"A-bomb damage, then, is so complex and extensive that it cannot be reduced to any single characteristic or problem.  It must be seen overall, as an inter-related array – massive physical and human loss, social disintegration, and psychological and spiritual shock – that affects all life and society.  Only then can one grasp the seriousness of its total impact on the biological systems that sustain life and health, on the social systems that enable people to live and work together, and on the mental functions that hold these two dimensions in integrated unity.  The essence of atomic destruction lies in the totality of its impact on man and society and on all the systems that affect their mutual continuation."

- Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings by the Committee on Hiroshima & Nagasaki. 1981. Basic Books.