Dimensions
165 x 240 x 58mm
The first definitive history of the American occupation of Japan reveals how, with a mixture of imperial presumption and democratic optimism, the victors set about rebuilding a shattered nation and how that nation responded. Drawing on a vast range of sources, from manga comics to MacArthur's report to Congress, this monumental new work by America's foremost historian of modern Japan traces the impact of defeat and reconstruction on every aspect of Japan's national life. Dower examines both how political and economic elites adapted to the new circumstances and how the nation as a whole was affected by the contradictory experiences of humiliation at the hands of a foreign power and liberation from the demands of a suicidal nationalism. Embracing Defeat chronicles not only the material and psychological impact of total defeat but also the sudden proliferation of new attitudes and ideas and the re-emergence of private life after more than a decade of regimentation and increasingly desperate sacrifice.
