 2020 / 192 pages / paperback / ISBN: 978-1-57869-040-4 / $16.95 / Memoir/History Distributed by Ingram and Rootstock Publishing
About the Author
Taniguchi Sumiteru was a survivor (hibakusha) of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, a prominent activist for a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, chairman of the Nagasaki Council of A-Bomb Survivors, and co-chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo). He devoted his life to informing people of the consequences of the 1945 atomic bombing and campaigning for the abolition of nuclear weapons, making frequent public appearances to speak to student groups and participate in demonstrations calling for nuclear disarmament around the world. Taniguchi-san was an initial proposer of the Hibakusha Appeal, an international signature campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons that is now supported by the Union of Concerned Scientists and many US and international peace organizations, including the IPB and the ICAN. He died in 2017.
About Rootstock Publishing
With offices in downtown Montpelier, Vt., Rootstock Publishing is a hybrid publisher and an imprint of Multicultural Media, Inc. Their books have won multiple book awards such as the IPPY, Foreword INDIES, the IBPA Ben Franklin Award, and Independent Book Publishers of New England awards, among others. They are now accepting poetry, fiction, and nonfiction book manuscripts.
Source: 6.17.2020 MONTPELIER, Vt. — Rootstock Publishing www.rootstockpublishing.com.