A Poignant, Painful, and Insightful Book
5 stars
This is one of the best examples I've seen of how to present firsthand accounts of historical events, with the authors weaving together their incredible interviews from Oita prefecture about the Japanese experience during WWII and the subsequent American occupation with the historical context as it unfolded. What emerges is a far more complicated view not just of WWII and its immediate aftermath and how it was experienced by people living in this corner of Japan, but also of how these experiences still reverberate within some people today - the examples of former soldiers who even seven decades removed from the war still remarking approvingly on children and families killing themselves rather than accept defeat were bone chilling. This is an important historical contribution that should be required reading. Highly recommend
This is one of the best examples I've seen of how to present firsthand accounts of historical events, with the authors weaving together their incredible interviews from Oita prefecture about the Japanese experience during WWII and the subsequent American occupation with the historical context as it unfolded. What emerges is a far more complicated view not just of WWII and its immediate aftermath and how it was experienced by people living in this corner of Japan, but also of how these experiences still reverberate within some people today - the examples of former soldiers who even seven decades removed from the war still remarking approvingly on children and families killing themselves rather than accept defeat were bone chilling. This is an important historical contribution that should be required reading. Highly recommend