Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, Band 1

Drawing on his own experiences as a seven-year-old in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped, Keiji Nakazawa sets out gently and persuasively, without preaching, to use the comic book as a medium to make sure such an atrocity never happens again. Following on from the success of his initial short strip about Hiroshima called I Saw It, Barefoot Gen is a huge body of work. Volume 1 is chiefly concerned with introducing us to Gen; his formidable mother, who struggles to cope with the privations of life during wartime; and the rest of his family and neighbours. Plenty of time is spent getting to know their quirks and personalities, giving the reader a huge emotional investment in their fate.