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The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 #1
The Rising Sun The Decline and Fall of The Japanese Empire 1938-1945 Volume 1
The Rising Sun The Decline and Fall of The Japanese Empire 1938-1945 Volume 1 [Hardcover] [Jan 01, 1970] John Toland and Blank and White Photos …
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
537 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
John Toland
36 books200 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
John^Toland - 17th century theologian, Philosopher & Satirist
John^^Toland - American writer and historian (WWII & Dillinger)
John^^^Toland - Article: "The Man who Reads Minds"
John Willard Toland (June 29, 1912 in La Crosse, Wisconsin - January 4, 2004 in Danbury, Connecticut) was an American author and historian. He is best known for his biography of Adolf Hitler.[1]
Toland tried to write history as a straightforward narrative, with minimal analysis or judgment. This method may have stemmed from his original goal of becoming a playwright. In the summers between his college years, he travelled with hobos and wrote several plays with hobos as central characters, none of which achieved the stage.[2] At one point he managed to publish an article on dirigibles in Look magazine; it proved extremely popular and led to his career as a historian.
One exception to his general approach is his Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath about the Pearl Harbor attack and the investigations of it, in which he wrote about evidence that President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance of plans to attack the naval base but remained silent. The book was widely criticized at the time. Since the original publication, Toland added new evidence and rebutted early critics. Also, an anonymous source, known as "Seaman Z" (Robert D. Ogg) has since come forth to publicly tell his story.
Perhaps his most important work, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971, is The Rising Sun. Based on original and extensive interviews with high Japanese officials who survived the war, the book chronicles Imperial Japan from the military rebellion of February 1936 to the end of World War II. The book won the Pulitzer because it was the first book in English to tell the history of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view, rather than from an American perspective.
The stories of the battles for the stepping stones to Japan, the islands in the Pacific which had come under Japanese domination, are told from the perspective of the commander sitting in his cave rather than from that of the heroic forces engaged in the assault. Most of these commanders committed suicide at the conclusion of the battle, but Toland was able to reconstruct their viewpoint from letters to their wives and from reports they sent to Tokyo. Toland died in 2004 of pneumonia.
While predominantly a non-fiction author, Toland also wrote two historical novels, Gods of War and Occupation. He says in his autobiography that he earned little money from his Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Rising Sun, but was set for life from the earnings of his biography of Hitler, for which he also did original research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tol...
John^Toland - 17th century theologian, Philosopher & Satirist
John^^Toland - American writer and historian (WWII & Dillinger)
John^^^Toland - Article: "The Man who Reads Minds"
John Willard Toland (June 29, 1912 in La Crosse, Wisconsin - January 4, 2004 in Danbury, Connecticut) was an American author and historian. He is best known for his biography of Adolf Hitler.[1]
Toland tried to write history as a straightforward narrative, with minimal analysis or judgment. This method may have stemmed from his original goal of becoming a playwright. In the summers between his college years, he travelled with hobos and wrote several plays with hobos as central characters, none of which achieved the stage.[2] At one point he managed to publish an article on dirigibles in Look magazine; it proved extremely popular and led to his career as a historian.
One exception to his general approach is his Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath about the Pearl Harbor attack and the investigations of it, in which he wrote about evidence that President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance of plans to attack the naval base but remained silent. The book was widely criticized at the time. Since the original publication, Toland added new evidence and rebutted early critics. Also, an anonymous source, known as "Seaman Z" (Robert D. Ogg) has since come forth to publicly tell his story.
Perhaps his most important work, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971, is The Rising Sun. Based on original and extensive interviews with high Japanese officials who survived the war, the book chronicles Imperial Japan from the military rebellion of February 1936 to the end of World War II. The book won the Pulitzer because it was the first book in English to tell the history of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view, rather than from an American perspective.
The stories of the battles for the stepping stones to Japan, the islands in the Pacific which had come under Japanese domination, are told from the perspective of the commander sitting in his cave rather than from that of the heroic forces engaged in the assault. Most of these commanders committed suicide at the conclusion of the battle, but Toland was able to reconstruct their viewpoint from letters to their wives and from reports they sent to Tokyo. Toland died in 2004 of pneumonia.
While predominantly a non-fiction author, Toland also wrote two historical novels, Gods of War and Occupation. He says in his autobiography that he earned little money from his Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Rising Sun, but was set for life from the earnings of his biography of Hitler, for which he also did original research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tol...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 30, 2019
I'd rather give this book 3.5 stars instead of 4, but that's not an option. Yes, I learned some things ... about coups attempted by the Japanese military prior to World War II, and the ultimate influence of the military over the country's government; about the diplomatic misunderstandings between American and Japanese governments leading up to the war; about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; and about the battles of Midway and Guadalcanal and how they turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. But except for the parts about Pearl Harbor, the other parts seemed too long and needlesslly detailed, leaving me skimming much of the text. So I think I'll not try to read Vol. 2, which covers the last part of the war.
July 15, 2024
Outstanding! This book has been on my 'to read' list for decades. So glad that I finally took the time to read it. I have perused quite a bit of World War II history in my life, this is the first I have read that focused on the Japanese perspective. It is easy to understand why this book was so lauded and award winning. The insights and background Toland provides into the manipulation towards conflict of both the government of Japan and that of the United States by the Communists in Soviet Russia (primarily) and Mao's insurgents in China are especially valuable.
December 18, 2024
Stunning, actually.
The Pacific from the Japanese perspective.
Massive cultural differences are just so dominant. Flowing through to political and military decision making and all the way down to front line troops.
The Pacific from the Japanese perspective.
Massive cultural differences are just so dominant. Flowing through to political and military decision making and all the way down to front line troops.
May 19, 2023
I stopped reading while stumbling on Konoe being described as a pacifist at heart.
January 10, 2024
A dramatic yet informative biopsy of a dead empires chronic issues. Albeit long-winded and exhausting in detail.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews