Ready Reference Treatise: Hiroshima

By Raja Sharma

(While I am typing these lines, I am in a shelter near Kathmandu. More than 10,000 people died in the earthquake two weeks ago, but I am surprised to see that the death was random and capricious like life. Several of our neighbors died, but many survived. In one house, nine members survived, but the beautiful young daughter-in-law died because the wall of the neighboring house fell on her terrace where she was standing. I can imagine what the Japanese people must have felt after the bomb explosion and its consequences.)

“Hiroshima” by John Hersey was originally published in The New Yorker. The book was originally going to be published over four issues.

Ready Reference Treatise: Hiroshima
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: May 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311735546

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Hiroshima

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Hiroshima

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

Hiroshima by John Hersey was originally published in The New Yorker. The book was originally going to be published over four issues.

John Hersey, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, tells the stories of six survivors of the atomic bomb that had been dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

The atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6th of August, 1945. The story covers a period of time right before and to one year after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Hiroshima is considered to be one of the earliest examples of New Journalism. The author has employed the story-telling techniques of fiction adapted to non-fiction reporting.

The article Hiroshima was first published in The New Yorker. After two months, it was printed as a book by Alfred A. Knopf. The book sold over three million copies up to this day.

Since its publication the book has never been out of print. Since it is considered to be the greatest holocaust in the history of mankind, the book has never lost its appeal and readers.

Before the publication of Hiroshima, the author used to work as an infield war correspondent. He used to write for Life magazine and The New Yorker.

When Italy and Sicily were invaded during the Second World War, Hersey followed troops.

When Lt. John F. Kennedy visited the Solomon Islands, Hersey followed him there. He was one of the first Western journalists who had witnessed such a disaster that occurred after the Hiroshima bombing.

William Shawn of The New Yorker gave Hersey the commission to write a series of articles about the effects of the nuclear explosions. He had to write the series on the basis of his eye-witness accounts.

With the passage of time, over the years, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the appeal of the book continued to increase because there are very few books which describe the tragedy so descriptively and realistically.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6th of August, 1945. The American army decimated the city of Hiroshima with an atom