History does not get any better than this. The award-winning author of "War Without Mercy," (1986) an exploration of racism and the Pacific War, is in peak form in this sparkling evocation of how victor and vanquished coped with the bitter legacies of war and the daunting challenges of rebuilding a devastated Japan. Dower's prose, insights and unerring eye for the humorous, paradoxical and hypocritical animate this epic tale, making it a rewarding read and a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary Japan.
Overall, the author argues that the U.S. Occupation was reasonably benevolent, but also flawed and inconsistent. Confident in victory and "with a minimum of rumination about the legality or propriety of such an undertaking, the Americans set about doing what no other occupation force had done before: remaking the political, social, cultural, and economic fabric of a defeated nation, and in the process changing the very way of thinking of its populace."
In Dower's view, the emphasis on democratization and demilitarization has had a lasting, positive impact, although vitiated due to inconsistent support for these objectives both by occupier and occupied. What is refreshing in this account of the Occupation is the attention given to the perspectives and varied experiences of Japanese from all walks of life. Thus, the policies and pronouncements of SCAP (Supreme Command for the Allied Powers) are not allowed to dominate the narrative and the voices of ordinary Japanese powerfully convey the complexities and hardships endured by a population driven to rise from the ashes of defeat.