John Toland and Charles Dickens' Classic Novel, "The Rising Sun"

dmiguer: “With the seizure of Manchuria and the invasion of North China, the gulf widened as America denounced Japanese aggression with increasingly forceful words. This moral denunciation only hardened the resolve of the average Japanese. Why should there be a Monroe Doctrine in the Americas and an Open Door Policy in Asia? The Japanese takeover of bandit infested Manchuria was no different from American armed intervention in the Caribbean. Why was it perfectly acceptable for England and Holland to occupy India, Hong Kong, Singapore and the East Indies, but a crime for Japan to follow their example? Why should America, which had grabbed its lands from Indians by trickery, liquor and massacre, be so outraged when Japan did the same in China?” - John Toland, ‘The Rising Sun’

Hirohito: “Will you win a great victory? Like the Battle of Tsushima?”
Nagano: “I’m sorry, but that will not be possible.”
Hirohito: “Then the war will be a desperate one.”
- Before the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941

The following morning Stimson [US Secretary of War] brought the report to Churchill, who was exhilarated. The Prime Minister leaned forward. "What was...

United States on May 14, 2023

Jose: The West has the reflex to think warmonger Japan was the pacific version of nazis. It was not. It was a democracy, peculiar perhaps, but where no Hitler existed. The book is absolutely breathtaking and is the result of hundreds of interviews with Japanese first hand participants.

Spain on Dec 23, 2020

Havoc: Two things to mention here. The author refers to a picture to refer to in the photos section.There is no photo section(which kinda pissed me off because there’s always a photo section in Tolands books).Also there are reiterations of two of his other books:Infamy and But Not In Shame.Also kinda pissed me off but,no question,it’s gotta be in there .He can’t help it if there’s some overlap with Pearl and after Pearl.

Canada on Apr 06, 2018

Rakhee: The World at war during the 2nd War had many players and somehow for me the understanding of Japan's role was limited to the adventurism of Pearl Harbour and the atomic devastation as a consequence. The book has helped to appreciate the various machinations of war and the difference between the eastern and western philosophies and way of life of those who are in decision making positions.

India on Jun 11, 2017

Torpedo: Sehr gute Aufarbeitung der Jahre vor dem Krieg und der japanischen Innen- und Außenpolitik mit einem guten Einblick in dieselben. Man sieht doch einige Dinge danach mit anderen Augen. Das Buch ist ein MUSS für jeden, der sich mit dem Pazifikkrieg und dessen Entstehung auseinandersetzen möchte.

Germany on May 16, 2017

David Beeson: John Toland’s Pulitzer Prize winning ‘Rising Sun’ was first published in 1971, so it can take no advantage of more recent scholarship. Even so, I’d strongly recommend it for the sheer quality of both the research and the writing. It is an excellent account of the latter years of the Japanese Empire, the years in which the rising sun, symbol of imperial Japan, reached its zenith and quickly set.

He tells the story at three distinct levels.

He gives us just enough detail on the politics, both inside and outside Japan, to make the context comprehensible without ever becoming tiresome. He describes the military events with precisely the same level of detail, neither boring nor insufficient, from the very start of the fighting by Japan’s armies, in Manchuria in 1932, long before any Western powers became involved. Finally, he uses material left behind by survivors to give us a personal view of the events, whether of Japanese soldiers and civilians. The tale of Shizuko Miura, a nurse who witnessed the landings and fighting on Saipan, was particularly telling, and those of atomic bomb survivors chill the blood.

He starts with the background of Japan itself,...

United Kingdom on Dec 31, 2016

Rodrigo Melgar: Drawing on hundreds of interviews and source material, John Toland has achieved the impossible, to offer a most unique take on the Pacific War: dozens of people come to life in this history book, which more often than not, ends up being more reminiscent of a novel as it takes its reader diving headlong in a journey of palace intrigues, decision making and, ultimately, the carnage of war.

The book kicks off with a brief introduction about the Manchurian adventure and the troubles that plagued Japan during the prewar years: the fight between the various cliques that composed japanese society and the struggle between the military and the civilian government. Soon, the Marco Polo Bridge incident takes place and carnage ensues. The invasion prompts the USA to tighten its embargo on Japan and the rest is known to most readers, ensuing in the turbulent (and fraughty) negotiations that climaxed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Then, Toland covers each and every theater of war from 1941 all the way to 1945, mostly excluding those that took place in the asian mainland.

It is worth noting that the title may be a tad misleading, for one would infer that the book covered several...

United States on May 27, 2015