The danger posed by nuclear weapons is as great as ever, yet few people survive who witnessed their horror. Nakazawa's manga illustrates the true impact of nuclear weapons when used against a civilian population. It is vital reading for people of all ages, and especially for today's youth. By keeping this tragedy in our collective consciousness, we can strive to never repeat it and guide humanity towards a course of peace.
Barefoot Gen Volume One —"A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima" —details the events leading up to and immediately following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
This vivid and harrowing story will... burn a radioactive crater in your memory that will never let you forget it. Gen is one of those few comix that actually pulls off the essential magic trick... those little marks on paper come to fully realized life.
Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus
Nakazawa was born in Hiroshima, and was six years old when the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945. All of his family members who had not been evacuated died in the bombing, except for his mother, and an infant sister who died several weeks after the bombing. Compelled to tell his story in the memory of his family, Keiji Nakazawa is best known for his epic tragic history Barefoot Gen.
