First published 2014
John Dower explores how two nations shape their memories of shared history. The Pulitzer Prize winning historian investigates American and Japanese views of critical moments between their countries. Dower analyzes racism's influence during the Pacific War from both perspectives. He studies Japanese wartime propaganda techniques and their sophisticated methods. The book examines how Japan remembers the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki today. Dower reveals how Cold War politics shaped Western academic study of Japan after the war. He argues that democratic citizens must confront difficult questions about their past. The work challenges readers to identify what remains unexamined in historical narratives. Dower provides tools for understanding how nations construct collective memory and why forgotten perspectives matter for democracy.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century, academic, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: America, Japan
Period: Cold War, Pacific War
336 pages · Paperback · The New Press