Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45

Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45

Hailed in Britain as â€œSpectacular . . . Searingly powerfulâ€ (Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Telegraph), a riveting, impeccably informed chronicle of the final year of the Pacific war. In his critically acclaimed Armageddon, Hastings detailed the last twelve months of the struggle for Germany. Here, in what can be considered a companion volume, he covers the horrific story of the war against Japan.

By the summer of 1944 it was clear that Japanâ€™s defeat was inevitable, but how the drive to victory would be achieved remained to be seen. The ensuing dramaâ€”that ended in Japanâ€™s utter devastationâ€”was acted out across the vast stage of Asia, with massive clashes of naval and air forces, fighting through jungles, and barbarities by an apparently incomprehensible foe. In recounting the saga of this time and place, Max Hastings gives us incisive portraits of the theaterâ€™s key figuresâ€”MacArthur, Nimitz, Mountbatten, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. But he is equally adept in his portrayals of the ordinary soldiers and sailorsâ€”American, British, Russian, Chinese, and Japaneseâ€”caught in some of the warâ€™s bloodiest campaigns.

With unprecedented insight, Hastings discusses Japanâ€™s war against China, now all but forgotten in the West, MacArthurâ€™s follies in the Philippines, the Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the Soviet blitzkrieg in Manchuria. He analyzes the decision-making process that led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasakiâ€”which, he convincingly argues, ultimately saved lives. Finally, he delves into the Japanese wartime mind-set, which caused an otherwise civilized society to carry out atrocities that haunt the nation to this day.

Retribution is a brilliant telling of an epic conflict from a master military historian at the height of his powers.
Country USA
Brand Knopf
Manufacturer Knopf
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2008-03-18
UnitCount 1
Format Deckle Edge
EANs 9780307263513

Country	USA
Brand	Knopf
Manufacturer	Knopf
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2008-03-18
UnitCount	1
Format	Deckle Edge
EANs	9780307263513

Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45

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