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)

beyond my expectations ...how the Japanese people

beyond my expectations
...how the Japanese people and culture dealt with defeat, in various ways

Great book, subpar narration

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

A unique view of Japan's reaction

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

the audio editing is TERRIBLE

an interesting taste of numerous subjects effecting the postwar reconstruction.

as journalist himself I think Dower give his compatriots to much credit and also overstates to importance not so famous philosophers. Dower also seems to understate the control the US forced to hold Japan together preferring to focus manly on its negative aspects

the narrator was fine, and in fact did an excellent job with pronunciation, but the audio editing was done so poorly as to be outright distracting. There aren't natural puses, no breaks between chapters and clipping at start and end of sentences

Comprehensive Treatment of Postwar Japan

Embracing Defeat is the greatest available work on the American occupation of Japan. Dower’s work on Japanese cultural responses and the thoroughness of his research is remarkable.

Life in Defeat

John Dower in "Embracing Defeat" tells the story of the occupation of Japan following the war and how the Japanese life was changed. I came to this book as one who wanted to be informed and frankly expected a dry history. I was disappointed. This is a wonderful, englightening, and engaging story.

Dower has done the listener a real service by sheding light on the behavior of American forces and the Japanese alike. The transition made by every strata of Japanese society is here in chronological order. He takes the hands of readers and walks them through daily life during that period. He does not white wash the American side nor the Japanese response.

Dower's description of the stark poverty and starvation among the Japanese is eye opening. As the society was opened, he shares how individuals grew and took advantage of conditions and changes offered them. I was facinated by the ambivalence of the Japanese to their new way of life and how they adapted. Audible listeners will be as well.

Well written and Dower thanks various individuals who helped with the editing in the forward. The reading is fine, but could be a little more animated. The text is peppered with Japanese language followed by English translation. I found that an informative approach.

Extremely detailed history of the occupation

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.

Historical narration as it should be

History is and should not be a chronicle of wars, battles, their plots and plotters. This book shows the way.

Future generations will always wonder how economically and politically the world got shaped so radically and quickly post WW2. Nowhere the transformation was bigger and swifter than in Japan. The book provides a sweeping view of the changes in the first seven year of the war - how a starving nation, that agreed to total pacifism, that was still coming to grips with its own defeat and horrors it perpetuated, that had still not grieved its dead or punished those guilty, was on course to become a economic, political and technological giant - and not just a proper nation - in a handful of years.

It's a story of the vanquished and its victors. The imposition of new ideas, that perhaps drew George W to dream something similar in Iraq. The contrast of what happened in Japan with the economic implosion of Weimar post WW1 or political turmoil of Afghanistan/Iraq post 2001-2 wars must have many more reasons than what is covered here but no such studies can begin without deep knowledge of generally less talked Japan of the 40s.

The author systematically portrays the wide range of emotions the Japanese felt - from hopeless despair to destitution to guilt to anger towards the establishments (including the emperor) to genuflexion to victors to joy at new freedoms and progress. The book takes a highly unbiased view of the US's own attitudes and actions.

The book is a great example of what sort of work deserve the highest awards. A masterclass on a highly important historic period and subject.

If you are interested in history...

Having just returned from Japan, I found this book very interesting. It tells the story of the years after WWII and nurtures an understanding not only of how Japan evolved, but also how those years have lead to our current relations with Japan. For those not especially interested in history it will probably drag and be too full of detail, but I found it very informative and thought provoking.

A long, scholarly work

When I purchased this book I was expecting to read a rather light tale of how the US and its deadly enemy Japan had come to know and like each other over the long US occupation. I thought that I would read how the US had generously provided food to the decimated country while working with the Japanese to rebuild it. Soldiers handing out candy to children, the Japanese falling in love with the baseball that we introduced there.

Well, I was 100% wrong. This is a long, dry, scholarly work that doesn't show that the US was so generous to Japan. Chapters devoted to the formation of brothels by the Japanese to serve the Americans when they arrived, wide starvation in the country through the first three or so years of occupation, the flourishing of the black market where all the necessities of living could be found at five to ten times what they were worth, the writing of the new constituion....

Only get this book if you are a scholar interested in this slice of history. Entertaining it is not.