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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 940.532452 EAN: 9780674022416 Format: Print ISBN: 0674022416 Label: Belknap Press Manufacturer: Belknap Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 432 Publication Date: September 30, 2006 Publisher: Belknap Press Studio: Belknap Press Editorial Review: Product Description: With startling revelations, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa rewrites the standard history of the end of World War II in the Pacific. By fully integrating the three key actors in the story--the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan--Hasegawa for the first time puts the last months of the war into international perspective. From April 1945, when Stalin broke the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and Harry Truman assumed the presidency, to the final Soviet military actions against Japan, Hasegawa brings to light the real reasons Japan surrendered. From Washington to Moscow to Tokyo and back again, he shows us a high-stakes diplomatic game as Truman and Stalin sought to outmaneuver each other in forcing Japan's surrender; as Stalin dangled mediation offers to Japan while secretly preparing to fight in the Pacific; as Tokyo peace advocates desperately tried to stave off a war party determined to mount a last-ditch defense; and as the Americans struggled to balance their competing interests of ending the war with Japan and preventing the Soviets from expanding into the Pacific. Authoritative and engrossing, Racing the Enemy puts the final days of World War II into a whole new light. (20050515) Average Rating:
 Rating: - Thought provoking on the interplay of three nations.There is a lot of meat in this book. The author reviews the documentary evidence on the end of WWII. Japan was still battling the United States, China, and Great Britain. The Soviet Union had just ended its war in Europe and Stalin was interested in spoils in East Asia. The book's title is how America and Russia raced to end the war in East Asia to enlarge and protect their geopolitical interests. The other race was between the peace party and the militarists in Japan. Would Japan fight to ... Read More Rating: - A Masterpiece of Historical Reconstruction"Racing the Enemy" is a meticulous yet gripping reconstruction of the three-sided diplomacy surrounding the surrender of Japan in 1945. The author's basic aim is to recreate the perspectives of policymakers in Tokyo, Washington and Moscow. For the most part he is admirably successful, as he takes the reader on a fascinating day-by-day, memo-by-memo tour of decision-making in the three capitals. The storyline: By the summer of 1945, Japan was isolated, blockaded, and in ruins. The ... Read More Rating:  - Fairly critical, but a worthwhile read...I think that this book is certainly researched thoroughly and he takes a great deal of time to step by step cover what many books involving this war only touch upon at this stage: the political chess game leading up to the eventual capitulation of the Japanese. The only downfall that I find is that it appears from time to time in the text that Hasegawa sometimes falls into the trap of having the luxury of the passage of the last 62 years to judge the actions made by the individuals in power rather ... Read More Rating: - Racing the allies By 1945 Japan seemed well and truly beaten. Its navy and merchant fleet were on the bottom of the pacific. Its air force lacked fuel and was limited in what operations it could launch and its cities were being destroyed by Curtin LeMay's fire raids. One would have thought the unconditional surrender in 1945 unremarkable. The story was however more complex. Japan had only committed a small fragment of its army to the South East Asian and Pacific theatre. Most of its troops were in China and Manchuria. Even ... Read More Rating:  - Good Cop / Bad CopFirst, let me emphasize the distinction, as the author does, between defeat and surrender. By the summer of 1945, Japan had certainly been defeated. And there is no doubt that America's Army and Navy (including the Marines and the Air Corps) can take the lion's share of the credit for that defeat. But Japan's fanatical leadership would not surrender. Would a clarification of the Emperor's position in the Potsdam Proclamation have helped? Perhaps not. The Japanese might have simply continued negotiating. ... Read More |
