Embracing Defeat

By: John W. Dower

Narrated by: Edward Lewis

Length: 21 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 2000

National Book Award, Nonfiction, 1999

In this illuminating study, Dower explores the ways in which the shattering defeat of the Japanese in World War II, followed by over six years of American military occupation, affected every level of Japanese society. He describes the countless ways in which the Japanese met the challenge of "starting over", from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes, fears, and activities of ordinary men and women in every walk of life. He shows us the intense and turbulent interplay of conqueror and conquered, West and East, in a way no Western historian has done before.

This is a fascinating portrait of an extraordinary moment in history, when new values warred with the old, and early ideals of demilitarization and radical reform were soon challenged by the United States' decision to incorporate Japan into the Cold War Pax Americana.

©1999 John W. Dower (P)1999 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

• Winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Non-Fiction

"A magisterial and beautifully written book....A pleasure to read." (New York Times)
"An extraordinarily illuminating book....Surely the most significant work to date on the postwar era in Japan." (Wall Street Journal)
"The writing of history doesn't get much better than this....[Dower] deftly situates the political story within a rich cultural context....The book is most remarkable, however, for the way Dower judiciously explores the complex moral and political issues....Dazzling." (Publishers Weekly)

I never knew how little I knew

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.

Lots of info but stilted reading

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

Superb history

Dower does a fantastic job of research. The story of post-war Japan is much more complex than I would have suspected. His history explains a lot about current Japan - the pacifism, the conflicts over Japanese textbook depictions of WWII, and the close ties to the USA. I liked his stories of everyday life, as well as his description of the development of the innovative Japanese post-war constitution and the retention of the Emperor system. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to understand modern Japan. The reading is also top-notch.

Interesting information but a bit like a textbook

Information was interesting though I think I would have organized it differently. It was obvious chapters were recorded separately then placed together afterwards. The problem is that there was no pause between chapter to the point that he barely finished the breath on the last sentence of the chapter, then “chapter 12...”highly irritating.

JAPANS REBIRTH

Victory is sweet; defeat is bitter. Victory engenders responsibility for the defeated; defeat demands fealty to a victor. Japan’s rebirth after WWII proves the point.

John Dower, in “Embracing Defeat”, endeavors to picture Japan’s condition; i.e. the state of its economy and its people, after surrender in WWII. History’s complexity is difficult to capture in words. Dower makes an effort to explain the context of post war Japan by showing Japanese attitude in media reports and literature of the time. The irony of Dower’s effort is that media reports and literature are censored by Allied forces, particularly the United States.

One’s interest is piqued by Japan’s experience after WWII because of the current Middle East muddle. Countries like Libya, Egypt, and Syria are on the verge of cataclysmic government change. Iraqis are further down that track. What is going to happen in those countries? Are there any clues in the great change that occurred in Japan after WWII?

Nature abhors a vacuum (Spinoza). The centralized governments and economies of Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq will be occupied democratically, autocratically, or some combination thereof, when domestic tumult subsides. Japan’s experience suggests that freedom will not be denied but how it exhibits is a mystery wrapped in Middle Eastern histories, beliefs, and practices. Will there be an equivalent “Major Bonner Fellers” to guide America’s policy in the Middle East?

Where human freedom leads in the Middle East is a Middle Eastern peoples’ decision, just as Japan’s rebirth was and is a Japanese decision.

Very Insightful

I have always been infatuated with how the world has shaped to be what it is today. This book provides college course level insight on the years following Japan's defeat in World War 2. This book gives a great idea on how political war can be and the consequences for losing one.

A thorough study of Japan’s period of occupation after the war

It covers a wide range of cultural, political, military, and economic factors in the rebirth of Japan in quite a bit of depth. Fascinating, if this is a subject of interest to you.

Japan and the American South

I never thought before about the parallels between the occupation of Japan and the occupation of the American South after the War Between the States. I'm fascinated as I examine my own history through this lens. When this book addressed the issue of how the Japanese might appropriately commemorate their war dead, considering they died fighting an unjust War, I connected with that immediately. Today (2020), if we Southerners commemorate our war dead or praise any of their virtues, we are instantly labeled as racist.
As I listen to the book, I wondered how Douglas MacArthur's actions during Japanese occupation might have been informed by his father's experience during that War and/or observations of Reconstruction thereafter. I wondered how our history might have been different had our MacArthur not been assassinated on April 14, 1865.

Interesting

This is an interesting book - the only one I know of on Audible that deals with post war era in Japan. This is an incredibly interesting time in that you have a bitter enemy in far different culture than us that quickly converts to democracy and becomes a strong American ally. This conversion is never explained in much detail in other books I’ve read and that’s why this book is interesting.

The book covers all different aspects of life in Japan, personal and political. When it’s telling the story of the people living day to day it’s at its best.

The author is a clearly a leftist and that shows through in his writing as he’s often praising communists and socialists. I believe he makes attempts to be fair but it doesn’t take much political awareness to notice. It’s not bad by any means - but often what he choices to praise on focus on are meaningless essays or writers that had no impact on this era. That’s when the book is at its worse, but there’s more good than bad.

The only other note with the author is how he seemingly believes the US should have granted democracy and free press and had it all wrapped up basically immediately following the war - instead it took just over 3 1/2 years. Personally I find that transition remarkably fast - but the author doesn’t believe that and frames the story around that opinion. It’s annoying but again doesn’t ruin the book by any means.

Overall I give the book a 4/5 - that is do to it covering so much new ground compared to what else is out there.

I give the story however a 3 as it doesn’t ever get into a flow and stay in the flow for long and gets bogged down at times, as stated above.

The reader I give a 2.49/5. The tone of his voice isn’t great and is borderline annoying when quoting people. However it’s not terrible - just mediocre.

If you read the summary and think this sounds interesting - and you’re OK with a good amount of details then you should enjoy this book. Just don’t hesitate to hit skip ahead if the author gets bogged down in something you just don’t care about.

The Narrator lets the Author Down

This is an amazingly complete and fantastically researched history, delving deeply into many elements of late-war and postwar Japan that I knew little or nothing of. The extensive use of Japanese sources adds a most interesting element to the book.

The narration, however, was well below the quality of the author's work. I do think it would be a challenging book to narrate -- with many Japanese terms -- but that doesn't excuse the many instances of surprising pronunciation of even English terms and the many instances of inappropriate verbal emphasis.