Product Description
Winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Non-Fiction, finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, Embracing Defeat is John W. Dower's brilliant examination of Japan in the immediate, shattering aftermath of World War II. Drawing on a vast range of Japanese sources and illustrated with dozens of astonishing documentary photographs, Embracing Defeat is the fullest and most important history of the more than six years of American occupation, which affected every level of Japanese society, often in ways neither side could anticipate. Dower, whom Stephen E. Ambrose has called "America's foremost historian of the Second World War in the Pacific," gives us the rich and turbulent interplay between West and East, the victor and the vanquished, in a way never before attempted, from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes and fears of men and women in every walk of life. Already regarded as the benchmark in its field, Embracing Defeat is a work of colossal scholarship and history of the very first order.

Amazon.com Review
Embracing Defeat tells the story of the transformation of Japan under American occupation after World War II. When Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Forces in August 1945, it was exhausted; where America's Pacific combat lasted less than four years, Japan had been fighting for 15. Sixty percent of its urban area lay in ruins. The collapse of the authoritarian state enabled America's six-year occupation to set Japan in entirely new directions.

Because the victors had no linguistic or cultural access to the losers' society, they were obliged to govern indirectly. Gen. Douglas MacArthur decided at the outset to maintain the civil bureaucracy and the institution of the emperor: democracy would be imposed from above in what the author terms "Neocolonial Revolution." His description of the manipulation of public opinion, as a wedge was driven between the discredited militarists and Emperor Hirohito, is especially fascinating. Tojo, on trial for his life, was requested to take responsibility for the war and deflect it from the emperor; he did, and was hanged. Dower's analysis of popular Japanese culture of the period--songs, magazines, advertising, even jokes--is brilliant, and reflected in the book's 80 well-chosen photographs. With the same masterful control of voluminous material and clear writing that he gave us in War Without Mercy, the author paints a vivid picture of a society in extremis and reconstructs the extraordinary period during which America molded a traumatized country into a free-market democracy and bulwark against resurgent world communism. --John Stevenson

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 63 reviews)

interesting subject matter, very uninteresting presentation.

It's an interesting topic, which is why I bought the book...that and the good reviews and the Pulitzer.

Anyway, there are a handful of sections which were interesting(eg: "imprisoned people", "shattered god", constitutional convention). However, the book itself is more boring than you'd expect. There's no theme or story. 90% of it moves from detail to detail. It's mind-numbing.

A more interesting presentation of the same material would have helped slightly, but what the book really needed was an editor.

May 22, 2008

Important Work and Fascinating Read

This is a well researched and fascinating look into how a culture that was completely controlled by an archaic belief system of national and racial identity, accepted total defeat and destruction and was skillfully if not neatly transformed by a foreign occupying culture. Author Dower has done a great service to world history with this richly detailed and deeply researched work that deals with culture, war, defeat, peace, politics, liberation, and just about every other human endeavor. Endlessly interesting and occasionally surprising, this book will change many readers who think that one nation cannot impose culture and a form of government on another in this day and age of so-called nation building. If you want to understand modern Japan you need to read this book. Working from a strategic level down and an individual level up, Dower weaves a beautiful mosaic of highly complicated transformation. Highly recommended for anyone interested in history, WWII, the Pacific War, Japan and especially the enlightened approach by the US government and military towards a former bitter enemy.
Steven Bustin, Author: Humble Heroes, How The USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII. Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII
January 18, 2008

As good a history as one could hope for

Having been to Japan and about to return, I really appreciate the story that Dower tells. I agree with most of the positive reviews. However, I strongly disagree that it drags in the second half. The writing of the Japanese Constitution is fascinating in the back-and-forth between the American GHQ and Japanese government officials. The US initiators of the process got the conservative Japanese cabinet to accept some of the most progressive ideas of the twentieth century into this document. However, that the US insisted on preservation of the Emperor system is truly remarkable, not only for a victorious conquering and occupying force to do but especially because of the US attempt to absolve the not-very-innocent Emperor Hirohito of blame for Japanese aggression. The war crimes trial chapter foreshadows very up-to-date problems in holding military and government officials (e.g., Saddam or Milosevic) responsible for their actions.
Anyone who claims that Dower whitewashes the atrocities of the Japanese and is too sympathetic to them clearly did not read the book. By understanding the Japanese view of things, he shows how Japanese saw (and many still see) themselves as victims and barely recognized the truth of rampages, rapes, brutality, murder and destruction that they visited on millions of people, not just Americans but especially the Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, etc. As a good historian, Dower does not overlook the contradictions between what the Americans said and what they did - e.g., the authoritarian method of imposing democracy; the evocation of freedom while rigorously censoring speech and writing; and the condemnation of truly horrendous Japanese atrocities while disallowing any criticism of American fire-bombings and atomic-bombings that killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians. Yet his tone of admiration for the Americans also comes through: for their idealism, for their ability to win over Japanese children with chewing gum, for the irresistible attraction of their culture.
I can appreciate that the writing is on a high level. Still, it is clear and direct.
But you can't fault "Embracing Defeat" for being scholarly. Everything is well footnoted. Those who find Dower biased should be made to document their own claims with the care that he used in putting this great book together.
December 27, 2007

For scholars only!

While this is a Pulitzer prize winning essay on the post WWII years in Japan, it is not intended for the lay reader or amateur history buff. I have an intense interest in history, especially the WWI era but I found it impossible to find a compelling narrative in this incredibly heavy tome. In fact, after reading the first 100 or so pages, I skipped through the rest of the book, reading a page here and a chapter there. Then I put the book in my recycle bin. An incredbily hard slog.
December 01, 2007

How Do You Transform A War Torn Nation?

EMBRACING DEFEAT is the historical saga of the United States occupation of war torn and defeated Japan following World War II. Japan had sent nearly 3 million men to battle the Allies throughout the Pacific but with the American usage of the atomic bomb, the Japanese quickly moved to surrender. Never before had this happen. In nearly 2,000 years the Japanese had never lost a war. Now not only were they defeated but the United States arrived in September of 1945 into the Japanese harbors with their ships and planes and military ready to occupy the nation.

The story of the remarkable recovery of Japan is now in our hindsight. Today the Japanese are allies of the United States and even have sent troops into the war on terrorism. But the transformation of Japan from a military dominated culture that was taught to die rather than surrender to the enemy was a slow process. Many of the 3 million who went to war with the United States never returned. The economy, the food, the housing, and the water systems were all destroyed. Japan was broke. The United States occupied Japan until 1952. This is that story.

I enjoyed this book greatly. I have often wondered how the Japanese must have felt as they saw the Americans come into mainland Japan. I have wondered how the military leaders and soilders of the Japanese must have been humbled by the American military leaders. EMRACING DEFEAT is the story of both the United States and the role it would play as a superpower following WWII and the role Japan would play in pushing for peace in the midst of strife.
October 09, 2007

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