John Dower

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD AN AMERICAN BOOK AWARD FINALIST A monumental history that has been hailed by The New York Times as one of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States. In this monumental history, Professor John Dower reveals a hidden, explosive dimension of the Pacific Warracewhile writing what John Toland has called a landmark book ... a powerful, moving, and evenhanded history that is sorely needed in both America and Japan. Drawing on American and Japanese songs, slogans, cartoons, propaganda films, secret reports, and a wealth of other documents of the time, Dower opens up a whole new way of looking at that bitter struggle of four and a half decades ago and its ramifications in our lives today. As Edwin O. Reischauer, former ambassador to Japan, has pointed out, this book offers a lesson that the postwar generations need most ... with eloquence, crushing detail, and power.

A partir de las similitudes entre los ataques a Pearl Harbor y las Torres Gemelas, Dower pone de manifiesto una "cultura de guerra" , al tiempo que socava la idea de un Occidente lógico y racional frente a un Oriente ilogico en asuntos belicos. El libro demuestra la enorme improvisacion y desconcierto que preside los grandes acontecimientos belicos y supone la revision del discurso acerca de algunos de los episodios mas importantes de los ultimos 70 años.