Japan Books

Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45

Max Hastings

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hailed in Britain as “Spectacular . . . Searingly powerful” (Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Telegraph), a riveting, impeccably informed chronicle of the final year of the Pacific war. In his critically acclaimed Armageddon, Hastings detailed the last twelve months of the struggle for Germany. Here, in what can be considered a companion volume, he covers the horrific story of the war against Japan.

By the summer of 1944 it was clear that Japan’s defeat was inevitable, but how the drive to victory would be achieved remained to be seen. The ensuing drama—that ended in Japan’s utter devastation—was acted out across the vast stage of Asia, with massive clashes of naval and air forces, fighting through jungles, and barbarities by an apparently incomprehensible foe. In recounting the saga of this time and place, Max Hastings gives us incisive portraits of the theater’s key figures—MacArthur, Nimitz, Mountbatten, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. But he is equally adept in his portrayals of the ordinary soldiers and sailors—American, British, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese—caught in some of the war’s bloodiest campaigns.

With unprecedented insight, Hastings discusses Japan’s war against China, now all but forgotten in the West, MacArthur’s follies in the Philippines, the Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the Soviet blitzkrieg in Manchuria. He analyzes the decision-making process that led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—which, he convincingly argues, ultimately saved lives. Finally, he delves into the Japanese wartime mind-set, which caused an otherwise civilized society to carry out atrocities that haunt the nation to this day.

Retribution is a brilliant telling of an epic conflict from a master military historian at the height of his powers.

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

Iris Chang

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 636 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An Emotive, Powerful and Well-Researched Piece 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I had known about this book for quite some time, but only got around to reading it recently. You need quite a bit of mental fortitude to get through such a book; it is graphic in the extreme. I stealed myself for the effort, but got quite upset by about page 80. The accounts of savagery - gang rape almost always followed by murder, dousing people with gas and setting them alight, bayoneting practice, ad infinitum - require a kind of mental detachment that may be hard to summon. But the book is much, much more than accounts from diaries, etc., although these are fascinating. There is all sorts of research here; interesting tidbits on everything from the manner in which the city of Nanjing was abandoned by Chiang Kai-shek to the Tokyo War Crimes tribunal to CCP spin on the atrocities after it came to power to the incredible efforts to deny and cover up the event in Japan. I seldom use the phrase 'page-turner' to decribe a book (it's a bit cliche, no?), but that's what this book is; one mind-boggling, shocking scenario after another, brimming with facts and examples all penned in a fine style. The subtitle, 'The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II,' is apt, not some marketing ploy. The parts about John Rabe alone, a Nazi living in Nanjing at the time, who did whatever he could to save people's lives (including inform Adolf Hitler of the genocide), make this worth reading. The Rape of Nanking is a fascinating "lost chapter" of twentieth century world history.

Editorial Review:

China has endured much hardship in its history, as Iris Chang shows in her ably researched The Rape of Nanking, a book that recounts the horrible events in that eastern Chinese city under Japanese occupation in the late 1930s. Nanking, she writes, served as a kind of laboratory in which Japanese soldiers were taught to slaughter unarmed, unresisting civilians, as they would later do throughout Asia. Likening their victims to insects and animals, the Japanese commanders orchestrated a campaign in which several hundred thousand--no one is sure just how many--Chinese soldiers and noncombatants alike were killed. Chang turns up an unlikely hero in German businessman John Rabe, a devoted member of the Nazi party who importuned Adolf Hitler to intervene and stop the slaughter, and who personally saved the lives of countless residents of Nanking. She also suggests that the Japanese government pay reparations and apologize for its army's horrific acts of 60 years ago.

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

Jonathan Parshall, Anthony Tully

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Total reviews: 115 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange’s bestselling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement.

Unlike previous accounts, Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida’s Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle. The authors examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy’s doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading WWII naval historian John Lundstrom, Shattered Sword will become an indispensable part of any military buff’s library. Winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and cited by Proceedings as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005.

The Bubble Economy: Japan's Extraordinary Speculative Boom of the '80s and the Dramatic Bust of the '90s

Christopher Wood

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Highly recommended reading on Japan's economic plight. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Let's face it, many of the "Japan experts" have totally missed the boat. Mr. Wood's book, published in 1992, was "right on the money" and predicted Japan's current economic plight (although underestimating abit the time it would take to get there). This book provides readers with valuable insights into how the Japanese political economy functions (and doesn't function). By focusing on fundamentals, particularly the banking system, Mr. Wood provides the reader with a framework for analyzing the daily tidbits of information coming out in the press.

Editorial Review:

The Bubble Economy tells the story of the greatest failure of Japanese economic management since 1945. In the second half of the 1980s Japan's financial madness and arrogance centered on a booming stockmarket and rocketing land prices, which dragged the solid manufacturing economy into a whirlwind of outrageous speculation. Then the boom when spectacularly bust, leaving in its wake a withered stockmarket, crashing land prices, mountains of bad loans, an economy in recession, and a slew of political and financial scandals, graphically exposing the seedy underbelly of Japan's feudal finance system. The Bubble Economy reveals how Japan is spending the first half of the 1990s paying off these excesses in a process that threatens the world's economies with dire consequences, and questions many of the myths built up around Japanese management, pointing to levels of incompetence never before thought possible.

Fashion (Taschen 25th Anniversary)

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A fashion history from the 18th to the 20th century Clothes define people. A person's clothing, whether it's a sari, kimono, or business suit, is an essential key to his or her culture, class, personality, or even religion. The Kyoto Costume Institute recognizes the importance of understanding clothing sociologically, historically, and artistically. Founded in 1978, the KCI holds one of the world's most extensive clothing collections and has curated many exhibitions worldwide. With an emphasis on Western women's clothing, the KCI has amassed a wide range of historical garments, underwear, shoes, and fashion accessories dating from the 18th century to the present day. Showcasing a vast selection from the Institute's archives of skilled photographs depicting the clothing expertly displayed and arranged on custom-made mannequins, Fashion History is a fascinating excursion through the last three centuries of clothing trends. The KCI believes that "clothing is an essential manifestation of our very being" and their passion and dedication positively radiate from every page of this book. This special 25th anniversary edition has a chic new format: two volumes packaged in a slipcase.

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

Yamamoto Tsunetomo

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Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hagakure ("In the Shadow of Leaves") is a manual for the samurai classes consisting of a series of short anecdotes and reflections that give both insight and instruction-in the philosophy and code of behavior that foster the true spirit of Bushido-the Way of the Warrior. It is not a book of philosophy as most would understand the word: it is a collection of thoughts and sayings recorded over a period of seven years, and as such covers a wide variety of subjects, often in no particular sequence.
The work represents an attitude far removed from our modern pragmatism and materialism, and possesses an intuitive rather than rational appeal in its assertion that Bushido is a Way of Dying, and that only a samurai retainer prepared and willing to die at any moment can be totally true to his lord. While Hagakure was for many years a secret text known only to the warrior vassals of the Hizen fief to which the author belonged, it later came to be recognized as a classic exposition of samurai thought and came to influence many subsequent generations, including Yukio Mishima.
This translation offers 300 selections that constitute the core texts of the 1,300 present in the original.
Hagakure was featured prominently in the film Ghost Dog, by Jim Jarmusch.

Hiroshima

John Hersey

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Total reviews: 198 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

It might be different if it was written today.... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 12 people found this review helpful.

My daughter is reading it for a 9th grade class. I skimmed through looking for the telltale signs of Modern Liberal indoctrination. Unlike her Human Geography book, which is loaded with Socialist thinking, this book is genuine in following several characters as they dealt with their lives after the destruction.

As some other readers pointed out (I didn't read every review), Hersey doesn't dwell on the moral issues. It's a genuine look at the characters. It's written in a rather dry style that lets the characters stories speak for themselves and allows the reader to form his or her own conclusions.

(Now, if this book was written today or maybe by someone else, I wouldn't be surprised if the book was more of anti-war/anti-human tome that is typical of today's Modern Liberals. I'm talking about the now-normal attacks on Western Civilization, American exceptionalism, Conservatism, Bush, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they found a way to say Halliburton was involved in the building of the bomb or that one of Cheney's uncles was key. If you want to learn about Modern Liberals, watch the video at YouTube called "How Modern Liberals Think" by Evan Sayet. As Amazon pulls urls off these reviews, just go to YouTube and search on "Evan Sayet" and pick the "How Modern Liberals Think" video.)

Anyways, if you want a book on the human aspects of some of the people bombed, then you may enjoy this book. Just remember, the alternative to bombing was many more deaths.

Editorial Review:

When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, few could have anticipated its potential for devastation. Pulitzer prize-winning author John Hersey recorded the stories of Hiroshima residents shortly after the explosion and, in 1946, Hiroshima was published, giving the world first-hand accounts from people who had survived it. The words of Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamara, Father Kleinsorg, Dr. Sasaki, and the Reverend Tanimoto gave a face to the statistics that saturated the media and solicited an overwhelming public response. Whether you believe the bomb made the difference in the war or that it should never have been dropped, "Hiroshima" is a must read for all of us who live in the shadow of armed conflict.

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

James Bradley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An intense and necessary look into the horrors of war 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I first heard of James Bradley's "Flyboys: A True Story of Courage" from someone who was in the process of reading it. As the person doing the recommending had not yet reached halfway point of the book, he emphasized the role of former President George Bush's flying in the Pacific and of his being shot down. This was a story about which I knew at least a little. Still, the reader was quite enthralled and strongly recommended that I read it.

I ordered my own copy thinking that the book dealt primarily with Bush's flying record. Once I started reading, however, that impression quickly proved to be an inaccurate. Flyboys delivers a disturbing but definitely worthwhile look into the horrors of war in the Pacific theater during the Second World War. Despite the fact that the book deals primarily with the barbaric treatment of several US airmen shot down and captured by the Japanese, it is certainly not an exercise in Japan-bashing. Bradley brings balance to the discussion of Japanese atrocities by mentioning similar--although, clearly, much less systematic--misbehavior on the part of US and allied soldiers.

You will be riveted by Bradley's telling of this story. You will also be moved. By the end of this book, exhausted, you'll learn a redeeming and terribly moving secret involving one of the Japanese captors.

John Cathcart
Author Delta 7

Editorial Review:

This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. The fate of the others-an explosive 60-year-old secret-is revealed for the first time in FLYBOYS.

Bushido: The Way of the Samurai (Square One Classics)

Tsunetomo Yamamoto

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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Bushido or Hagakure??? 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Hagakure: The Way of the SamuraiBushido: The Soul of Japan (Dodo Press)

This book (Bushido: The Way of the Samurai) really needs to have a different title. At first glance I thought it was the classic Bushido, especially as it is the first book to pop up when one searches Bushido on Amazon. This book is NOT the classic Bushido; it is a translation of the Hagakure.

The Japanese martial philosophy book, Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, is NOT the same book as the equally classic Japanese martial philosophy book, Bushido: The Soul of Japan, by Inazo Nitobé. Indeed, Bushido was written nearly 200 years after Hagakure.

Just a heads up for anyone that is looking for the real Bushido.

Editorial Review:

In eighteenth-century Japan, Tsunetomo Yamamoto created the Hagakure, a document that served as the basis for samurai warrior behavior. Its guiding principles greatly influenced the Japanese ruling class and shaped the underlying character of the Japanese psyche, from businessmen to soldiers.

Bushido is the first English translation of the Hagakure. This work provides a powerful message aimed at the mind and spirit of the samurai warrior. It offers beliefs that are difficult for the Western mind to embrace, yet fascinating in their pursuit of absolute service. With Bushido, one can better put into perspective Japan’s historical path and gain greater insight into the Japan of today.

Flags of Our Fathers (Movie Tie-in Edition)

James Bradley, Ron Powers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 580 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Battle of Iwo Jima, fought in the winter of 1945 on a rocky island south of Japan, brought a ferocious slice of hell to earth: in a month's time, more than 22,000 Japanese soldiers would die defending a patch of ground a third the size of Manhattan, while nearly 26,000 Americans fell taking it from them. The battle was a turning point in the war in the Pacific, and it produced one of World War II's enduring images: a photograph of six soldiers raising an American flag on the flank of Mount Suribachi, the island's commanding high point.

One of those young Americans was John Bradley, a Navy corpsman who a few days before had braved enemy mortar and machine-gun fire to administer first aid to a wounded Marine and then drag him to safety. For this act of heroism Bradley would receive the Navy Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honor.

Bradley, who died in 1994, never mentioned his feat to his family. Only after his death did Bradley's son James begin to piece together the facts of his father's heroism, which was but one of countless acts of sacrifice made by the young men who fought at Iwo Jima. Flags of Our Fathers recounts the sometimes tragic life stories of the six men who raised the flag that February day--one an Arizona Indian who would die following an alcohol-soaked brawl, another a Kentucky hillbilly, still another a Pennsylvania steel-mill worker--and who became reluctant heroes in the bargain. A strongly felt and well-written entry in a spate of recent books on World War II, Flags gives a you-are-there depiction of that conflict's horrible arenas--and a moving homage to the men whom fate brought there. --Gregory McNamee