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Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II
- Pivotal Moments in American History
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
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Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II
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Publisher's summary
Signed on September 2, 1945 by Japanese and Allied leaders, the instrument of surrender that formally ended the war in the Pacific brought to a close one of the most cataclysmic engagements in history. The surrender fulfilled the commitment that Franklin Roosevelt had made in 1943 at the Casablanca conference that it be "unconditional". Though readily accepted as policy at the time, after Roosevelt's death in April 1945, support for unconditional surrender wavered, particularly among Republicans in Congress, when the bloody campaigns on Iwo Jima and Okinawa made clear the cost of military victory against Japan.
Though this was the last time American forces would impose surrender unconditionally, questions surrounding it continued through the 1950s and 1960s - with the Korean and Vietnam Wars - when liberal and conservative views reversed, including over the definition of "peace with honor". The subject was revived during the ceremonies surrounding the 50th anniversary in 1995, and the Gulf and Iraq Wars, when the subjects of exit strategies and "accomplished missions" were debated. Marc Gallicchio reveals how and why the surrender in Tokyo Bay unfolded as it did and the principle figures behind it. Most importantly, Gallicchio reveals how the policy of unconditional surrender has shaped our memory and our understanding of World War II.
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Bullshit woke end
- By Fav on 12-19-23
By: J. Samuel Walker
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140 Days to Hiroshima
- The Story of Japan’s Last Chance to Avert Armageddon
- By: David Dean Barrett
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story5 out of 5 stars 106
On the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki comes this heart-pounding account of the war-room drama inside the cabinets of the United States and Japan that led to Armageddon on August 6, 1945. Here are the secret strategy sessions, fierce debates, looming assassinations, and planned invasions that resulted in history’s first use of nuclear weapons in combat, and the ensuing chaotic days as the Japanese government struggled to respond to the reality of nuclear war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Never Giving Up
- By Rick B on 07-11-20
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Saving Freedom
- Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization
- By: Joe Scarborough
- Narrated by: Joe Scarborough
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 274
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 232
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 227
History called on Harry Truman to unite the Western world against Soviet communism, but first he had to rally Republicans and Democrats behind America’s most dramatic foreign policy shift since George Washington delivered his farewell address. How did one of the least prepared presidents to walk into the Oval Office become one of its most successful?
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5 out of 5 stars
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An engaging review of a remarkable president
- By Mark A on 11-29-20
By: Joe Scarborough
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The Washington War
- FDR's Inner Circle and the Politics of Power That Won World War II
- By: James Lacey
- Narrated by: Ray Porter, James Lacey
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 122
The Washington War is the story of how the Second World War was fought and won in the capital’s halls of power - and how the United States, which in December 1941 had a nominal army and a decimated naval fleet, was able in only 30 months to fling huge forces onto the European continent and shortly thereafter shatter Imperial Japan’s Pacific strongholds. Three quarters of a century after the overwhelming defeat of the totalitarian Axis forces, the terrifying, razor-thin calculus on which so many critical decisions turned has been forgotten....
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4 out of 5 stars
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interesting but tedious
- By Joey on 06-07-20
By: James Lacey
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How Wars End
- Why We Always Fight the Last Battle
- By: Gideon Rose
- Narrated by: Gideon Rose
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 117
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4 out of 5 stars 70
In 1991, the United States Army trounced the Iraqi army in battle only to stumble blindly into postwar turmoil. Then in 2003 the United States did it again. How could this happen? How could the strongest power in modern history fight two wars against the same opponent in just over a decade, win lightning victories both times, and yet still be woefully unprepared for the aftermath? Because Americans always forget the political aspects of war.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent book
- By Luis on 11-04-10
By: Gideon Rose
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JFK's War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated
- By: Douglas Horne
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story5 out of 5 stars 70
Ever since researchers and commentators began questioning the conclusions of the Warren Report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the response has been: Why would the US national-security establishment - that is, the military and the CIA - kill Kennedy? As Douglas P. Horne details in this audiobook, JFK's War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated, the answer is because Kennedy's ideas about foreign policy collided with those of the US national-security establishment during the height of the Cold War.
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5 out of 5 stars
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FINALLY THE TRUTH!
- By Helen Williamson on 05-28-16
By: Douglas Horne
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Nuclear Folly
- A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story5 out of 5 stars 64
Nearly 30 years after the end of the Cold War, today's world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis. Serhii Plokhy offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Must Read
- By Robert from Brookline on 08-22-21
By: Serhii Plokhy
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The Nazi Menace
- Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the Road to War
- By: Benjamin Carter Hett
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
Berlin, November 1937. Adolf Hitler meets with his military commanders to impress upon them the urgent necessity for a war of aggression in Eastern Europe. Some generals are unnerved by the Führer’s grandiose plan, but these dissenters are silenced one by one, setting in motion events that will culminate in the most calamitous war in history.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Bad Melodramatic Reading
- By Tess on 08-18-20
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Japan 1941
- Countdown to Infamy
- By: Eri Hotta
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 329
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 290
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 290
When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Japanese viewpoint
- By Jean on 01-01-14
By: Eri Hotta
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Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
- By: Herbert P. Bix
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 29 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 127
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 115
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Story4 out of 5 stars 116
In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose 63-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix describes what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not what I bargained for
- By Alexander Crowell on 08-21-20
By: Herbert P. Bix
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When France Fell
- The Vichy Crisis and the Fate of the Anglo-American Alliance
- By: Michael S. Neiberg
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
According to US Secretary of War Henry Stimson, the "most shocking single event" of World War II was not the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but rather the fall of France in spring 1940. Michael Neiberg offers a dramatic history of the American response - a policy marked by panic and moral ineptitude, which placed the United States in league with fascism and nearly ruined the alliance with Britain.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Proceeds from a faulty premise
- By Buretto on 12-11-21
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Embers of War
- The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 32 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 255
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 234
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Story5 out of 5 stars 229
In this landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam, author Fredrik Logevall taps newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina - and describes how, from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Understanding Why We failed the People of Vietnam
- By VA on 03-22-21
By: Fredrik Logevall
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How Ike Led
- The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions
- By: Susan Eisenhower
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Susan Eisenhower
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 195
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Story5 out of 5 stars 164
Few people have made decisions as momentous as Eisenhower, nor has one person had to make such a varied range of them. From D-Day to Little Rock, from the Korean War to Cold War crises, from the Red Scare to the Missile Gap controversies, he was able to give our country eight years of peace and prosperity by relying on a core set of principles. These were informed by his heritage and upbringing, his strong character and his personal discipline, but he also avoided making himself the center of things. He tried to be the calmest man in the room, not the loudest.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A President of the UNITED States
- By Happy Doc on 09-10-20
By: Susan Eisenhower
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Yalta
- The Price of Peace
- By: S. M. Plokhy
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 22 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
Award-winning Harvard historian S.M. Plokhy delivers a “convincing revisionist analysis” ( Publishers Weekly) of the February 1945 Yalta conference. Bolstered by Soviet wiretaps, Plokhy’s engrossing narrative of Stalin, Churchill, and FDR’s negotiations reveals the West did better than previously thought.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The depth and breadth of understanding
- By Robin LaCorte on 06-27-19
By: S. M. Plokhy
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Our Man in Tokyo
- An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor
- By: Steve Kemper
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 63
A gripping, behind-the-scenes account of the personalities and contending forces in Tokyo during the volatile decade that led to World War II, as seen through the eyes of the American ambassador who attempted to stop the slide to war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What a great inside look at Japan, before 1941!
- By Charlie Ortiz on 11-20-23
By: Steve Kemper
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Appeasement
- Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War
- By: Tim Bouverie
- Narrated by: John Sessions
- Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 108
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Story5 out of 5 stars 108
On a wet afternoon in September 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepped off an airplane and announced that his visit to Hitler had averted the greatest crisis in recent memory. It was, he later assured the crowd in Downing Street, "peace for our time." Less than a year later, Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began. Appeasement is a groundbreaking history of the disastrous years of indecision, failed diplomacy, and parliamentary infighting that enabled Hitler's domination of Europe.
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3 out of 5 stars
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I cannot tolerate the narrator
- By DrBCFR on 06-05-19
By: Tim Bouverie
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Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 256
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 227
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 226
No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as "Super-K" - the "indispensable man" whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama - he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every "telcon" for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial biography, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
What listeners say about Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- kelly
- 10-13-23
Beautiful researched, written and read
A comprehensive look at the shifting myth making around the end of the war in Japan.
Clarifying and unimpeachable in it's arguments and conclusions.
The highest recommendation.
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