As good a history as one could hope for. Review on Embracing Defeat : Japan In The Wake Of World War II - John Dower

Embracing Defeat is an authoritatively researched and beautifully written account of the U.S. occupation of Japan by a leading specialist on World War II, Japan and the U.S.-Japan relationship. This is a work that pulls no punches. Like no earlier study, it brings to the fore the ironies and contradictions of the era and casts fresh light on several of the great political issues of the era: the making of Japan's postwar constitution, U.S.-Japan relations, the reconstruction of economy and society, the role of Japan in the making of the U.S. order in Asia, and the role of MacArthur. It also offers the first cultural history of the occupation.It is particularly valuable in bringing out Japanese contributions to shaping occupation outcomes. Embracing Defeat is a pleasure to read.Dower takes the reader on a tour that reveals ambiguity, irony, fallibility, vitality, dynamism, messianic fervor, theatre of the absurd, the world turned upside down, fall and redemption, flotsam and jetsam on a sea of self-indugence, cynical opportunism, top-to-bottom corruption, delicacy and degeneration, despondency and dreams, tragedy and farce, boggling fatuity, and carnival, to mention a few of the polarities that run through this beautifully written and astute volume.