I thought this was the best book I've ever read. It's a little long, but it's worth reading. It's well written, it's interesting, and it is realistic. It's a story that seems like it could really happen, and it makes you stop and think what you would do in a situation like White Lotus finds herself in. John Hersey makes you feel like you're in the story, or listening to White Lotus sitting right across from you telling you her story!

I first read White Lotus by John Hersey when it was published in 1965, when the civil rights movement was a very hot topic, and I was just 17, an age when social (in)justice seems to be the only thing worth fighting for. At the time, I thought it was a truly excellent book. So I decided to read it again, here in my old age, just to see if my youthful evaluation would hold up.

First off, I'm not really sure in what category this book should be placed. It's nominally an alternate history story where China(?!) won WWI (? - it's only referred to once as the 'Great War', and other internal evidence places the start of the story somewhere in the early '20's). But in many of its aspects, I think it might be better to treat this one as an allegory, in the vein of Orwell's Animal Farm. In any case, the story traces the life of a young American girl who, along with all the rest of her village, is forcibly kidnapped by a version of the 'Mob' and sold into slavery in mainland China - the pre-Communist version of China, which in the '20s had seen very little of technological progress, a society that had changed very little in the prior 1500 years. Upon reaching China, the story follows White Lotus (her Chinese name) as she is transferred to various owners, starting with a near-upper class mandarin, to a 'mid' level plantation owner, to a poor cotton farmer, to 'freedom' as she escapes to a province that has outlawed slavery, but finds herself just as desperately bound by her limited job opportunities, to life in a 'free' white community where the 'yellows' still own all the land so her only choice is to work as no-hope share-cropper, to industrialized life in the big city, where job choices for whites are still very limited, and finally as a civil rights agitator/activist. With each change of locale, White Lotus becomes attached to a local strong man (Nose, Peace, Dolphin, Rock), each of whom is the personification of a possible 'answer' to life as a slave/dis-enfranchised minority (become totally worthless, give the owner no value for his slave; stage an armed revolt; run to 'freedom', try to build a life based on self-respect and inner fortitude), each possible answer is demolished by the events as they unfold (executed for supposedly starting fires in Chinese houses; revolt is crushed and leaders executed; runner is caught and ripped apart by dogs; each attempt at building a better life is met by impossible economic demands and job restrictions till there is no hope left).

As you go through the story, it becomes increasingly obvious that Hersey is re-telling the history of the Afro-American in America, from the initial forceful grab in Africa, to the 'genteel' society of the early South, to the heyday of large cotton plantations, to the Civil War and through the Reconstruction era, to the move to urban America and the ghettos, and finally right up to the civil rights movement of the '60s, all compressed into 20 years of White Lotus' life. Along the way, he draws some striking portraits of the reasons for so-called 'black' behavior, of the self-blinding hypocrisy of the 'owners', of each individual's struggle to make sense of life, and grindingly destroying all superstitions, (white/yellow/black), heaping copious quantities of lotus petal dung upon them (and most religious beliefs also). If this book was only an exacting mirror of the White/Black struggle, though, it would not be much more than a well-told polemic. But there is an added dimension here: Hersey's portrait of the Chinese culture. The glimpses we are given (looking at it from the perspective of the very bottom of the society) of this China are impressively authentic. Hersey was born in Tienstin, China, in 1914, spent his first 11 years there, and spent much of his early adult life as a journalist in various places in the Orient, and this experience clearly lands on and illuminates these pages. And because the Oriental culture really is different, it provides an odd 'side' look at the whole issue, giving it a whole other dimension of realization. And the final 'solution' of his protagonist, her method of finding her own self-worth and a possible better life for all whites, is uniquely Chinese in character -- shame the yellows into recognizing them as human, by imitating a sleeping bird. This portion of the story is told within an enfolding prologue and epilogue that form a complete (and very powerful) self-standing story, including a very recognizable portrait of Gov. George Wallace as a Chinese warlord (though he never speaks a word).

There are places where this work drags a bit, becomes almost repetitious, where the parallels he draws are too obvious, and the portrayed horrors of life as a slave never reach quite the depths of despair plumbed by something like Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, but this is still a very honest, insightful, competent, and in places brilliant work. It will make you think. It will make you drag out your own prejudices and carefully examine them. It will show you that the American way of life is far from the only model for good living - others may be just as valid or even better. I've had this one on my top 50 SF works ever since I first read it -- it remains there.

in fictional form. Written at the height of the Civil Rights movement in the United States, this book can make a white person *feel* the pain of racial discrimination. This is my personal favourite of all the Hersey output. In addition to the "message", this book also tells a fine story of personal courage in the face of adversity. Please do read this one.

Hersey was justly acclaimed for his fine journalist's eye that was so evident in his Hiroshima and A Bell for Adano. But his scathing social commentary of White Lotus and this book probably have not received the attention they deserve, perhaps because of the fantastic, science-fictional feel of their portrayed worlds.

Told strictly as the minutes of a state congressional hearing, this book details the events that follow when Mr. Wissy Jones, from United Lymphomiloid, arrives in the town of Peqoud and presents an offer to outright purchase an exceptional child, Barry Rudd, who is blessed with an extreme intelligence and a maturity beyond his years, for some unspecified project that will 'aid the national defense'.

As we proceed through the hearings, we are treated to some fine characterization of the witnesses, from the sharply opinionated and articulate principal of the school Barry attends to Barry's mumbling, street-wise but not too intelligent blue-collar friend. But the hearings also expose the first of Hersey's sharply satirical looks at our society as we see the conduct of the various senators running the hearing, obviously meant to remind the reader of the McCarthy hearings, with their forcible cutting off of any testimony that does not fit the pre-defined expectation of what the outcome of the hearing should be, denigration of witnesses' lifestyles, and panel members who clearly do not have the intelligence to even understand what testimony is given.

More horrifying, though, is the picture of the educational system presented, from the ivory-tower intellectual theories that have no relation to the classroom, to the constant attempts to make all students fit one pre-determined mold, to the administrative power struggles, to the bizarre web of psychological testing, to the clueless PTA, to the rigid and hypocritical moral code that schools use to bludgeon non-conforming students. Where in this morass is the place for the truly gifted child, or for that matter one who is intellectually challenged? Hersey's points strike like daggers, for even though this book was written more than forty years ago, our schools still have every problem that is shown here.

And what of the moral outrage that should adhere to the concept of selling a child? Once more, Hersey's pen is savage, showing how easily Barry's parents sell out for a few material goods, how the senators are converted by the mere statement that it's for the 'national defense', how the general township is so easily convinced to get rid of this 'different' kid, and, most poignantly, how even Barry, with full knowledge of what the program entails, reacts to the concept.

A very moralistic tale, told sharply and with defining moments of humanity, bringing a near surrealistic concept into the all-too-possible realm of reality.

Mr. Wissy Jones, from United Lymphomiloid, arrives in the New England town of Pequod on a corporate mission; he is to purchase children of exceptional intelligence. His matter-of-fact offer to buy Barry, a fat kid with a high IQ instigates a congressional inquiry.

Meanwhile, Jones skillfully garners support from every quarter in Pequod, from the pioneer-stock, six foot female principal of the elementary school and Barry's closest ally, to his own mother, a slatternly lower class housekeeper who's obviously the source of Barry's brains. Everyone has an opinion about Barry, usually not too good, ranging from jealousy, misunderstanding to just plain contempt (he's fat.) Meanwhile Barry and his street-wise blue collar friend seek to prevent his sale by a hilarious act of sexual misconduct.

What happens to the children purchased by U. Lymphomiloid is openly discussed by Wissy Jones during the trial. Yet despite the shocking revelation, Jones has manipulated the town to his side and even co-opts some surprising allies.

This isn't just an examination of an education system that strives to produce a bland mediocrity and mistrusts talent, it is the story of the intolerance of society for individuals and members of minority religions, race, anyone different than the mass average. There is a lot behind this readable book and it is fresher than every.

Discrimination is declining in modern western societies. After struggles, there are now laws against discrimination of sex, race and religion. In some places there already are laws against the discrimination of homosexuals, and before long there will be laws against the discrimination of age groups (especially elderly). You can be sure of that.

The Child Buyer is sketching the discrimination of people with extreem high IQ (HIQ's), something that isn't even an issue in real life (yet). Mediocracy rules the world.

The Child Buyer is a heart wrenching, but at times also hilarious, description of the trial in which must be decided if a HIQ young boy should be sold or not to a company, because that would be good for national security, even though the boy refuses to be merchandise. The book shows how the people of a small village abandon the boy in his lonely struggle, partly because they see him as uncomfortably different, partly because they think it's for his own good to be separated from the rest, and partly because it turns out to be in their own best financial interest if the cooperate...

Hersey has structured his book around the trial. It contains only the dialogue, that is recorded in the courtroom. This may seem odd in the beginning, and perhaps slowing things down a little when all the characters are introduced, but the author succeeds very well in showing the diffence in characters. And in exhibiting the gross stupidity of some of them, as well as the way people choose for there own wellfare, above anything else.

This book was way ahead of it's time, when it was published in 1960, and - unfortunatly - it still is.

I can highly recommend it.

John Hersey needs no raves from me. At chronicalling the major events of the 20th century in living prose he has absolutely no peer. In this book he focuses in on the entire racist system acting in one chilling incident of the Detroit Riot of 1967, in which the police, trapping several people of mixed ethnicity tortured some of them, murdered others, and could not be brought to justice.

I am the niece of Carl Cooper, and I am glad that John wrote the book! I was told that John may have been killed over the book. The book told the truth about white cops in those days. My grandmother (Carl Cooper's Mother) has never been the same since my uncle's death. When he died it took apart of her that she will never beable to regain.

I love this novel. It's a panorama of life in China as seen by an American missionary from 1906 until the 1950s. The author was the son of a China missionary and most of the events in the book are historical -- althought the main character, Treadup, is fictional -- a composite of sorts for all the missionaries in China. "The Call" achieves a feeling of absolute authenticity.

This is a long exhaustive book. The first hundred pages or so are devoted in Treadup's early life in upstate New York and the reader may be forgiven if he is impatient with the plodding pace. The story picks up when Treadup gets to China as it details his adventures, doubts, and misteps, all worked into the political and social framework of the time. Treadup's journeys -- both physical and spiritual -- are long and arduous and ultimately this is a sad book.

Missionaries are out of fashion these days, but their cause -- the spread of Western civilization -- is still alive. If he lived today, Treadup would not be a missionary, but rather an activist for Tibetan independence, a friend of Bono, a board member of Amnesty International, and a tireless crusader against gender inequality. Will today's secular "missionaries" succeed where Treadup failed?

I don't know of any other novel that probes more deeply and seriously into the life, times, and mind of a China missionary. We live intimately with Treadup and when his life is over, we wonder, as he did, whether it was all worth it.

"...Yes, there on the embankment outside the compound I had a small boy feeling. Chores were over. Only now, aged 65, do I realize how sweet the chores had always been. Inside the barn, inside the compound wall, I had been free -- busy, orderly, useful. Released, I felt at loose ends. A great deal had happened to me in Yin Xin camp, and now all I could feel was a paradox: the loss of the freedom of confinement." p.698

When I first picked up The Call, I fully expected a well-crafted, rich historiography of China; a novel concentrating on the time period at the turn of the 19th century, through five decades of foreign influence & interaction that finally shaped the terms on which the Communist Revolution was founded. What I did not expect, and was pleasantly surprised to find, was the philosophical depth of Hersey's characters; they were vehicles of an evolution of human thought. Hersey explores both the spiritual and the applied philanthropy of Christianity. Spiritually, the main character David Treadup was a General of the Lord whose application was saving souls: an idyllic gift between humans. Hersey questioned the application, and uncovered its shallow areas. The dilemma of belief without evidence. In response, the character of Treadup tried to justify Christianity with evidence; he used science lectures as his conveyance. There was terrific interest on behalf of the Chinese. Treadup felt that by awakening the Chinese to the laws of science, he was awakening them the laws of the Lord. His fantastic success with the lectures brought on self-doubt. He questioned purpose. Was he a science professor or a missionary? Science ceased to be an acceptable role for him to wear if that wasn't what he was about... there was no connection between his lectures and spiritual redemption. He questioned what he was actually bringing the Chinese, science or religion,... but most importantly he questioned what he wanted to bring.

As the novel develops, Treadup gains experience and insight, he shifts his focus from science lectures to a literary campaign. With fantastic energy and zeal, he rolls up sleeves and takes on the task of teaching the peasantry to read and write. All over the countryside he sets up local schools. After the literary campaign Treadup introduces agricultural reform. He continues to answer the noble call, but by serving functional needs he is moving further, and further away from addressing spiritual ones. As he was with the science lectures, Treadup is again plagued with doubt. He is not saving souls, and in fact is questioning the legitimacy of his religious calling when so many greater needs stand out.

It is not until Treadup is a Japanese POW that he begins to answer the questions that have plagued him for years. In the prison camp he belongs to a group. The camp depends on him like it depends on all the individuals that make up the whole, the goal is survival. Treadup doesn't have to identify need, need has identified him. From his fellow prisoners he hears the Call, and realizes his original draw to Christianity was not religion, or saving souls, but being needed and employing his extraordinary ability to successfully meet that need.

My Petition for More Space is a quiet book that effectively conveys the results of overpopulation. Hersey's greatest accomplishment in this work is the amazing creation of a claustrophobic world in which people literally cannot get away from one another. With simple, strong language, Hersey portrays this world and its suffocating influence on everyone, as seen through the eyes of the troubled yet insightful narrator. For a novel that does not feature much action, Petition packs a lot of tension and drama. My chief complaint: the ending, though darkly witty, is a bit weak. Overall, this is a short, enjoyably taut work.

in fictional form. This is what the world will be like when it is all filled up. Here are Hersey's statements about over population problems, as they were debated in the 1970's.

This was a great book. It really enhanced one's respect for medics, stretcher-bearers, wire carriers (of whom I knew nothing prior to reading this), and all G.I.'s in general. I saw THE THIN RED LINE afterwards, and understood it much more than I would have been able to thanks to this book. It was excellent.

in fictional form. Here are Hersey's statements about alienation in the modern world. Some readers could be alienated by The Collector (c.f. John Fowles)-like story line.

John Hersey has created a wonderfully thought-provoking book in The War Lover. Hersey combines a familiar setting, World War II, with unfamiliar human emotions -- emotions only experienced by those who fought in the war. Hersey also has a gift for using flashbacks to enlighten the reader about the underlying reasons for a character's thoughts, feelings, or actions.

One doesn't have to enjoy war literature to enjoy this book. It reaches way beyond the war, right into the human spirit.

Back in high school, I made a vow to myself that I would eventually read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels. A Bell for Adano was one of the first that I read. Now, a few years later, I have read around 30 of those novels, and while many have been wonderful, few have matched the experience of reading A Bell for Adano, and I continue to return to it.

The splendid novel is set during World War II, though it isn't really a war novel. The novel is about how very different people can, and should treat one another, especially when in a difficult situation. A Bell for Adano primarily concerns Major Joppolo. He is an American officer placed in charge of the city of Adano after the invasion. Joppolo is a wonderful, though flawed man. He's always practical but remains sentimental. He sets out to make the lives of the people of Adano the best he possibly can. He does so by not treating them as the enemy but as People. The "bell" of Adano refers his attempt to restore an historic bell to the city that it had lost during the war.

I can never do justice to my favorite novels when I review them, and this is one of them. I can't say enough good about it. The characterizations are strong and the interactions between the characters are touching and thought-provoking. Joppolo's relationship to the city's people is truly remarkable. It makes one think about America's relationship with foreign countries. The story is heart-tugging and humorous. There are few novels written this century that can touch a reader as much as this one does, and this one can make you think a little, too. A Bell for Adano certainly deserved its prize, and it definitely deserves to not be forgotten.

John Hersey would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize and become a prominent star in the pantheon of twentieth century writers. This book was written during World War II and was a best-seller when released in 1944. And it still resonates today. In short, it is the story of an American officer given civil responsibility for overseeing the coastal Italian town of Adano following its liberation by American forces.

How Major Victor Joppolo goes about this task is interesting as are the variety of Italians-former fascists and anti-fascists alike--he meets and, eventually, wins over. More gripping, though, is the character of Jappolo himself who, in many ways, Hersey repressents as Everyman--or at least EveryAmercicanman. He is practical, yet sentimental. He wants to do good, but also wants to be loved. He has a strong sense of loyalty, yet hungers after an Italian woman despite loving his wife back home. He admires the Italians, but shapes them in our American mold. He is--in modern psychobabble--conflicted; imperfect, yet very admirable.

The title refers to the city's most prominent--it has dozens of them--bell which for seven hundred years called the people to work, to eat, to love, to church, to life. It was shipped away by the retreating Germans to be made into bullets at some northern foundry. Its lack leaves a gaping wound in the civic fabric. Joppolo, of course, gets the town a replacement bell. How he does it fills you with pride. His first hearing of its strong voice can break your heart. This is a worthwhile book both as a story and as a still provocative look at the American character.

This book is wonderful in its clear language and soft touch. You will instantly feel a part of the town and its inhabitants. The book tells the story of a small town in Italy occupied by the Americans at the end of WW2. It relates how the occupied village interacts with its human, caring "occupier", an American army officer. Much like Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres, this book puts a massive event in world history into focus. I highly recommend the book.

The book Hiroshima, by John Hersey, follows the lives of six survivors of the Atomic Bomb, dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 AM. The book chronicles the lives of these six survivors up to forty years after the dropping of the bomb. On that day, more then 100,000 Japanese were killed, and these six were fortunate to live through it. The survivors had to continue their lives through their will to survive, overcoming all obstacles such as pain, poverty, disease, famine, and lack of humanity. The survivors of the bomb had to live the rest of their lives suffering with more then just their physical pain, but also with their social non-acceptance. People would not hire A-bomb victims, or Hibakusha (literally- explosion affected people) because Non-Hibakusha employers developed a prejudice against survivors, and their descendents. The employers were scared that victims would come down with a disease making them unreliable workers. This was the case for survivor Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura. Mrs. Nakamura, weak and poor, began a courageous struggle, which would last for many years, to keep herself and her children alive. She was forced to work many laborious jobs, such as delivering loaves of bread, selling fish, and cleaning houses for her neighbors, and still earned barely enough money to put food on the table. Because of her weakened condition due to radiation exposure, Mrs. Nakamura had to rest for two of three days for every week she worked. Help to her did not come until 1957, thirteen years after the bombing, when the Diet, the congress of Japan, passed the A-bomb Victims Medical Care law, which gave free medical care to survivors. Other survivors of the Atomic Bomb went through pain, both physically and socially, as a direct result of the explosion. Miss Toshinki Sasaki, at the time of the explosion, was at work talking to a co-worker. The force of the bomb knocked down bookcases, which landed on Miss Sasaki's left leg, crushing it instantly. When rescuers found her, they carried her into a field, under a tin roof, next to two dying people, whose skin was peeling off. Here she sat for two days without any food or water, with terrible pain. Three years before the explosion, Miss Sasaki was engaged to be married, by arrangements through her parents. The couple liked each other, and accepted the arrangements. The two started a life together, but her fiancé was drafted into the war. Upon his return, after the bombing, he did not come back to her. His family had had second thoughts on allowing their son to marry a Hibakusha and a cripple. Miss Sasaki eventually gave up hope on finding a husband, and decided to become a nun. Besides continuing difficulties with her leg, she endured liver dysfunction, night sweats and morning fevers, borderline angina, and blood spots. At a banquet celebrating her twenty-fifth anniversary of becoming a nun, Miss Sasaki made a speech. "...It is as if I had been given a spare life when I survived the A-bomb. But I prefer not to look back. I shall keep moving forward." Miss Sasaki had a forgiving heart and decided to keep moving foreword with her life. She was going to have the bomb affect her life in the smallest way possible. The survivors in this novel are great examples on how life goes on, even after the human spirit has endured all types of hardships. Miss Toshinki Sasaki and Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura continued living their lives, making it as best as possible. They overcame pain, poverty, disease and famine also getting through a time of discrimination. This book is definitely worth reading because it shows the human beings willingness to live, even after experiencing ones worst time in life.

The book Hiroshima, written by John Hersey, is a great book to read. The book gives a magnificent portrayal of the struggles that the people of Hiroshima went through after the bombing by the Americans during World War II. The constantly changing point of view, in each section of the five chapters, might be confusing, but it keeps the book moving at a steady pace and makes the reader want to find out what will happen next to each person. The different stories of each suvivor shows how ever person, no matteer if they were rich or poor, young or old, helped as many people as they could, no matter if they were friends or not. Also, the book gives a feeling of almost being there with the people and feeling their pain and suffering from burns, cuts, and anything else that happened to them. The book also shows the people's fear of another attack on the city by the Americans. The changing of characters adds depth to the story, by adding to the main plot. These additions help explain what happened to them during and after the dropping of the atomic bomb. The styles, way of life, and fears that people had during the late 1940's and early 1950's is also greatly displayed within the entire book. The main focus, in some cases, is not the dropping of the atomic bomb, but rather the people coming togther for one cause and dealing with the tragedy of losing loved ones and how they will rebuild there city. Each character also changesin different ways after the horrific events of World War II and the bombing. If I had to recommend a book to a person thats likes World War II history or someone that just likes to read it would definitely be this book. It would be this book cause of the time it took to write and the readability of the book.

this book lays it on the line - the horror of what the atomic bomb was like from the perspective of several different residents of hiroshima...who were there on august 6, 1945. it's a clear, well-written (though DRY) account of that horrible day, and if there's any book that's going to make you against nuclear weapons this is it.

what shocks me is that people (some who even read this book!) still think dropping this bomb (not to mention the one on nagasaki) was worth it. granted, there can be a million arguments justifying it, about how it saved lives, and how the japanese committed horrible atrocities too, etc., but just seeing the pure horror this bomb inflicted (through the eyes of these characters) is enough to make me say "no way - going to this degree of horror cannot be justified."

and to all you who still want to argue that dropping this bomb had its merits...and that creating even more destructive nuclear bombs has its merits...well...well...i feel sorry for you. because horror is horror, and when it comes to weapons of mass destruction we are all innocent. no one deserves that.