JAPAN AT WAR, 1931-1945
Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945 (Barrett Tillman)
Japan sowed the wind in December 1941, if not much earlier, and it reaped the whirlwind not long after. Barrett Tillman has written more than thirty books about military aviation, and his wide knowledge informs this study of the American bombing campaign against the Empire of Japan. It's very well done and a great addition to the library of any World War II buff. Like D. M. Giangreco (below), he gives short shrift to the postwar apologists who think Japan was badly treated because it lost the war. Here's my review in the Wall Street Journal. Or check it out at Amazon.com.
And here's another: Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 (D. M. Giangreco). An admirable book about a contentious subject, soundly researched and persuasively argued. Guess what? Dropping nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to Washington's best estimates in the summer of 1945, may have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives--and millions of Japanese! Mr Giangreco's research will not make Kai Bird and Martin Harwitt happy. For my notes from a first reading, go here. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
