a sobering yet worthwhile read

Hiroshima by John Hersey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Hiroshima" is a candid and moving magazine article that follows several residents of Hiroshima who experienced the first atomic weapon used in 1945 and the aftermath of the event. The article was published in the New Yorker Magazine in August of 1946, approximately one year after the dropping of the bomb. ( https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/31/hiroshima ) The book is journalism free of opinion and bias (which is rare today). No judgement is offered, only a careful accurate telling of the experiences of real people amidst apocalypse. I believe that this article is one of the first of examples of what was to become known as "new journalism", and is considered a classic. It is a sobering yet worthwhile read.

ps. A followup article was published 40 years after the event, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1985/07/15/hiroshima-the-aftermath

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