my name is reiko. i'm from hiroshima. it has been 69 years since this happened, the first new atomic bomb was dropped. i was a child at that time. and i'm here to tell you what i experienced on that day as a child. [speaking japanese] >> on august 6, the atomic bomb was dropped. [speaking japanese] >> by the year before that, and nation 44, the citizens had been living a very hard life, a severe life. [speaking japanese] >> there was hardly any food, and even our clothing were rationed to us with tickets. [speaking japanese] >> and because of all of the air raids in tokyo, and hearing about this, and also knowing that all of the u.s. bombers flying above our skies -- we landordered to flatten the , flatten all the buildings. it was us, the citizens, that had to do this. [speaking japanese] >> and by citizens, i mean children just like you, around 13 years old, 14 years old, 15 years old. and our mothers. [speaking japanese] >> we children, in elementary school, were ordered to evacuate to the countryside for safety. that

my name is reiko yamada. i'm from hiroshima.it's been 69 years since this happened, the first new atomic bomb was dropped. i was a child at that time, and i'm here to tell you what i experienced on that day as a child. on august 6th, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on hiroshima. by the year before that, in 1944, the citizens had been living a very hard life, severe life. there was hardly any food and even our clothing were rationed to us with tickets. and because of all of the air raids in tokyo and hearing about this and also knowing that all the u.s. bombers flying above our skies, we were -- we were ordered to flatten the land, flatten all the buildings, and it was us, the citizens that had to do this. and by citizens, i mean children just like you around 13, 14, 15 years old and our mothers. we children in elementary school were ordered to evacuate to the countryside for safety and all the areas that we evacuated from were then utilized by the military. and that -- and because of this resulted that there was a lack of educ

reiko are you going to do another book? >> guest: i don't know. c-span: the last time we talked about this business was in 2005. you said you had 12 ideas for a book and this is the book that came out of the 12 ideas. we've got another list of 12. >> guest: i felt a great deal about that because it's been different. i hugely enjoyed every subject have undertaken except one when i stopped the project after a couple of months. i knew it wasn't right for me. c-span: that was -- >> guest: picasso, yes a long time ago. i am not in anyway trying to say that previous work has been less than i wouldn't have wished. but i have had a better time writing this book in anything i've ever done. i think in part because so much of it is about subjects that really matter to me they matter to me all my life. it's what i loved. not that i don't love history in the usual sense politics american history of all types. but to be able to write about people like i guess the sculptor, to write about louis gottschalk, the new orleans musician who is so brilliant as a pianis