Cover of War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War

War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War

by John W. Dower · 1986

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Now in paperback, War Without Mercy 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 War — race — while writing what John Toland has called "a landmark book...a powerful, moving, and even-handed history that is sorely needed in both America and Japan."

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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."

Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of thispoliticspoliticsMore like thisLess of this
Genre
war and militarywar and militaryMore like thisLess of thishistorical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of thisWorld War IIWorld War IIMore like thisLess of this
Themes
military historymilitary historyMore like thisLess of thisAmerican historyAmerican historyMore like thisLess of thisraceraceMore like thisLess of thishistoryhistoryMore like thisLess of thiswarwarMore like thisLess of this
Setting
World War IIWorld War IIMore like thisLess of thisJapanJapanMore like thisLess of thisPacific AreaPacific AreaMore like thisLess of thisPacific OceanPacific OceanMore like thisLess of thisAsiaAsiaMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 399 pages

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Liked War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Pacific War, 1931-1945 : A Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in World War II Saburo Ienaga · 1968 Shares Japan, history, World War II
  2. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan Tsuyoshi Hasegawa · 2005 Shares history, Japan, World War II
  3. Japan at War: An Oral History Haruko Taya Cook, Theodore F. Cook · 1992 Shares Japan, history, World War II
  4. The Rising Sun: The Decline & Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-45 John Willard Toland · 1970 Shares history, Japan, World War II
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“People who read War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War tend to reach for these next.”

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  2. The Best War Ever: America and World War II Michael C.C. Adams · 1993
  3. The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-45 Paul Fussell · 2003
  4. Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy Mary L. Dudziak · 2000

“If you want more of the same (history about military history), start with these.”

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  3. Prisoners of The Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific Gavan Daws · 1994
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“If it was the World War II that hooked you, try one of these.”

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“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Japan: The Story of a Nation Edwin O. Reischauer · 1970
  2. Japan: A Short Cultural History George Bailey Sansom · 1931
  3. American Reckoning : The Vietnam War and Our National Identity Christian G. Appy · 2015
  4. Dr. Seuss and Co. Go to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of America's Leading Comic Artists · 2009

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