In Hiroshima, what is Hersey's viewpoint on the atomic bomb?

Hersey's view was that the atomic bomb was a terrible weapon with immense destructive potential. In Hiroshima, he hoped to inspire a generation Americans to think seriously about the use of this weapon, which, because of it capacity to spread death and destruction, he depicts as far more than just another bomb.

Hersey was a journalist on the scene not long after Hiroshima was flattened. His book is the account of six people who survived the blast, and their eyewitness memories of a day that began ordinarily enough before turning into an unprecedented nightmare. Hersey writes in a flat, deadpan style but does not hold back on describing eyeballs melting from the heat of the blast or nothing left of human beings but the black imprint of their bodies on the sides of remaining buildings.

Hersey's account can be credited with helping to ignite the early anti-nuke movement. Its...