Reply #307: Here's some: [View All]

"Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan" - Herbert P. Bix

Shows that Hirohito was hardly a mere "figure head".

"The Battle of Okinawa: The Blood and Bomb" - George Feiffer 2001

Probably the battle that most convinced Truman that an invasion of Japan would cost millions of lives and could last years and influenced his thinking regarding the use of the nukes. BTW, this book is hardly an apolgia for America. The unimaginable brutality of both sides is explored at length with the testimony of American, Japanese and Okinawan survivors. The Okinawan civilians were the greatest sufferers with perhaps 1/3 of the population losing their lives.

"Japan at War: An Oral History" - Haruko Taya Cook & Theordore F. Cook 1992

The Japanese speak for themselves. Soldiers and civilians. What the "average" Japanese experienced throughout the war. And, it contains a lot of evidence that the Japanese people were so propagandized that they either didn't believe they were defeated, or would resist anyway. Also, it gives a damned good picture of what militarism/fascism means to real people.