The Fisher-Function

Discusses how the defeat and American military occupation of Japan after World War II affected each level of Japanese society. Abstract: Discusses how the defeat and American military occupation of Japan after World War II affected each level of Japanese society Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the 1999 National Book Award for Nonfiction, finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, Embracing Defeat is John W. Dower's brilliant examination of Japan in the immediate, shattering aftermath of World War II. Drawing on a vast range of Japanese sources and illustrated with dozens of astonishing documentary photographs, Embracing Defeat is the fullest and most important history of the more than six years of American occupation, which affected every level of Japanese society, often in ways neither side could anticipate. Dower, whom Stephen E. Ambrose has called "America's foremost historian of the Second World War in the Pacific," gives us the rich and turbulent interplay between West and East, the victor and the vanquished, in a way never before attempted, from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes and fears of men and women in every walk of life. Already regarded as the benchmark in its field, Embracing Defeat is a work of colossal scholarship and history of the very first order. John W. Dower is the Elting E. Morison Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for War Without Mercy Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Nonfiction Finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize Embracing Defeat is John W. Dower's brilliant examination of Japan in the immediate, shattering aftermath of World War II. Drawing on a vast range of Japanese sources and illustrated with dozens of astonishing documentary photographs, Embracing Defeat is the fullest and most important history of the more than six years of American occupation, which affected every level of Japanese society, often in ways neither side could anticipate. Dower, whom Stephen E. Ambrose has called "America's foremost historian of the Second World War in the Pacific," gives us the rich and turbulent interplay between West and East, the victor and the vanquished, in a way never before attempted, from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes and fears of men and women in every walk of life. Already regarded as the benchmark in its field, Embracing Defeat is a work of colossal scholarship and history of the very first order. John Dower, distinguished historian of modern Japan, casts his eye on the immediate aftermath of World War II. Drawing on a vast range of Japanese sources, this new study illuminates how shattering defeat followed by over six years of American military occupation affected every level of Japanese society in ways that neither the victor nor the vanquished could anticipate. The great achievement of Embracing Defeat lies in its vivid portrayal of the countless ways in which the Japanese met the challenge of "starting over" - from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes, fears, and activities of ordinary men and women in every walk of life. This is a fascinating portrait of an extraordinary moment in history, when new values warred with old and early ideals of demilitarization and radical reform were soon challenged by the United States's decision to incorporate Japan into the Cold War Pax Americana. Content: pt. 1. Victor and vanquished -- ch. 1. Shattered lives -- ch. 2. Gifts from heaven -- pt. 2. Transcending despair -- ch. 3. Kyodatsu: exhaustion and despair -- ch. 4. Cultures of defeat -- ch. 5. Bridges of language -- pt. 3. Revolutions -- ch. 6. Neocolonial revolution -- ch. 7. Embracing revolution -- ch. 8. Making revolution -- pt. 4. Democracies -- ch. 9. Imperial democracy: driving the wedge -- ch. 10. Imperial democracy: descending partway from heaven -- ch. 11. Imperial democracy: evading responsibility -- ch. 12. Constitutional democracy: GHQ writes a new national charter -- ch. 13. Constitutional democracy: Japanizing the American draft -- ch. 14. Censored democracy: policing the new taboos -- pt. 5. Guilts -- ch. 15. Victor's justice, loser's justice -- ch. 16. What do you tell the dead when you lose? -- pt. 6. Reconstructions -- ch. 17. Engineering growth. It was August 15, 1945, shortly before noon.