Embracing Defeat
Japan in the Wake of World War II
5 July 2000
Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, but excluding the British Commonwealth.
Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Nonfiction
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.
Reviews
"Extraordinarily illuminating.…Dower has deftly mixed history from the 'bottom up' and the 'top down' to produce what is surely the most significant work to date on the postwar era in Japan." — Jacob Heilbrunn, Wall Street Journal
"Masterly.…A penetrating analysis of Japan in the aftermath of defeat.…A profound and moving book, the best history ever written of Japan and its relations to the United States after the Second World War." — Akira Iriye, Boston Sunday Globe
"Richly detailed and provocative.…For anyone who knows modern Japan, it is an endlessly fascinating explanation of why things work as they do.…A marvelous piece of reporting and analysis." — T.R. Reid, Washington Post
"With Embracing Defeat, [Dower] confirms his place as this country's leading chronicler of the Pacific war." — Janice P. Nimura, Chicago Tribune
"[A] superb history of Japan's occupation.…Dower brilliantly captures the louche?, squalid, but extraordinary dynamic mood of the postwar years. His interest is not just in the politics, but also in literature, the movies, and popular songs." — Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books
"Without question, Dower is America's foremost historian of the Second World War in the Pacific.…A wonderful work of history.…I learned more than I ever would have thought possible." — Stephen Ambrose
Awards
Winner — Bancroft Prize, 2000
Winner — Los Angeles Times Book Prize, 1999
Winner — National Book Award, 1999
Winner — John K. Fairbank Prize, 1999
Winner — Mark Lynton History Prize, 2000
Winner — PEN New England / L. L. Winship Award, 2000
Winner — Pulitzer Prize, 2000
Shortlisted — National Book Critics Circle Award, 1999
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