Introduction Preface The Emperor Speaks Perfect Harmony Emperor Meiji--A Modern Man Hirohito Enters A Voyage of Discovery Violence in Japan Emperor The Rape of Manchuria Against the Emperor's Will The Struggle for Power The First Crisis Four Days that Shook Japan The China War Incident or War? The Strike to the North War! Days of Victory The Juggernaut Stops The Long Week Capitulation A Ray of Hope The Politics of Democracy The Emperor A Dream Come True The Last Year The Heart of Japan The Role of the Emperor Appendix Selected Bibliography Index
Hoyt shows that, contrary to most historical opinion, Hirohito was a man of peaceful intentions and good will caught up in a turbulent time of military control in Japan.
EDWIN P. HOYT's credentials include associate editor of Collier's, war correspondent for United Press, and producer-director-writer for CBS News TV. For more than thirty years he has been a freelance writer, producing critically acclaimed works of military history.
?On balance, Hoyt's biography is an invaluable tool in terms of
refuting the Imperial conspiracy theory and in terms of reaching an
objective assessment of the controversial and much-maligned Showa
emperor on whom history is now about to pass judgment. Hoyt's book
could be effectively utilized in a college-level course on the
History of Modern Japan or in a course on the History of World War
II. It is highly recommended reading for college-level history
students, Japan scholars and watchers, and the interested lay
person.?-Teaching History
?The death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989 inspired a spate of new
books, all attempting to understand and explain his role in Japan's
World War II imperialism. Among them were Edward Behr's Hirohito:
Behind the Myth, which held the emperor accountable, and Toshiaki
Kawahara's Hirohito and His Times, which argued the opposite
conclusion. Hoyt's biography, taking advantage of recent posthumous
revelations of a Japanese foreign service diplomat, portrays
Hirohito as a man of Peace held captive by his role in Japanese
society and government. . . ." Library Journal "A successful new
book from a topnotch writer, this biography is based on the premise
that Hirohito was not responsible for the military expansions of
the 1930s and 40s but rather was at the mercy of an aggressive
military that kept him an imperial prisoner'. Hirohito is presented
as a man of peace and goodwill who was not in line with his times.
During the first two decades of Emperor Hirohito's reign, Japanese
foreign policy consisted, for the most part, of bullying, invading,
and massacring its neighbors in East Asia and the Pacific Basin. In
his biography of the emperor, Hoyt dares to contend that virtually
none of this was Hirohito's fault. On the contrary, Japanese
aggression was the product of a military that had gone out of
control, and which, in so doing, was acting against the true wishes
of the emperor. The real Hirohito, Hoyt tells us, was a man of good
will and peaceful intentions' who was utterly opposed to war--but
could do nothing to prevent it, being essentially a figurehead with
all the responsibility for, but none of the power to influence, the
disastrous course of events the men in uniform had set in motion.
Thisis an interesting and informative book, even if it doesn't
adequately explain why Hirohito the man--not the emperor--never
really stood up to the military until the latter was prostrate in
defeat. Appendix, notes, bibliography.?-Booklist
"On balance, Hoyt's biography is an invaluable tool in terms of
refuting the Imperial conspiracy theory and in terms of reaching an
objective assessment of the controversial and much-maligned Showa
emperor on whom history is now about to pass judgment. Hoyt's book
could be effectively utilized in a college-level course on the
History of Modern Japan or in a course on the History of World War
II. It is highly recommended reading for college-level history
students, Japan scholars and watchers, and the interested lay
person."-Teaching History
"The death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989 inspired a spate of new
books, all attempting to understand and explain his role in Japan's
World War II imperialism. Among them were Edward Behr's Hirohito:
Behind the Myth, which held the emperor accountable, and Toshiaki
Kawahara's Hirohito and His Times, which argued the opposite
conclusion. Hoyt's biography, taking advantage of recent posthumous
revelations of a Japanese foreign service diplomat, portrays
Hirohito as a man of Peace held captive by his role in Japanese
society and government. . . ." Library Journal "A successful new
book from a topnotch writer, this biography is based on the premise
that Hirohito was not responsible for the military expansions of
the 1930s and 40s but rather was at the mercy of an aggressive
military that kept him an imperial prisoner'. Hirohito is presented
as a man of peace and goodwill who was not in line with his times.
During the first two decades of Emperor Hirohito's reign, Japanese
foreign policy consisted, for the most part, of bullying, invading,
and massacring its neighbors in East Asia and the Pacific Basin. In
his biography of the emperor, Hoyt dares to contend that virtually
none of this was Hirohito's fault. On the contrary, Japanese
aggression was the product of a military that had gone out of
control, and which, in so doing, was acting against the true wishes
of the emperor. The real Hirohito, Hoyt tells us, was a man of good
will and peaceful intentions' who was utterly opposed to war--but
could do nothing to prevent it, being essentially a figurehead with
all the responsibility for, but none of the power to influence, the
disastrous course of events the men in uniform had set in motion.
Thisis an interesting and informative book, even if it doesn't
adequately explain why Hirohito the man--not the emperor--never
really stood up to the military until the latter was prostrate in
defeat. Appendix, notes, bibliography."-Booklist
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