| |  | Books : Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 |  | | | | | | | | | |
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5425
EAN: 9780307263513
ISBN: 0307263517
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 656
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Sales Rank: 3606
Studio: Knopf
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Hailed in Britain as “Spectacular . . . Searingly powerful” (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 Japan’s defeat was inevitable, but how the drive to victory would be achieved remained to be seen. The ensuing drama—that ended in Japan’s utter devastation—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 theater’s key figures—MacArthur, Nimitz, Mountbatten, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. But he is equally adept in his portrayals of the ordinary soldiers and sailors—American, British, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese—caught in some of the war’s bloodiest campaigns.
With unprecedented insight, Hastings discusses Japan’s war against China, now all but forgotten in the West, MacArthur’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 Nagasaki—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.
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Review of Retribution by Max Hastings
Excellent book.Hastings provides a good sense of proportion in describing the opposing forces, the casualties, and the importance of specific actions.Battle coverage is a little uneven; For example covers Burma thoroughly, but omits Saipan entirely.Good evaluation of the commanders on both sides.I endorse his judgement that the atomic bombs were necessary and a casualty saver for both the U.S. and Japan (but I may be biased since I was scheduled to participate in Coronet, the invasion of ... Read More
Rating:  - A wonderful book. I loved it.
Every page of this book was fascinating. All my previous knowledge of WWII was limited to the European arena.This book was a complete education on the Japan side of the war. I do a lot of business in Japan.With this book, I was able to gain insights into the Japanese perception of victory and honor which might influence their business behavior as well.This was a great book.
Rating: - a somewhat Anglocentric view of the Pacific War
First off, let me say that having Kai Bird review a book about the Pacific War is akin to having George Soros give a considered judgment on a book about the Bush administration. What was the Washington Post thinking? Kai Bird is not a historian of the atomic bomb; he is an impassioned critic of anything and everyone connected with its development and use. For my part, I find Mr Hastings's view of the a-bomb deployment to be one of the more valuable features of this history. He deserves great praise ... Read More
Rating: - Best End of the Asian War Book
Retribution is every bit as good as Max Hasting's previous book, Armageddon.Also, a person gets the story that in 1944 the issue of the war against Japan was still somewhat in doubt.Hastings breaks the book down into three main themes.First, there is the two part American offensive against Japan by both the Army and Navy.Second, there is the British action against the Japanese in Southwestern Asia.Third, the last theme is about several different subjects.
As in the allied book ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent Last Year Against Japan, Bogs Down On Surrender vs Atomic Bomb Issue
The British author Max Hastings normally a creditable job in covering his campaign de june, but this time as with "Armageddon" he attempts to cover larger campaigns and issues of WWII and doesn't succeed. The British slant is present as usual, this time playing up the British campaigns in the CBI theater as important to Japan's defeat.Well, hardly.The fastest the British moved was in steaming to Hong Kong to re-occupy their former colony at war's end before the Americans got there, an item Hastings ... Read More
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