In September 1945, young John Hersey was sent to the Far East on assignment for the New Yorker and Life magazines. He had already published three books, Men on Bataan, Into the Valley, and A Bell for Adano, with the latter bringing him the Pulitzer Prize earlier in May. His original intention was to write a piece about Hiroshima based on what he could see in the ruins of the city and what he could hear about the bombing from its survivors. In Tokyo, Hersey met Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, the German priest of his book. Hersey soon added five more survivors to the book by interviewing people Kleinsorge directed him to as well as by screening many other Japanese survivors. Hersey wrote the story and brought it back to William Shawn, the general manager of the New Yorker, in August 1946.
What happened next was amazing. The magazine determined that Hiroshima would be run in serialized form, spread into three parts. But as the top brass looked at the story, they began to conceive another plan. Mr. Shawn and the founder and editor, Harold Ross, decided to run the entire story in their August 31 issue. This had not been done before; it would certainly be new territory for the readers of the New Yorker. Hersey spent ten days rewriting the story to fit the magazine's format, and then it hit the newsstands with everyone waiting to see the reaction.
What would the reading public think, especially the loyal readers of the New Yorker?
