Hiroshima by John Hersey

Anyone familiar with my occasional blog posts on the books I'm reading know that I will, from time to time, read a particular genre (such as time travel or dystopia) or writer, such as Agatha Christie or Naguib Mahfouz for an extended period. August 06 is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima (the bombing of Nagasaki followed 3 days later) and it was my intention to read a number of ebooks dealing with the two bombings during the month of August. Due to a miscalculation on my part as to how long it would take for me to read a few ebooks, I began reading Hiroshima by John Hersey before the end of July.

In May, 1946, The New Yorker magazine sent journalist John Hersey to Japan to interview survivors of the bombing. The story revolves around six people who were in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. The original plan of the editors was to publish the story as a serial, but after reading Hersey's work, the editors decided to devote one entire issue to the work.

The issue sold out almost immediately; Albert Einstein is said to have ordered one thousand copies. The story was eventually printed as a book by Alfred A. Knopf and has never been out of print.

This book is absolutely a "must read".