Synopses & Reviews
Drawing on decades of experience and research, John W. Dower, author of the award-winning
War Without Mercy, highlights for the first time the resemblances between wartime, postwar, and contemporary Japan. He argues persuasively that the origins of many of the institutions responsible for Japan's dominant position in today’s global economy derive from the rapid military industrialization of the 1930s, and not from the post-occupation period, as many have assumed. A brilliant lead essay, “The Useful War,” sets the tone for the volume by incisively showing how much of Japan’s postwar political and economic structure was prefigured in the wartime organization of that country.
Review
"Here, Dower offers a collection of essays on Japan and its complex relations with the U.S. over the past half century." —
Kirkus ReviewsSynopsis
An examination of the continuities between pre-and postwar Japan, by the leading expert.
About the Author
John W. Dower is a professor of history, emeritus, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He co-founded MIT’s online “Visualizing Cultures” project, which uses visual materials to reexamine the experience of Japan and China in the modern world. Dower is the author of
Japan in War and Peace: Selected Essays, and
Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World, both published by The New Press. He is also the author of the National Book Award finalist
Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 / Iraq and of
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, which was the recipient of numerous honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Bancroft Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History, and the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Prize; both books were co-published by The New Press and W.W. Norton and Company. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.