HIROSHIMA

by John Hersey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1946

I don't know of any book that has been launched with quite the history of this brilliant piece of journalism. First, it made history by the New Yorker devoting its entire edition to the article. Next, it was syndicated by the Herald-Tribune. And then it appears (as of the above date) in book form. Hailed by press and public as ""the best reporting of this war"", in its clean, classic restraint, its simplicity, its severity by implication, this is an artistic achievement as well as a threat to this still unsettled world. Here is the story of six of the survivors at Hiroshima, where a hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb:- Miss Sasaki, a clerk; Dr. Fujii, a physician; Mrs. Nakamura, a tailor's widow; Father Kleinsorge, a German Jesuit; Dr. Sasaki, a young Red Cross doctor; the Reverend Tanimoto, a pastor.... six who ""still wonder why they lived when so many others died""... who now know that ""in the act of survival they lived a dozen lives and saw more death than he ever thought to see"". What they saw, what they felt, what-through satiety of terror and suffering- they did not feel, what they had and what they lost, is all told here. No one can remain unconcerned or unmoved. Hersey has risen to the heights of impartial recording that makes this a human document transcending propaganda.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1946

ISBN: 8483468549

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1946

Categories: NONFICTION