The Horrors and Heroes of Hiroshima
Publicity
![A cover from Look magazine. Across the top in white text is "LOOK", with each letter in a black box, then gray box, then black, and gray again. The alternating black and gray boxes include text and pictures from other stories in the magazine. One is for "Laraine Day: Leo's umpire" with a picture of woman's face next to a dog's face. The dog looks like a boxer with its dog sticking out. The other reads, "Their first baby: When life begins" with the accompanying picture of a woman with dark hair, reclining and smiling down at an infant, who has their fist to their mouth and a tuft of their dark hair sticking up. The bottom two-thirds of the magazine is a red and black image of Hiroshima after the destruction of the atomic bombing. There are lines where roads must have been, and a couple of buildings standing at the top corners of the picture, but otherwise, it is a mass of rubble. The text in white overlaying the picture reads, "INSIDE HELL. For the first time, a survivor's report on what really happened at Hiroshima when the A-bomb fell...Read this shattering account by a Japanese doctor and you'll know why there must never be ANOTHER WAR."](https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/files/fullsize/3f3ab9f5ec7beef5ae85cbfe8f58c418.jpg "A cover from Look magazine. Across the top in white text is "LOOK", with each letter in a black box, then gray box, then black, and gray again. The alternating black and gray boxes include text and pictures from other stories in the magazine. One is for "Laraine Day: Leo's umpire" with a picture of woman's face next to a dog's face. The dog looks like a boxer with its dog sticking out. The other reads, "Their first baby: When life begins" with the accompanying picture of a woman with dark hair, reclining and smiling down at an infant, who has their fist to their mouth and a tuft of their dark hair sticking up. The bottom two-thirds of the magazine is a red and black image of Hiroshima after the destruction of the atomic bombing. There are lines where roads must have been, and a couple of buildings standing at the top corners of the picture, but otherwise, it is a mass of rubble. The text in white overlaying the picture reads, "INSIDE HELL. For the first time, a survivor's report on what really happened at Hiroshima when the A-bomb fell...Read this shattering account by a Japanese doctor and you'll know why there must never be ANOTHER WAR."")
UNC Press worried that as much as they believed in the book, it would not be received well by people feeling overwhelmed or guilty about the atomic bombings in Japan. With the ending of World War II, the Occupation of Japan ushered in a time of censorship, when pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not be published—and further, must be destroyed—and written testimonies were suppressed as well. In 1952, three years before the book’s publication, the official censorship was abolished, and images and books were widely published. The marketing department at UNC Press focused on sending out pre-publication copies of the book to prominent people of the time as well as media gold standards to receive positive reviews and organic marketing. The New Yorker, who had published John Hersey’s Hiroshima, declined due to the similar content, but Look magazine took it up, publishing excerpts from the book and including original artwork inside the magazine. The cover invites readers to take a look “inside Hell”.
![A cover of the Saturday Review from August 6, 1955. Under the title in red, italicized font, and to the viewer's left are some main topics from the magazine. In black text, it reads, "THE ATOMIC AGE:" then in red text, "August 6, 1945-1955. 1. Hiroshima - Ten Years After, An Editorial; 2. A Scientist Looks at the Balance Sheet by Harrison Brown; and 3. Michihiko Hachiya's "Hiroshima Diary" Reviewed by Dr. W. M. Hitzig." To the right of the text is an illustrated picture of Dr. Hachiya. It is composed of black and white lines and dots. He is looking slightly off to the right and he is wearing black, round framed glasses. He appears to be wearing a doctor's coat, collared shirt, and a tie that is made up of black squiggle marks. The name of the artist hovers above his shoulder--McIntosh. On the bottom left of the cover is text that reads, "Dr. Hachiya: "What a weak, fragile thing man is before the forces of destruction." (see page 13)".](https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/files/fullsize/a48d7c63d141586b0b8f162eecb29a2f.jpg "A cover of the Saturday Review from August 6, 1955. Under the title in red, italicized font, and to the viewer's left are some main topics from the magazine. In black text, it reads, "THE ATOMIC AGE:" then in red text, "August 6, 1945-1955. 1. Hiroshima - Ten Years After, An Editorial; 2. A Scientist Looks at the Balance Sheet by Harrison Brown; and 3. Michihiko Hachiya's "Hiroshima Diary" Reviewed by Dr. W. M. Hitzig." To the right of the text is an illustrated picture of Dr. Hachiya. It is composed of black and white lines and dots. He is looking slightly off to the right and he is wearing black, round framed glasses. He appears to be wearing a doctor's coat, collared shirt, and a tie that is made up of black squiggle marks. The name of the artist hovers above his shoulder--McIntosh. On the bottom left of the cover is text that reads, "Dr. Hachiya: "What a weak, fragile thing man is before the forces of destruction." (see page 13)".")
Hiroshima Diary received so many favorable reviews, UNC Press considered it one of their most successful publications. They liked to highlight the letters they received from Bertrand Russell, Eleanor Roosevelt, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, among others. The Saturday Review was one to publish its favorable review and featured Dr. Hachiya on its August 6, 1955, cover.
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