by HarukoTayaCook (Author), TheodoreF.Cook (Author)
Approximately three million Japanese died in a conflict that raged for years over much of the globe, from Hawaii to India, Alaska to Australia, causing death and suffering to untold millions in China, southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, as well as pain and anguish to families of soldiers and civilians around the world. Yet how much do we know of Japan's war? In a sweeping panorama, Haruko Taya and Theodore Cook take us from the Japanese attacks on China in the 1930s to the Japanese home front during the devastating raids on Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, offering the first glimpses of how this violent conflict affected the lives of ordinary Japanese people. 'Oral History of a compellingly high order.' Kirkus Reviews 'This book seeks out the true feelings of the wartime generation [and] illuminates the contradictions between official views of the war and living testimony.' Yomiuri Shimbun
Format: Paperback
Pages: 496
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Published: 07 Dec 2000
ISBN 10: 184212238X
ISBN 13: 9781842122389
Book Overview: Eloquent first-hand accounts of the hitherto untold experiences of the Japanese at war A real eye-opening myth breaker 'powerful, eloquent, hideous and remarkably candid recollections...A superb book' New York Times Book Review 'This deeply moving book...is, in essence, a portrait of the lunacy of war itself, as Goya might have painted it' Studs Terkel 'One of the essential books about World War II' Philadelphia Inquirer 'This wonderful book gives the reader entry into the minds of Japanese survivors of WWII...Hereafter no one will be able to think, write, or teach about the Pacific War without reference to [this] work' Marius B. Jansen, Princeton University 'A poignant picture of what WWII meant to Japanese people. Informed, nuanced, many-sided, vivid - an impressive achievement.' Ezra Vogel, Harvard University 'The stories recorded...provide insight into the confounding complexity of extreme human behaviour during the war.' San Francisco Chronicle