Book Description
Evan Thomas takes us inside the naval war of 1941-1945 in the South Pacific in a way that blends the best of military and cultural history and riveting narrative drama. He follows four men throughout: Admiral William ("Bull") Halsey, the macho, gallant, racist American fleet commander; Admiral Takeo Kurita, the Japanese battleship commander charged with making what was, in essence, a suicidal fleet attack against the American invasion of the Philippines; Admiral Matome Ugaki, a self-styled samurai who was the commander of all kamikazes and himself the last kamikaze of the war; and Commander Ernest Evans, a Cherokee Indian and Annapolis graduate who led his destroyer on the last great charge in the last great naval battle in history.
Sea of Thunder climaxes with the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle ever fought, over four bloody and harrowing days in October 1944. We see Halsey make an epic blunder just as he reaches for true glory; we see the Japanese navy literally sailing in circles, torn between the desire to die heroically and the exhausted, unacceptable realization that death is futile; we sail with Commander Evans and the men of the USS Johnston into the jaws of the Japanese fleet and exult and suffer with them as they torpedo a cruiser, bluff and confuse the enemy -- and then, their ship sunk, endure fifty horrific hours in shark-infested water.
Thomas, a journalist and historian, traveled to Japan, where he interviewed veterans of the Imperial Japanese Navy who survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf and friends and family of the two Japanese admirals. From new documents and interviews, he was able to piece together and answer mysteries about the Battle of Leyte Gulf that have puzzled historians for decades. He writes with a knowing feel for the clash of cultures.
Sea of Thunder is a taut, fast-paced, suspenseful narrative of the last great naval war, an important contribution to the history of the Second World War.
Customer Reviews:
No Bull..........2007-09-29
It's no wonder were in the mess we are, when myoptic vision clouds reason.
This was not a hit on Halsey..Duoh! This was a very good read. Maybe Ken burns took some info here?
I see a lot of whinners(on other forums) saying the Japanese never had a plan to sue for peace if they took Hawaii..(?)
Any way Good book.
Thanks, Mr Evans
Non-Fiction Thriller.......2007-09-12
A non-fiction historical work of serious scholarship that can compete with any thriller. An absolute page turner that's hard to put down. When Thomas finds the time to do this kind of research with his TV panelist and news magazine gigs is a mystery. He is an absolutely first rate writer and story teller, and Sea of Thunder is not to be missed.
Good Read, but............2007-08-06
I got this book on Friday and finished it Saturday night. A decent book over all but as other reviewers have stated I find the revisionist aspect a bit much. I think the 'slam' on Halsey tended to be over-kill. The author even goes as far as mentioning the two occasions where Halsey sailed into typhoons to further his knocks on Halsey. Interesting, but not in the scope of the book. The author does point out the reasons behind Halsey's choice to go after Ozawa but only in passing. I found the study of Japanese vs. American admirals a bit slanted in the Japanese admiral's favor. As far as the 'racist' aspect of Halsey's statements "Kill Japs, Kill Japs. Kill more Japs" & etc. We only need to look at quotes by other Admirals and Generals to understand the purpose behind these statements. I gave it three stars only because it was a page-turner, I think what kept me reading was to see if the author was going to go into a more in-depth study of the choices made by the admirals and why they made them. I was left with the impression that the Japanese admirals made the choices they made mostly because of the training received at Eta Jima and the choices made by American admirals were due to some personal flaw as in Halsey's 'need' to get the Japanese carriers at all costs. What I wasn't left with was the stunning victory by the Americans and how important it was in shortening the war. I am just starting to read 'The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors' by James D. Hornfischer so I can compare two different author's views on the Leyte Gulf naval battles.
CORRECTION to Thomas' text.......2007-07-27
Evan Thomas incorrectly states that Admrial Spruance's son married Admiral Halsey's daughter. In fact, Margaret Halsey married Preston Lea Spruance who was only distantly related to Admiral Spruance.
- Halsey Spruance, a decendant of Margaret Halsey and Preston Lea Spruance
A good story.......2007-07-11
I did not know as much about the battle before this book. Thomas gives an excellent perspective of all sides of the battle. I felt I was a bit oversold on the book and it did not live completely up to expectations which is why I only give it 4 out of 5.
Book Description
Southeast Asia and Oceania are global epicenters of economic growth, and Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines in particular have each enjoyed building booms that include modern houses designed by some of the world's most talented architects. And though these countries feature rich variations in culture, language, and in some cases climate, their contemporary residential architectures share many similar characteristics. Sometimes these are crisp residential designs rendered in the most modern forms, while in other cases architects draw on local cultural or vernacular building materials, such as stone or wood, to create houses that, while still undeniably modern, are very much of their place. But the most ambitious and innovative of these projects all maintain a strong design sensibility that transcends geographic borders. Pacific Modern is a spectacularly illustrated tour of the most exciting examples of residential architecture in these regions. Among the architects whose work is presented are Glenn Murcutt, Sean Godsell, Burley Katon Halliday, Engelen Moore, Kerry Hill, and Fearon Hay.
Average customer rating:
- original story at an inexpensive price
- Dreaming of the South Pacific...
- Truly a Literary Classic!
- An American classic
- Too much expected, too little delivered
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Tales of the South Pacific
James A. Michener
Manufacturer: Fawcett
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ASIN: 0449206521
Release Date: 1984-09-12 |
Book Description
"Truly one of the most remarkable books to come out of the war. Mr. Michener is a born story-teller."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Winner of the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Enter the exotic world of the South Pacific, meet the men and women caught up in the drama of a big war. The young Marine who falls madly in love with a beautiful Tonkinese girl. Nurse Nellie and her French planter, Emile De Becque. The soldiers, sailors, and nurses playing at war and waiting for love in a tropic paradise.
Customer Reviews:
original story at an inexpensive price.......2007-06-27
I loved the movie and wanted to read the book. It answered my questions.
Dreaming of the South Pacific..........2007-04-11
I admit I had very little idea what this book was about when I bought it, but it seemed like something I should read while on vacation in the South Pacific last fall. It wasn't quite the island paradise novel that I thought it would be - it really is a book about WWII, in which the islands of the South Pacific are characters, but despite not being what I thought I enjoyed it thoroughly and didn't put the book down until I was done. My reading experience was definitely enhanced by the view of the ocean that I had from my overwater hut in Bora Bora where I was when I read the book, but even if you aren't on vacation in some exotic locale, South Pacific is a classically entertaining novel well worth the read.
Truly a Literary Classic! .......2006-08-24
I read this book for the first time in 2006. It is a wonderful book, very valuable in learning about daily life for American soldiers during World War II. You also learn what the South Pacific Islands were like then. I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand so I know what is like to have left a life behind in the United States and to live in another country. When you are signed up for a certain period of time, you always have to keep in mind that you are going back to the life you had before, but you are living a totally different kind of life now. People back home will never quite understand what you have experienced and many will not care. Most will only want to know a shallow version of that life. A person keeps most stories to themselves. I feel that Michener understood the life he wrote about in the South Pacific and was able to fictionalize many true stories. The book has insight, compassion and wit for it's protaganists. Just a wonderful book and I'm glad I read it.
An American classic.......2006-07-05
Fifty years or so ago I first read this book and have been coming back to it ever since. I am drawn in particular, to Michener's preface which I think is one of the most beautiful passages in modern literature. starting with the simple line "I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific" and ending with a paragraph that evokes the mood and rhythm of taps, the one that ends ".... they their battles will become distant and strange on the air, like Shiloh and Valley Forge.
Too much expected, too little delivered.......2006-05-07
James Michener wrote these stories just one year after WWII ended, in 1946. I believe that, for the time, they were very enlightening, enchanting, and, at times, even vividly frightening. But if one is to judge it by modern standards, Michener was anything but realistic about the grim realities of war and death. (I do think his last two stories, The Landing on Kuralei and A Cemetery at Hoga Point are very powerful writings, on any standard). Essentially, taken in the context of his time the book is a good one, but not a great one. Taken in today's world of realism, The Tales of the South Pacific is simply OK.
Book Description
A new architectural style emerges when similarities of form, material, interest, or attitude in the designs of a group of architects become prevalent enough to earn their own identity. Such is the recently heralded rise of the Pacific Northwest school, best represented by the work of David Miller and Robert Hull. Miller/Hull's energy-conscious designs combine with a love of local materials and structural expressiveness to define the essence of the Pacific Northwest style. Here, where climate plays such a critical role, each Miller/Hull building responds with simple but inventive forms, straightforward plans, sensible siting, and careful detailing. Miller/Hull is the only comprehensive monograph of the architects' practice, which spans civic buildings, office and retail structures, educational and institutional projects, and their award-winning houses. Author Sheri Olson traces Miller/Hull's work through twenty-six projects; color photographs and drawings beautifully capture the light and structural simplicity of their work.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Seattle Firm + Author Combo.......2006-04-01
Beautiful visuals of the works from this phenomenal Seattle architectural firm (which won the AIA Firm Award in 2002) and knowledgable accompanying text by perhaps the leading Seattle architectural critic.
Wonderful.......2005-09-25
this book shows a great collection of the Mill/Hull works, very interesting and intreguing works. a strang recommendation to any architect or lover of architecture's collection.
too "image" oriented.......2001-10-18
I am a huge fan of the work of Miller Hull, however I was disappointed that this monograph lacked a thoughtful depiction of the design process. I would have loved to have seen the architect's sketches, drawings, and personal writing. There were really too many pictures, and the book had the quality of a film strip. The Ten Houses book, which showcases many of this firm's residential projects is a better book if you want to see drawings.
It's all here........2001-08-30
This book provides an excellent cross section of more Miller|Hull work than you've ever seen in the magazines. This book is a significant improvement in representing the full scope of their work compared to the Ten Houses book. The book is layed out so each project gets roughly 3 spreads (or six pages). A majority of the photos are clean, crisp, beautiful images of both interior and exterior. There's typically one page of text and two drawings.
But, I have problems with this book. This book is over polished, over "published", & is more geared as a marketing brochure than a discriptive portfolio of thought and design. First, we all know these guys have done some really great stuff, but do we need to see ALL of it! Some of the less remarkable(i.e.,older, more traditional, more restrained) projects take valuable pages away from some of their more enlightened works. There's no heirachy about their design - everything gets 3 spreads, two token drawings, 500 words of static text, and some nice photos. You should not be able to learn more about a building from a magazine article than you can from the monograph. I want more! How do they think? What do early sketches and ideas look like? Models - I'm sure they've produced some great models! Where are they? This paperback book is a gem at it's current ...price. ... Ounce per ounce:dollar per dollar, the Ten Houses book is a better deal because it provides greater insight to the projects covered. But if you're looking for a blanket covering of Miller|Hull projects with nice photos, this is the way to go.
Amazon.com
The appeal of Dava Sobel's Longitude was, in part, that it illuminated a little-known piece of history through a series of captivating incidents and engaging personalities. Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea is certainly cast from the same mold, examining the 19th-century Pacific whaling industry through the arc of the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a boisterous sperm whale. The story that inspired Herman Melville's classic Moby-Dick has a lot going for it--derring-do, cannibalism, rescue--and Philbrick proves an amiable and well-informed narrator, providing both context and detail. We learn about the importance and mechanics of blubber production--a vital source of oil--and we get the nuts and bolts of harpooning and life aboard whalers. We are spared neither the nitty-gritty of open boats nor the sucking of human bones dry.
By sticking to the tried and tested Longitude formula, Philbrick has missed a slight trick or two. The epicenter of the whaling industry was Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod; most of the whales were in the Pacific, necessitating a huge journey around the southernmost tip of South America. We never learn why no one ever tried to create an alternative whaling capital somewhere nearer. Similarly, Philbrick tells us that the story of the Essex was well known to Americans for decades, but he never explores how such legends fade from our consciousness. Philbrick would no doubt reply that such questions were beyond his remit, and you can't exactly accuse him of skimping on his research. By any standard, 50 pages of footnotes impress, though he wears his learning lightly. He doesn't get bogged down in turgid detail, and his narrative rattles along at a nice pace. When the storyline is as good as this, you can't really ask for more. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex--an event as mythic in its own century as the Titanic disaster in ours, and the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. In a harrowing page-turner, Nathaniel Philbrick restores this epic story to its rightful place in American history.
In 1820, the 240-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was repeatedly rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, made for the 3,000-mile-distant coast of South America in three tiny boats. During ninety days at sea under horrendous conditions, the survivors clung to life as one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear.
In the Heart of the Sea tells perhaps the greatest sea story ever. Philbrick interweaves his account of this extraordinary ordeal of ordinary men with a wealth of whale lore and with a brilliantly detailed portrait of the lost, unique community of Nantucket whalers. Impeccably researched and beautifully told, the book delivers the ultimate portrait of man against nature, drawing on a remarkable range of archival and modern sources, including a long-lost account by the ship's cabin boy. At once a literary companion and a page-turner that speaks to the same issues of class, race, and man's relationship to nature that permeate the works of Melville, In the Heart of the Sea will endure as a vital work of American history.
"Nathaniel Philbrick has taken one of the most horrifying stories of maritime history and turned it into a classic. This is historical writing at its best--and at the same time, one of the most chilling books I have ever read." --Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic.......2007-09-24
I am a big skeptic when I read these types of books. I always assume the author is filling in the substantial blanks in the story with his own interpretation & fluff. I did not feel that way with this authors version of the story.
The story was really entertaining. It was a page turner that kept me up too late on work nights. I think I read the last 1/3 of it without putting it down.
Highly recommended. You will learn a lot about whaling and Nantucket, both of which I surprisingly found captivating.
A Captivating Read........2007-08-17
Knowing that this was not a fictional story added an element of intensity as I read this book. Truthfully, this would have made for good fictional reading as well. I enjoyed the character development and the way in which the story was told. I was on the edge of my seat, and looking forward to getting to the book every morning while reading this. In the Mr. Philbrick's words, "The Essex disaster is not a tale of adventure. It is a tragedy that happens to be one of the the greatest true stories ever told."
one of the best maritime disaster books I've ever read.......2007-08-13
What a fantastic story told in a fascinating way. I've read many books about maritime disasters, and this one has gone to the top of the list. Nathaniel Philbrick is a great story-teller and meticulous researcher. I'm very, very impressed.
great book!!!.......2007-08-04
Wow, this is a great book. The author is very skilled in telling historical facts and journal entries but into a story that is easy to read, full of factual informative information, and has great structure. If you like this book I would definitely suggest reading "Skeletons in the Sahara" another phenomenal book, it's not written by Nathaniel Philbrick, but also another amazing author who tells a tragic story of a crew and his captain lost at sea near Africa and the story of the few that survived.
I also bought Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower but haven't had a chance to read it yet but look forward to doing so now since i've read In the Heart of the sea.
If only I could give this six stars!!.......2007-07-10
This is a phenomenal book. I am putting it in my top five. It is that rare bit of nonfiction that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I am an avid horror reader, and although technically this book doesn't fit that genre, I am making a place for it on my horror shelf. This truly is a tragedy, and the depths of Captain Pollard's misfortune is staggering. Granted he wasn't a "fishy man," but he is a character you rooted for. Chase, more captain than first mate, was the true leader. He kept an almost obsessive watch over the rations and kept his battered boat in sailing shape despite the seemingly insurmountable odds set before his crew. This is an outstanding book. Philbrick is an excellent writer. I particularly like the way he handled the explanation of starvation and the effects on the psyche. I've heard some call the section about cannibalism gruesome, and it was, but in order to understand the sheer power of this tragedy, it was tactfully and, I think, brilliantly handled in this regard by Philbrick.
Kudos to the author and kudos to the lucky reader who picks up this book!
Book Description
He made his name in the jungles of the Pacific theater, was featured on the cover of Time magazine, was tapped by Douglas MacArthur to lead the invasion of Japan, and made crucial contributions to the army's tactical and operational doctrine. Yet General Walter Krueger is still one of the least-known army commanders of World War II. Kevin Holzimmer's book resurrects the brilliant career of this great military leader while deepening our understanding of the Pacific War.
As head of the Sixth U.S. Army, Krueger exemplified the art of command at the operational level of war and played a pivotal role in the defeat of Japan that until now has not been fully recognized. To the public he was a "mystery man," and his abrasive personality may have sometimes caused problems for MacArthur, but his commander credited him as "swift and sure in attack, tenacious and determined in defense, modest and restrained in victory." And although Krueger left no diaries or memoirs-and stubbornly refused to record many of his personal views-Kevin Holzimmer has mined military archives on Krueger and his Sixth Army to produce a compelling biography that finally acknowledges his importance.
Holzimmer first analyzes the experiences of Krueger's prewar career: testing the triangular infantry division in the late 1930s, serving in the War Plans Division, and participating in peacetime maneuvers. This training prepared him for the challenges of command in the Pacific, where he successfully forged and led a large combined-arms effort that effectively integrated infantry, armor, artillery, naval, and air forces. Holzimmer then details Krueger's remarkable leadership in the military campaigns against the Japanese. By placing Krueger's philosophy of command within the context of evolving military doctrine, Holzimmer shows how he produced tough victories against a determined enemy in an enormously difficult war zone.
Unlike some overly cautious commanders of the war, Krueger was aggressive when the situated dictated, and even MacArthur admitted that "history has not given him due credit for his greatness." By showing how he breathed life into Pacific war strategy and made sure it was executed successfully, this book gives him that credit and fills a glaring gap in American military history.
This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
Customer Reviews:
Rehabilitation of a Heavyweight.......2007-10-07
Douglas MacArthur, e.g., in his autobiography "Reminiscences", had a tendency to downplay the merits of others so that the spotlight could shine solely on him. An example of this is MacArthur's characterization of one of his most trusted lieutenants, General Walter Krueger (commander of the U.S. 6th Army in the Pacific in World War II), as at times too cautious, slow, and methodical. But the evidence suggests just the opposite, that Gen. Krueger was in fact a quick-thinking and fast-acting strategist who could outmaneuver and outfight any opponent. (To his credit, on several occasions MacArthur did lavish praise on Krueger.)
Kevin Holzimmer's biography of General Krueger rehabilitates this fine soldier's reputation by showing, for example, that it was apparently Krueger, not, as it is generally believed, Eisenhower (then Krueger's chief of staff), who came up with the successful operational plan of the 3rd Army in the well-known pre-war strategic testing operations by the U.S. Army in Louisiana and Texas in 1941.
In addition, the book demonstrates that Krueger was heavily responsible for the success of the campaign in New Guinea and the retaking of the Philippines.
Overall, the book makes a strong argument that Krueger (despite some positive wartime publicity and his selection to head Operation OLYMPIC, the invasion of Japan) never received his proper due as a wartime commmander and strategist. (He led, or was otherwise involved in, over 20 different military operations over the course of the war in the Pacific.) Part of the problem may have been due to Krueger's own abrasive personality and stubborness, which did not make him many friends in the military despite his brilliance.
In any event, this book is a long overdue examination of Krueger's contribution to the success of the Allied forces in the Pacific in World War II. (Although Krueger did pen in the 1950s his own account of his war time activities, the book was not well received. Although it has been reprinted on occasion, it is currently out of print.) In so doing, it does a very credible job of examining the tensions that often existed among MacArthur, Krueger, and Lt. Gen. Robert Eichelberger (commander U.S. 6th Army) during the battles in the Pacific.
Book Description
From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, and more recently from the jungles of Vietnam to the killing fields of Iraq, Americas soldiers of the sea have fought their countrys battles with famed valor, skill, and perseverance in the face of long odds. But where did the U.S. Marines earn their reputation as being the first to fight? It was on the South Pacific Island of Guadalcanal. There, on August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division stormed ashore to begin one of the most difficult and brutal campaigns of military historyand an unbroken string of victories staged across the Pacific. Up the Solomons from Guadalcanal, westward into the islands of the central Pacific, and on to the climactic campaigns of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, these are the legendary battles celebrated in this volume, a lavishly illustrated tribute to the men who led the way against Japan. Nearly 300 combat photographs, many never before published, capture the fighting Leathernecks in training and in battle, landing and mopping up, making inexorable headway through the Pacific theater. Pacific Warriors also gives readers a look at the prewar Corps and its phenomenal growth from a modest two-regiment force to a full six divisions with its own modern air force.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Visual Presentation of Pacific War.......2006-02-14
Pacific Warriors is one of those rare books that absolutely captures the essence of an era. Eric Hammel's photo selection and text sets the stage and allows the images themselves to tell the story of a generation of Marines who fought the battles in the Central Pacific during World War II. These photos remind everyone that the cost of victory over Japan did not come cheap. The combat cameramen captured the close-range fighting brilliantly, and some of the best war photography ever taken can be seen within the pages of this book. If you have even a passing interest in this topic, you need to own this work. Get it on your bookshelf right away, you will not be disappointed.
Nice overview of the Pacific war........2005-09-19
This book covers the full scope of the island-hopping Marines, with vivid pictures portraying what they went through in World War II. However, if you want to follow one Marine who hit Tulagi, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, and Iwo Jima, I recommend reading "Pacific War Marine."
Book Description
Professor Iriye analyses the origins of the 1941 conflict against the background of international relations in the preceding decade in order to answer the key question: Why did Japan decide to go to war against so formidable a combination of powers?
Customer Reviews:
First rate history for the non-specialist........2005-03-17
Akira Iriye is Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard University, and is a noted historian of international institutions. This 1987 book is a well organized and well edited introduction to a complicated subject, the origins of what the Japanese call The Pacific War, and which we know as WWII in Asia and the Pacific.
The book's organization is straightforwardly chronological. His account of these years is less dramatic but easier to follow than that of John Toland in "The Rising Sun", even though Toland is a better writer than Iriye. Iriye has the advantage of having that period as his primary subject, whereas Toland was laying the groundwork for a dramatic account of the war itself. And Iriye takes pains to explain his conclusions in several different ways, a habit no doubt learned from teaching college undergraduate students, who are the primary target audience of this book.
Iriye clearly describes the step by step process by which Japan entrapped itself in a net from which it was in the end only able to escape by engaging in a suicidal war. He shows how extremely naive Japanese political and military leaders were to think that they could overturn the existing order in Asia without serious consequences. Ironically, most of them - Konoye, Tojo, Yamamoto, and others - could see the trap they were heading into, yet believed that there was no way out that would not be a disaster for Japan, and that war was the only way to preserve Japanese honor. Contrary to some impressions, Japanese at the highest levels of leadership knew very well that Japan was no match for the United States militarily. But things had deteriorated to the point that even the Atlantic Charter, a precursor of The United Nations, was viewed by the Japanese leadership simply as a declaration of war on Japan by the Anglo-American powers.
Iriye leaves little doubt that once Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Hitler and Mussolini in 1938, FDR and his cabinet - Hull, Stimson, Knox, Acheson - saw war with Japan as inevitable. Their only goal was to try to gain time in order to avoid having to fight in both Europe and Asia at the same time. In the event, of course, America did both. A major irony of Japan's joining the Axis powers is that it provided none of the benefits Japan had hoped to gain from the alliance, while at the same time it ended all possibility of a rapprochement with Britain and the US. Japan had literally backed out onto a tree limb and then proceeded to saw it off.
Iriye delineates the development of China's influence on American policy in the Far East. By the late 1930's, China was clearly identified in the eyes of the American public as the victim of unjustified Japanese aggression. This was indeed an accurate assessment of the situation, but the strength and emotion with which it was held by the American public gave the Roosevelt administration very little room to maneuver with Japan, even had it been inclined to do so. Any accomodation in China that would have left Japan a way toward "honorable" retreat would have been seen by the American public, no less than Chiang Kai-Shek, as a complete betrayal of China. This was the trap Japan had entered when the Japanese government allowed the Japanese Army to turn the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge into an excuse to invade China proper, from which there was no escape other than through total war with America.
Japanese public opinion also played a role in polarizing events. Tojo even started contingency planning for riots should Japan decide to bow to American will and withdraw from China. And the fear of assassination by nationalistic fanatics in the Japanese Army was an ever-present factor in the decision making of the Japanese political leadership.
Did FDR cook up a conspiracy to lure the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor? Iriye thinks not, and gives pretty good reasons for his opinion, the most convincing one being that by the summer of 1941 the American political and military leadership knew from the broken Japanese diplomatic code that war with Japan was inevitable. No conspiracy was needed to precipitate war - it was just a matter of time before the Japanese would attack.
In a nutshell, according to Iriye's analysis, Japan had three alternatives open to it by 1939: 1. Withdraw from China and suffer the consequences: Loss of prestige, power, resources, and military position; 2. Follow a policy of "perseverance and patience", passively waiting for the unlikely chance that events would eventually turn in a direction more to Japan's advantage; 3. Take the offensive immediately, while Japan still had sufficient oil reserves to support aggressive naval operations, and before the ABCD powers (America, Britain, China, and the Dutch) could further prepare themselves. In the end, option 3 seemed the most preferable of three bad choices.
Iriye ends on an optimistic note, saying that the period from 1931-45 was an aberration in the history of Japanese-American relations. One certainly hopes that he is right.
Book Description
This book outlines the realist and pluralist philosophy of John Anderson, Australia’s most original thinker. His teaching at Sydney University and his arti6es have deeply influenced Australian intellectual life. Several main themes run through his work, but Anderson never gave an overall account of his views. This is remedied here: exhibiting the range of Anderson’s thought from logic, epistemology and theory of mind, to language and social theory, this volume sketches realism as a systematic philosophical position, while showing something of the history of ideas in Australia.
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Sunshine Muse: Art on the West Coast, 1945-1970
Peter Plagens
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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On the Edge of America: California Modernist Art, 1900-1950
ASIN: 0520223926 |
Book Description
With a new Introduction by the Author
This book, full of rare illustrations, surveys and documents the work of West Coast artists from 1945 to the 1970s, with glances back to the art schools and movements of the first half of the century. Twenty-five years after its first publication it is still our most trenchant record of that period in American art history. Writing as an artist and critic who observed firsthand the vital and innovative postwar art scene in California, Plagens has provided an invaluable record of the artists and work created in Los Angeles and San Francisco and, more briefly, in Seattle and the northwest.
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