Hiroshima
(John Hersey)

John Hersey was born in 1914 and graduated from Yale University. Shortly after graduating, he served as a secretary for noted author Sinclair Lewis; then from 1939-1945 he served as a war correspondent for Time Magazine. While working for Time, Hersey penned two books that told the experiences of American troops in Asia, “Into the Valley” and “Men on Bataan”. His third book, published in 1944 was called “A Bell for Adano” and earned Hersey the Pulitzer Prize. Two years later Hersey published “Hiroshima”, which achieved massive success though none of his later works ever became as successful as those in the beginning of his career.

Hersey took a trip to Japan in 1945 to gather research regarding the people of Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb. Hersey’s account from Hiroshima was set to be published in sections by the New Yorker, but after they saw what he was presenting to them they decided to devote an entire issue of the magazine to the story.

The publication happened on August 31, 1946 and sold out in a matter of hours. There were huge numbers of reprints ordered, copies were being scalped for as much as $15-$20 when the magazine normally sold for 15 cents, and even Albert Einstein ordered one thousand copies which could not be produced.

There was a frenzy of attempts to reproduce the story, and it was even read in its entirety on the radio. “Hiroshima” educated many Americans about the realities of the aftermath of the bomb and continues to be an acclaimed classic worldwide.