The flow of factual information and statistics helped validate the situation. This successfully made the book into a blend of opinions, feeling, stories, and facts- a unique form of journalism. The survivors would describe how much destruction there was and how there were corpses everywhere, and then Hersey would include a fact to support those claims. The use of evidence kept the reader aware that what they were reading about actually occurred and the results were as devastating, if not more so, than one might presume. The statistics were horrifying: “Of 1,780 nurses, 1,654 were dead or too badly hurt to work” (24). Only 126 nurses out of 1,780 were able to work. 1,654 were either deceased or incredibly injured. This left the city with lack of aid and treatment. That being said, the population of Hiroshima greatly dwindled after the bomb, for “78,150 people had been killed” (81). The statistics show that in one explosion, almost 100,000 people were killed. The reality of that is terrifying. The statisticians also gathered that “13,983 were missing, and 37,425 had been injured” (81). The information gathered proved that 129,558 people were directly affected from the explosion, let alone from its aftereffects. The statistics and direct facts included in the book portray the situation from an irrefutable perspective. It conveys the reality and severity with non-fiction reportage. It is clear that the use of facts and statistics enhance the use of “New Journalism” and make it more
The flow of factual information and statistics helped validate the situation. This successfully made the book into a blend of opinions, feeling, stories, and facts- a unique form of journalism. The survivors would describe how much destruction there was and how there were corpses everywhere, and then Hersey would include a fact to support those claims. The use of evidence kept the reader aware that what they were reading about actually occurred and the results were as devastating, if not more so, than one might presume. The statistics were horrifying: “Of 1,780 nurses, 1,654 were dead or too badly hurt to work” (24). Only 126 nurses out of 1,780 were able to work. 1,654 were either deceased or incredibly injured. This left the city with lack of aid and treatment. That being said, the population of Hiroshima greatly dwindled after the bomb, for “78,150 people had been killed” (81). The statistics show that in one explosion, almost 100,000 people were killed. The reality of that is terrifying. The statisticians also gathered that “13,983 were missing, and 37,425 had been injured” (81). The information gathered proved that 129,558 people were directly affected from the explosion, let alone from its aftereffects. The statistics and direct facts included in the book portray the situation from an irrefutable perspective. It conveys the reality and severity with non-fiction reportage. It is clear that the use of facts and statistics enhance the use of “New Journalism” and make it more