Originally published in the New Yorker, this brief but powerful book recounts the story of six survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.  Through the steady accumulation of horrific details and the avoidance of polemic, Hersey confronts the reader with a matter of fact account of the devastation that followed in the wake of the bomb.  In the final pages, when he raises the question of whether the bombing was moral, he allows the reader to decide.   By providing this absorbing portrait of the consequences, he has enabled readers to, at least, make a better informed decision.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (B) Orrin C. Judd

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John Hersey Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: John Hersey
    -ESSAY: Jane Mayer on John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” (Jane Mayer, August 3, 2025, The New Yorker)
    -ESSAY: The Advent of New Journalism: Remembering John Hersey’s Hiroshima on the 80th anniversary of the bombing. (Wendy Besel Hahn August 6, 2025, Washington Independent Review of Books))
    -ESSAY: A Rare Discovery on the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of John Hersey’s “Hiroshima”: The head librarian at John Hersey High School, in Illinois, uncovers a piece of journalism history. (Erin Overbey, 8/26/21, The New Yorker)     -REVIEW: of Hiroshima (John Toland, NY Times Book Review)
    -Bio (John Hersey High School)
    -The Top 100 Works of Journalism In the United States in the 20th Century (NYU School of Journalism)
    -Hiroshima Home Page
    -SPECIAL BRIEFING: HIROSHIMA NEVER AGAIN!
    -ESSAY : The Publication of John Hersey's Hiroshima in The New Yorker (Steve Rothman)
    -REVIEW: of THE CALL     (Eva Hoffman, NY Times)
    -REVIEW: of THE CALL (Robert McAfee Brown, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: The Call by John Hersey (John K. Fairbank, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW; of FLING And Other Stories John Hersey (Vance Bourjaily, NY Times Book review)
    -REVIEW: of BLUES By John Hersey. (Verlyn Klinkenborg, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Algiers Motel Incident by John Hersey (Edgar Z. Friedenberg, NY Review of Books)
    -ESSAY: ‘Fallout’ Review: Hiroshima and After John Hersey’s pro?le of six survivors of the A-bomb blast, published 74 years ago today, has lost none of its horri?c power. (Edward Kosner, Aug. 31, 2020, WSJ)

Book-related and General Links:

    -ESSAY: The Moral Case for the Atomic Bombing of Japan (John Carpenter, August 8th, 2025, Imaginative Conservative)
    -ESSAY: The History and Physics of the Atomic Bomb: First came the idea of splitting the atom; then, a chain of events leading to a moment forever etched in collective memory—the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. (Luca Nardi, Aug 6, 2025 , Wired)
    -ESSAY: For Whom was Harry Truman Responsible in August, 1945? (Eric Patterson, August 8, 2025, Providence)
    -ESSAY: 80 Years after Hiroshima: Why Nuclear Deterrence Will Remain: The Hiroshima bombing on August 6, 1945, marked a pivotal moment, sparking debates and transforming warfare through nuclear deterrence. Despite arguments for abolition due to ethical and safety concerns, nuclear deterrence persists, as no better conflict prevention method has emerged. This lack of an alternative has allowed nuclear deterrence to maintain its crucial yet controversial role. )Michael Rühle, 8/06/25, Fair Observer)
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    -ESSAY: ‘My God, what have we done?’ (Robin McKie, 7/25/25, The Observer)
    -ESSAY: The Bomb at 80 (Mark Malvasi, August 5th, 2025, Imaginative Conservative)
    -ESSAY: The shock, awe and terror of Hiroshima: Why the atomic bombing of Japan still gnaws at the Western conscience, 80 years on. (James Woudhuysen, 8/06/25, spiked online)
    -ESSAY: Hiroshima at 80: : Survivors plead for peace as nuclear weapons stockpiles grow Fewer than 100,000 hibakusha remain as Hiroshima marks one of their last chances to share firsthand memories. (Sujita Sinha, 8/06/25, Interesting Engineering)
    -ESSAY: Activists and stewards in the shadow of Hiroshim (Ashutosh Jogalekar, 8/06/25, 3Quarks)
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If you liked Hiroshima, try:

Rhodes, Richard
           -The Making of the Atomic Bomb