The human rights issue of this compelling novel is whether the use of an overwhelming military weapon during war should be allowed if the effects of such a weapon devastate a civilian population for decades after the war. As war is horrific and cruel, Hersey creates global dialogue regarding the enduring scars of war upon civilians and nations.

Since World War II, there has remained international discussion and debate surrounding the creation and use of the atomic bomb. Before and after the U.S. military dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, there has been great consternation about the devastating effects of such an overwhelming weapon upon a nation. An atomic bomb not only decimates a targeted area, literally erasing life in its impact, but also causes blindness, burns, radiation sickness, miscarriages, deformities, cancer, and contamination of water and land in its wake. Hersey illuminates the human suffering resulting from war in Japan through first-hand accounts of six survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima.

By reading the tragic stories of these ordinary Japanese civilians, readers are faced with the detailed realities of living through not just a catastrophic bombing but also the process of picking up the pieces of life while encountering lingering sickness and death.