90 Seconds to Midnight
A Hiroshima Survivor's Nuclear Odyssey
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Pub Date Jun 1 2025 | Archive Date May 31 2025
University of Nebraska Press | Potomac Books
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Description
In 2015 Thurlow sparked a rallying cry for activists when she proclaimed at the United Nations, “Humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.” With that, she shifted the global discussion from nuclear deterrence to humanitarian consequences, the key in crafting the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Regarded as the conscience of the antinuclear movement, Thurlow accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. With the fate of humanity at stake and with the resolve of her samurai ancestors, Thurlow challenged leaders of the nuclear-armed states. On January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into effect, banning nuclear weapons under international law.
Critical historical events need a personal narrative, and Thurlow is such a storyteller for Hiroshima. 90 Seconds to Midnight recounts Thurlow’s ascent from the netherworld where she saw, heard, and smelled death and her relentless efforts to protect the world from an unspeakable fate. Knowing she would have to live with those nightmares, Thurlow turned them into a force to impel people across the globe to learn from Hiroshima, to admit that yes, it could happen again—and then to take action.
Advance Praise
“Charlotte Jacobs has a most compelling story to tell—the biography of Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, a survivor of Hiroshima. Only biography has the power to convey what happened at the dawn of the nuclear age.”—Kai Bird, coauthor of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow’s life story captures the horror of nuclear weapons. That a survivor could transcend her experience into a lifetime of activism that has made the world safer is so inspiring. I’ve loved Jacobs’s previous biographical works; in 90 Seconds to Midnight her skill reaches new heights.”—Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water, an Oprah’s Book Club selection
“Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow’s story is inspiring, heroic, and profoundly important. This is a remarkable book about a truly remarkable woman.”—Eric Schlosser, author of Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, a Pulitzer Prize finalist
“This eminently readable book is riveting, timely, and much needed. It offers a unique and deeply affecting first-person account of the unimaginable horrors of Hiroshima through the eyes of Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, who survived the bombing as a young teen to become a leading witness to the world on the crimes against humanity unleashed by nuclear war. She is a messenger we must hear, and we must heed.”—Diana Chapman Walsh, president emerita of Wellesley College and author of The Claims of Life: A Memoir
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781640126305 |
| PRICE | $36.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 360 |
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Featured Reviews
Douglas M, Reviewer
An overly thorough investigation of Sersuko Nakamura Thurliow's life of pain and advocacy after becoming a thirteen-year-old victim of the bombing of Hiroshima. No doubt, this exhaustive study of Thurlow's life is inspiring and harrowing; her heroic acts and her loud voice against nuclear capabilities has been heard for decades. At times, the book feels long, but one understands the need for a complete picture of her life to ensure readers understand the odyssey she endured.
Miriam P, Reviewer
This book is straight up wonderful, definitely a new favorite book of 2025. This book follows Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow’s life from when she was a child, through experiencing Hiroshima and to her work against nuclear weapons. The writing in this book is compelling and I feel like I came away learning so much more about this subject. I already have a copy on order for when this publishes. I can’t wait!
Elizabeth S, Reviewer
Thank you NetGalley and Potomac Books for this advanced copy of 90 Seconds to Midnight by Charlotte Decroes Jacobs. What a horrific and moving story of a child, Setsuko surviving the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima and then spending her life advocating and encouraging world leaders to ban nuclear weapons. “Humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.”
This book left me feeling angry at shortsightedness of these leaders to put security and peace ahead of their obsession of violence and war..
Moonkisz T, Reviewer
90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor's Nuclear Odyssey is a difficult read. At the heart of this narrative is Setsuko Nakamura's lifelong experience recounting, reliving, remembering the day the US bombed Hiroshima. She was 13-years old and beginning her first day at a new job in August 1945 with her 29 classmates. A flash, a feeling of floating and then passing out. When she came to, and followed the light to crawl her way out, she and one other of her classmates survived.
Three hundred and sixty uncomfortable terrifying pages. But should be required reading if you are living in this dangerous world. Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow is a hero, but one uniquely placed to pass her message to the next generation of those who can carry her message forward - "Humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist."
*A sincere thank you to Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs, University of Nebraska Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #90SecondstoMidnight #NetGalley
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