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Summary: Taught me much about Japanese culture
Review: I learned more about Japanese culture from "Embracing Defeat" than from any other book on Japan, and I've read many. Before, I thought the Japanese were very mysterious. Now I'm beginning to feel that they are pretty much like westerners. The "inscrutible Oriental" is a misconception dating to pre-WWII.My only criticism of "Embracing Defeat" is that the author is strongly pro-Japanese and anti-American. Is it true that the American occupation forces were arrogant, power-hungry, and stupid? Was McArthur inept? I would like to think that the author exaggerated.
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Summary: Japan during the American Occupation
Review: I rarely give books of this sort a perfect five-star rating, but I have to say that this is without a doubt, the best history I have ever read! Japanese or otherwise. Japan is a country which has foreign residents continually questioning why things are done here the way they are. Even though this is not a particular focus in Embracing Defeat, I found myself at countless places in the book pausing and saying to myself, "So, that's why!". It is a well written book. Histories tend to be dry and at times difficult to read, but this book is engrossing, and I actually found it hard to put down, - something I never thought I would hear myself say about a history book. I have heard criticisms that this book is far too centered on Tokyo and leaves out the rest of the country. But as people who know Japan will no doubt agree, where Tokyo goes, the rest of the country follows, so in this light, I find it to be an unwarranted criticism. This book is most likely on the reading list of most courses concerning contemporary Japan, but I feel that this book would appeal to anyone with an interest in Japan and why it is the way it is today.
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Summary: Lessons from an Occupation
Review: I read this book in light of America's current political situation as occupier in Iraq, to learn what we had done in the past and if there might be some applicable lessons from this. 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!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I think the strengths of the book have been covered well by many previous reviews. I'm writing this mainly to have a chance to get another 5-star rating factored into the average. A couple of comments, though: 1. I'm a little disappointed to note that some reviewers think that Dower is trying to whitewash Japan's record of atrocities or that he's buying into the moral equivalency of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Japan's atrocities. To my mind, one of Dower's great successess is how he tries to understand and convey the many ways that his Japanese sources came to grips with the atrocities. We may not find some of the Japanese mental gymnastics appealing or convincing, but that's not Dower's fault. 2. The reviewer who says that Dower's book is Tokyo-centric raises a key point in evaluating any work of history: Do we trust the author's selection of data to include? I'd say in the first part of the book, Dower draws from a wider range of sources and examples than in the last, so that the book does become more slanted toward the ideas of Officialdom, both Japanese and the Occupiers. (And the book is primarily about what went on in people's minds, not a complete history of Japan between 1945 and 1952. So there are gobs of experience and data not included at all, by design. One of the highest bits of praise I can give it is to say that I usually have very little patience with intellectual history, but in spite of that I read it avidly.) 3. The part on the Economy is simply inadequate--both as an explanation of the events and as a support for his overall conclusion to the book, which relies heavily on the Economic legacy of the Occupation. He doesn't devote enough space to the Economy. The space he does give it is too devoted to ideas rather than economic activities and output. And even the space he gives Economic ideas is very thin compared to the time he gives, say, the Constitution or the position of the Emperor (which together could easily have been cut by 50 to 100 pages). For instance, there is almost no attention to alternative views at the time of how the Economy should be run. Still, this is a fine book that tries to get into the minds of the Occupied. And it's about as well written as any work of academic history ever gets.
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Summary: Finally, a book of scholarly merit wins National Book Award
Review: I was so happy to find a book with actual scholarly merit win a national award. Usually the books picked out by these bodies are pathetic journalistic accounts without any structure ... with selections reflecting somebody's idea of what will "sell" to the masses rather than what will cast new light on historical events. This book casts a wonderful new light on postwar Japan. It dispels the stereotypical view Americans typically have today about the Japanese, and the superficial historical accounts about the McArthur reign in the late-1940s. This is a cultural history, rather than a straight political history, so it is unusual. It isn't the best read in every spot, but it is worth reading through to the end. I agree with some of the other reviewers that a few authors seem to be missing from the text, or possibly misinterpreted. But that's a very minor blemish on an otherwise excellently written & fascinating volume.
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Summary: Great account of postwar Japan
Review: I'm more of a historical novel reader, because great novels like "The Triumph and the Glory" or "The Emperor's General" usually more interesting than history volumes. But Embracing Defeat is very well-written and commanded my interest from start to finish.
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Summary: Good History Well-Told
Review: If you are looking for a big, fat book full of subtle and juicy details about postwar Japan, this is it! Dower is a masterful historian, weaving together a profound patchwork of facts, experiences, caricatures, and events - all contextualized and attached to the larger narrative of Japan's defeat and recovery. This is history on the cusp of the present written with the scope and command of someone staring back two hundred since, with all the advantages of hindsight. And yet we are still waking up from the twentieth century! Only the trail-blazing genius of Dower could provide us with such book. Good history, well written. Two thumbs up and a snap - with a twist!
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Summary: Non-Sociologists Beware
Review: If you liked deTocqueville, or are a professional sociologist, you will love this book. Otherwise beware. The amount of detail about blackmarkets, prostitution, and day-to-day survival details is well written but overwhelming. I could not see the forest for the trees!
Rating:
Summary: Non-Sociologists Beware
Review: If you liked deTocqueville, or are a professional sociologist, you will love this book. Otherwise beware. The numerous details about blackmarkets, prostitution, and day-to-day survival, although well written, are mind-numbing. I could not see the forest for the trees!
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Summary: Blanket Liberal Generalization
Review: J.A.A. Stockwin's blurb sounds like one of The New York Times adjectival laden editorial praise's of U.S. war crimes. If writers interpret a culture, Yukio Mishima, one of the major writers of post-war Japan & of the 20th century, could hardly be said to have embraced "defeat".
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