This book is well done, although it is dry at times, and extremely long. There is a ton of detail, and I would think almost all listeners will learn a great deal from this text. It is boring at times and the narration is poor, but there are some very interesting parts, particularly in the second half.

Narration

One of the biggest limitations of this book is the narration, which is very robotic in voice and style. The narrator’s name (Edward Lewis) is not featured on the icon of the audio book, and it took me quite a while to become convinced that it was in fact a human narrator. This robotic tone makes it difficult to speed read, which is almost a necessity due to the detail and repetition of the book. There were times early on when I wasn’t sure I could get through the book due to the narrator. As so often happens, by the final third of the book I was totally used to the narration.

The narrator often abruptly changes the volume and inflection of his voice during the narration, presumably to signify words either italicized or in quotes. It’s easy to see why he chose to do this, and some sort of change is necessary for an audio book. But the way that Lewis does this adds to the robot-like feel of it.

Slow Going Early On

The author begins with a lengthy credits and acknowledgements section. This is fine and totally understandable. It is not, however, ideal for an audio book. You’ll no doubt want to crank it up to 2.5 speed for that section.

This is quite a lengthy book. The first quarter or so of the text is rather boring. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow. I cannot believe I’m only a 4th of the way through this thing.”

Don’t Give Up

It’s worth it to push through the dry portions. There are some very interesting parts. The book is amazingly detailed. Seemingly hundreds of examples are included for each topic or subject. That sort of thoroughness unavoidably leads to what feels like repetition. Some chapters are certainly more interesting than others.

Author’s Personality

I enjoyed the instances when the author would betray his opinions and feelings about certain things. At one point he labeled something, “an appalling statement,” and referred to one of the historical figures as “the old murderer.” Sometimes that sort of thing is good, even in a history book.

Overall

I would recommend this book because it is so detailed and informative. If your goal is to learn about the American occupation of Japan, this is the book you want to read. Push through the dry parts and the annoying narration. It is worth it.

Great book but a truly awful reading made it very hard to get through. The chapter tracks are cut so tight that they almost overlap. Is this even a person's voice? Get the paper copy instead.

It's has rather long winded feel to it in some chapters, but one can certainly not accuse this book of not being thorough. Often times the "extra info" provided, like accounts or quotes from people... poets and the like... give an amazingly enlightening perspective to the events of the given chapter and enhance the experience of learning/listening. I just had to binge listen to this for finals week. Thanks Audible, for making my life easier.

I have already listened to this book and rated it very high. I forgot to mention one production note. After each section and or chapter there was no pause at the end before the next section. This was irritating and difficult to understand why it was done.

This book opened my eyes to a time and place in history that I think all Americans should be aware of. There is a deep economic and cultural interconnection between the U.S. and Japan. Understanding the origins of that relationship, as well as an undercurrent of Japanese attitude towards the U.S., is only manageable with a good understanding of the occupation post war.

Informative and thorough, content wise, but shoddy production, rushed chapter beginnings, and not much inflection in the narration.

This scholarly book reviews the transition of post WWII Japanese society following their surrender and the first five or so years of occupation by American armed forces. This is less a blow by blow account of events than an analysis of the impact on Japanese culture, society and institutions. In this, it reads more like a textbook than a linear narrative. Still, I give the author credit for doing his research and there seem to be few stones left unturned. He delves into areas such as art, music and literature, for example, that more conventional pieces would probably ignore. Overall, it is an insightful critique of what the occupying forces did right and wrong, as well as the competing forces at play in Japanese society that helped transform the defeated nation. Overall, I enjoyed it but wouldn’t exactly call it enthralling. Still, as a reader, I found myself drifting to the post-war occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and wondering what lessons had been applied and perhaps more importantly ignored.

The book has a lot of excellent information on the occupation. The reading was a bit difficult to follow however.

A very unusual saga of the days, months & years of Japan's change from losing the world war to establish their empire.

Find a reader who can pronounce Japanese names!!

Yes...in paper form!

HE CANNOT PRONOUNCE JAPANESE NAMES. It's just painful to listen to. It's like someone reading Lolita and pronouncing her name "LAHL-it-uh".