September 17, 2025

Book review: 90 Seconds to Midnight

This book is the biography of an inspiring woman who as a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl survived the bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945. What she witnessed after emerging from under the rubble she and her classmates were buried under doesn’t bear thinking about. We can get an idea though from the way in which Gaza is currently being systematically obliterated by Israel as we speak. The difference is that the former was destroyed in seconds by a nuclear bomb, along with countless thousands of Japanese – most of whom were civilians, including children like Setsuko Namajura.


Setsuko was one of just two of her 29 classmates to survive and as she grew up she determined to dedicate her life to ensuring there would never be a repeat of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombings. By the end of the book she is well into her eighties and has received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of an anti-nuclear organisation she has worked with for decades.


90 Seconds to Midnight is far from an easy or comfortable read, particularly as the world now hovers on the brink of another global conflict, between countries who have nuclear weapons capabilities. Never have Setsuko’s warnings about the risks for the survival of humanity and the planet generally, been more pertinent.



https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/book-review-90-seconds-to-midnight,20157

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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