This is a riveting story about Japan's March 11 cataclysm told uncommonly well by two veteran Japan-based journalists who share their emotions, experiences and insights while giving readers ringside seats through captivating interviews with survivors.
The authors give a haunting voice to the people of Tohoku, one that will linger in your memory, as their evocative prose conveys a sense of the panic, horrors and heartbreak endured.
Birmingham and McNeill contrast the quiet dignity of the Japanese public with the shameful tale of risks ignored and sheer bungling by woefully unprepared government authorities and the Tokyo Electric Power Co. With the acquiescence of Japan's "nuclear village" of pro-nuclear advocates, Tepco shortchanged safety and ruined the lives of tens of thousands of Fukushima residents.