☰Hiroshima

John Hersey's 1946 account of six people who lived through the atomic bombing of Hiroshima remains one of the most important pieces of journalism ever written. Originally published as a single issue of The New Yorker, the book follows a German priest, a doctor, a seamstress, a young woman, a Methodist minister, and a Japanese doctor from the morning of August 6, 1945 through the aftermath. Hersey's method — simply describing what each person saw, did, and felt, without editorializing — makes it devastating. If you visit Hiroshima, read this before you go.