The late Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital when the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on the city. Though his responsibilities in the chaos of a devastated city were awesome, he found time to record his story daily. His diary was originally published by the UNC Press in 1955 with the help of Dr. Warner Wells of the University of North Carolina, who was surgical consultant to the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission and became a friend of Dr. Hachiya. In the foreward, John Dower reflects on the enduring importance of the diary 50 years after the bombing.