Hersey claimed that he wrote A Bell for Adano in three weeks after going to Sicily with the American army and watching military governors coping with the problems presented by their new areas of authority. This accounts in part for the thin elements in the book. But Hersey was convinced then and throughout his life that writing should serve a moral purpose, and most of his subsequent novels present conflicts of good and evil.

A Bell for Adano is episodic in structure. As Major Joppolo meets the people he governs, the episodes are the natural results of their interactions.

The forces that put an abrupt end to Joppolo's governorship are set up early in the novel. He countermands General Marvin's order that no carts will enter Adano. One of his subordinates, Captain Purvis, reports Joppolo's action to protect himself, but the report is deliberately sidetracked by other members...