August 6, 1945: The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki three days later, and Japan agrees to unconditionally surrender on August 14. Former Time/LIFE correspondent John Hersey traces the experiences of six survivors of the first atomic blast in a 31,000-word article titled simply, "Hiroshima." It is published in the August 31, 1946 issue of The New Yorker, taking up nearly the entire magazine. Hersey's account is published in book form that fall, and remains in print today.