Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
by John W. Dower

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Book Reviews of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

Book Review: Lessons from an Occupation
Summary: 5 Stars

Dower's book is well-written, easy-to-read and fascinating even for people like me who do not know a lot about Japan or its history. Each chapter looks at a different facet of the occupation in vague chronological order - from the defeat of Japan - what it meant to both Americans and to Japanese, to the welcome of occupiers (no wonder we thought it would be easier in Iraq!), to the social, political and economic implications of the occupation. Lastly it looks at transformations to move Japan out of its war-time era - the writing of a new Constitution (shocking!), and the war-crimes tribunal. Dower is wonderfully honest and perceptive in potraying what happened - both the positive and negative, and with an understanding of the time and circumstances in which decisions were made. In the end, not much will be applicable to our current occupation, except perhaps the need for strong leadership - but would we really want MacArthur as a role model? More than anything, I learned that each situation really is unique - to the country, and to the people involved.

Ironically, of all the "Iraq books" I've read over the past few months, this is one of the most relevent!

Summary of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

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

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