TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, October 6, 1992. Addressed from Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard, a letter to school teacher Steve Yoken, answering four questions, in full:



"1. Leo Tolstoi, Joseph Conrad, and Herman Melville (among many others).



2. I think of my books almost as I think of my children. I have five children, and if you asked me which was my favorite, I wouldn’t tell you, even if I had a favorite. I know that none of them (children or books) is without faults, but I love them all!



3. I’m writing a book of short stories set in Key West, where we spend our winters. It probably won’t be out until at least a year from now.



4. Yes, there was a good reason for not interviewing the pilots of the Enola Gay: My aim in researching and writing Hiroshima was to try to help a reader imagine what it would have been like to be on the ground in the city the day the bomb was dropped. The point of view, therefore, had to be that of those who were bombed, not those who bombed. Good luck to all.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope.



Hersey died roughly six months after this letter was written. His book of short stories, Key West Tales, was published posthumously in 1994.