Table of Contents

List of illustrations and mapsAcknowledgements PrefaceIntroduction - Japan - the Naked Truth 1. The Fragile Peace2. The Birth of the Kamikaze3. The First Official Human Bomb4. Women's Stories5. Sex, Marriage and Morale6. The Suicide Manual7. A Lull in the Art of Killing8. Two Survivors9. Christ, Allah and Kamikaze10. "You are already Gods"11. Last Poems and Letters12. Second Thoughts13. Eye-Witnesses14. The Koreans15. The Last Banzai - The Final Toll16. Exotic Weapons17. Hirohito, Hiroshima, and the Russians18. Takeo's New Career on the Farm19. Viewpoints20. Stalin's Kamikazes21. ...and Hitler's...22. British Kamikazes...and American23. Reputations

About the Author

Albert Axell has done historical research in China, Japan, Mongolia and Russia and has written several books about these countries. He also observed the Vietnam War as a journalist. During the Cold War years he met John F.Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Brezhnev and has met thirty of Stalin's surviving generals.

Reviews

'the book's depiction of the Kamikaze themselves - using quotations from their diaries and letters - is both initimate and fascinating, not to say tragic' Saul David, "The Sunday Telegraph" 'This account of the kamikazes is powerfully gripping...Their dedication is a mystery to the western mind, but all too close to the behaviour of the al-Qaeda flyers on 11 September." J G Ballard, "The New Statesman" 'What motivated Japanese pilots to fly planes on suicide missions against Allied ships during World War II? This book gives part of the answer'. "Daily Mail" 'A fascinating study' "Bolton Evening News"