SOURCE: "Beyond the Brink of Destruction," in The New York Times Book Review, August 4, 1985, pp. 3, 24.

In the following review, Toland examines a 1985 edition of Hiroshima that contains a new postscript detailing the post-World War II lives of the six survivors.

When John Hersey's account of six survivors of Hiroshima appeared in the Aug. 31, 1946, issue of The New Yorker it caused a sensation. For the first time the entire editorial space was devoted to a single article. The magazine was overwhelmed by requests for reprints. Albert Einstein asked for 1,000 copies. Newspapers throughout the country clamored for the rights, which were granted provided all profits went to the Red Cross. The book, a few months later, was acclaimed as a modern classic. (It has recently been reprinted in paperback by Bantam Books.) The Book-of-the-Month Club sent out free copies to hundreds of thousands of its subscribers.

All this acclaim appeared...