John Hersey

@Writers, Life Achievements and Childhood ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ John Hersey was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist best known for his book ‘Hiroshima’ American Yale University Media Personalities Journalists Writers Gemini Celebrities John Richard Hersey was a writer and journalist who was one of the first western journalists to cover the events in Hiroshima after the atom bomb explosion on 6th August 1945. He decided to write about the aftermath of the explosion and selected six survivors whose experiences he chronicled in an issue of the ‘New Yorker’. Later on he published the book as ‘Hiroshima’. As a journalist he was greatly respected for his writing style and is considered one of the earliest journalists to practice ‘New Journalism’—the usage of unconventional literary techniques in journalism. He was a big fan of the writer Ralph Waldo Ellison whom he admired for his storytelling techniques. Hersey began his journalistic career working for the ‘Time’. He covered fighting in Europe and Asia during the World War II. Some months after the Hiroshima bombing he traveled to Japan to report on the devastation caused to the country. There he met six survivors whom he interviewed for his report—his account of the aftermath of the bombing is said to be one of the finest pieces of American journalism of the 20th century. Based on his experiences as a war journalist, he wrote the novel ‘A Bell for Adano’ which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Personal Details

Birthday: June 17, 1914 Died on: March 24, 1993 Nationality: American Famous: Writers, Yale University, Media Personalities, Journalists, Writers Spouses: Barbara Jean Day Childrens: Baird Hersey Universities: Yale University Hotchkiss School Yale University University of Cambridge Information Detail Birthday June 17, 1914 Died on March 24, 1993 Nationality American Famous Writers, Yale University, Media Personalities, Journalists, Writers Spouses Barbara Jean Day Childrens Baird Hersey Universities Yale University Hotchkiss School Yale University University of Cambridge Notable Alumnis Yale University Birth Place Tianjin Gender Male Father Roscoe Mother Grace Baird Hersey Sun Sign Gemini Born in Tianjin Famous as American writer Died at Age 78

Tianjin

John Hersey born at Unsplash Birth Place

He married Frances Ann Cannon in 1940. The couple divorced in 1958. His second marriage was to Barbara Day Addams Kaufman. He had five children and six grandchildren. Unsplash Personal Life

He suffered from cancer and died in 1993. Unsplash Personal Life

Though he was a much respected journalist and author, he was also accused of being a compulsive plagiarist. Unsplash Personal Life

He was born in China to American parents Roscoe and Grace Baird Hersey. Both his parents were Protestant missionaries working with the Young Men’s Christian Association. He learned Chinese before he learned English. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His family returned to the U.S. when Hersey was ten years old. He received his primary education from Briarcliff High School and later went to the Hotchkiss School from 1927 to 1932. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

For his higher education he went to Yale and graduated in 1936. After that he became a graduate student at the University of Cambridge as a Mellon Fellow. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He took up his first job as a secretary for the author Sinclair Lewis in 1937. He used to spent hours copying pages of a play the great author was working upon. However, he found this job to be extremely boring and quit. Unsplash Career

He found work with the ‘Time’ magazine in late 1937. Ironically, an essay he had written about the poor quality of the magazine was what that got him the job. The World War II had begun by 1939 and he was sent to the Far East to cover the war. Unsplash Career

He published his first book, ‘Men on Bataan’in 1942 followed by ‘Into the Valley’ in 1943. He also wrote for the ‘Life’ magazine and ‘The New Yorker’ on a freelance basis. Unsplash Career

In 1944, he wrote his most famous novel, ‘A Bell for Adano’ which told the story of an Italian-American officer in Sicily during the World War II who helps the people of Adano in finding a replacement for the bell that the Fascists had melted down for usage in rifle barrels. Unsplash Career

During the winter of 1945-46 he was sent to Japan by ‘The New Yorker’ to cover the reconstruction of the country devastated by the atomic bombing. There he found a document written by a Jesuit missionary who had survived the horrible experience. He sought the help of the missionary in seeking out other survivors whose stories he chronicled in an issue of his paper in 1946. Unsplash Career

His Pulitzer Prize winning novel, ‘A Bell for Adano’ deals with the story of an army officer who helps the people of the fictional town, Adano, in getting a replacement for the town bell which was destroyed by the Fascists. The novel was hugely popular and was considered a classic study in leadership. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	June 17, 1914
Died on	March 24, 1993
Nationality	American
Famous	Writers, Yale University, Media Personalities, Journalists, Writers
Spouses	Barbara Jean Day
Childrens	Baird Hersey
Universities	Yale University Hotchkiss School Yale University University of Cambridge
Notable Alumnis	Yale University
Birth Place	Tianjin
Gender	Male
Father	Roscoe
Mother	Grace Baird Hersey
Sun Sign	Gemini
Born in	Tianjin
Famous as	American writer
Died at Age	78

John Hersey

American

Jun 17, 1914

Biography

Personal Details

Tianjin