John Hersey was an American writer and journalist. He was born in Tientsin, China to Protestant missionaries Grace Baird and Roscoe Hersey, and learned to speak Chinese before he learned English. He returned to the U.S. when he was ten years old, and attended public school in Briarcliff Manor, New York. He went on to attend the Hotchkiss School, and eventually Yale University, where he played football. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Cambridge as a Mellon Fellow.
Hersey began his journalism career writing for Time, and spent much time in the field covering the fighting during World War II in both Europe and Asia. He accompanied Allied troops on their invasion of...
