War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
- Book Review,
by John W. Dower
Amazon.com
Dower's premise in War without Mercy is a startling one: Though Western allies were clearly headed for victory, pure racism fueled the continuation and intensification of hostilities in the Pacific theater during the final year of World War II, a period that saw as many casualties as in the first five years of the conflict combined. Dower doesn't reach this disturbing conclusion lightly. He combed through piles of propaganda films, news articles, military documents, cartoons--even entries in academic journals in researching this book. Though his case is strong, Dower minimizes other factors, such as the protracted negotiations between the West and the Japanese.
From Publishers Weekly
One of the most disturbing examples of racism in the Pacific War was the execution of Allied POWs by the Japanese while American planes were dropping bombs on Tokyothis on the final day of the war, a year after Japan's defeat was assured. Dower, professor of Japanese history at UC San Diego, traces in rich detail the development of racism on both sides of the Pacific, including an analysis of wartime propaganda comparing Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" films with their Japanese counterparts. The book leaves no room for doubt about the intensity of racial loathing among all, and shows that its effects were virtually identical. This startling work of scholarship has a larger theme, however, than racially inspired atrocities in the Pacific theater. Dower examines the abrupt transition from what he describes as "a bloody racist war" to an amicable postwar relationship between the two countries, and notes that the stereotypes that fed superpatriotism and racial hatred were surprisingly adaptable to cooperation in peacetime. This phase of the relationship was followedin an instance of considerable historical ironyby an "economic Pearl Harbor," as Japan won victory after victory in the global trade wars and an entrepreneurial superpower was perceived as looming on the Pacific horizon. Japan's postwar accomplishments having shattered the teacher-pupil model that defined the countries' postwar relationship, pejorative stereotypes have been resurrected and applied to the battlefields of commerce. To cite one of the mildest of Dower's examples: 89% of Australian executives polled in 1984 considered the Japanese untrustworthy and devious. Those concerned with the seductive power and universal influence of racism in the 20th century will find this landmark study absorbing and essential. Photos. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
War Without Mercy offers a fresh and challenging insight into the Pacific phase of World War II by examining the racist stereotypes that dominated the way Americans and Japanese thought about each other. Dower (History, Univ. of California, San Diego) has mined an extraordinary array of both U.S. and Japanese sourceseverything from comic books to secret government documentsto buttress the notion that images influenced the policy and wartime behavior of both powers. "Harsh words are seen to be inseparable from the harshest of all acts: war and killing," he writes. The book should enjoy the widest of audiences, from the general reader to the most demanding specialist. John H. Boyle, History Dept., California State Univ., ChicoCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review
More than anyone . . . before him, [Dower] conveys a sense of the whole sweep of invectives and bestiaries used by both parties to the conflict.
The New York Times
"One of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States."
Review
War Without Mercy has been widely praised in the press.
"May well be the most important study of the Pacific War ever published."
New Republic
"One of the handful of truly important books on the Pacific War...a cautionary tale for all peoples, now and in the future."
Foreign Affairs
"An exceptionally important book."
Newsweek
"Belongs in every general library...should be required reading for anyone interested in understanding the trade wars that have mercifully replaced the killing fields in the Pacific."
Boston Globe
Review
War Without Mercy has been widely praised in the press.
"May well be the most important study of the Pacific War ever published."
New Republic
"One of the handful of truly important books on the Pacific War...a cautionary tale for all peoples, now and in the future."
Foreign Affairs
"An exceptionally important book."
Newsweek
"Belongs in every general library...should be required reading for anyone interested in understanding the trade wars that have mercifully replaced the killing fields in the Pacific."
Boston Globe
Book Description
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."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."
From the Publisher
"One of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States."--The New York Times
From the Inside Flap
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."
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."
From the Back Cover
War Without Mercy has been widely praised in the press."May well be the most important study of the Pacific War ever published."New Republic"One of the handful of truly important books on the Pacific War...a cautionary tale for all peoples, now and in the future."Foreign Affairs"An exceptionally important book."Newsweek"Belongs in every general library...should be required reading for anyone interested in understanding the trade wars that have mercifully replaced the killing fields in the Pacific."Boston Globe
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