from the Translator's Afterword: "Contrary to the popular adage 'history will judge it in the end', it seems likely that in this case, history will never judge the justifiability, and the controversy will continue forever. However, no matter how people perceive the morality of this decision, the undeniable historical fact remains that several tens of thousands of people were annihilated in one second, and this cannot be eradicated from the history of mankind. It is this historical reality, rather than the controversy, that motivated us to translate this book, which is a remarkable result of wonderful cooperation between the writer, Masamoto Nasu (himself a survivor of the Hiroshima Nuclear holocaust), and the artist, Shigeo Nishimura. Readers will find two distinctive elements feature throughout the book. The profound, humane desire for peace and the precise, scientific explanations -- presented simply enough for non-experts to understand easily -- are carefully interlinked and complement each other well. It is our hope that this balance of humanity and scientific knowledge will contribute to augment the awareness of nuclear issues and of the importance of peace among the readers, in particular, children and the young."