Embracing Defeat cover art

Embracing Defeat

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

$8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on July 15, 2026 at 11:59 PT.
More purchase options

Embracing Defeat

Written by: John W. Dower
Narrated by: Edward Lewis
Get this deal

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

Buy Now for $31.74

Buy Now for $31.74

Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 2000

National Book Award, Nonfiction, 1999

In this illuminating study, Dower explores the ways in which the shattering defeat of the Japanese in World War II, followed by over six years of American military occupation, affected every level of Japanese society. He describes the countless ways in which the Japanese met the challenge of "starting over", from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes, fears, and activities of ordinary men and women in every walk of life. He shows us the intense and turbulent interplay of conqueror and conquered, West and East, in a way no Western historian has done before.

This is a fascinating portrait of an extraordinary moment in history, when new values warred with the old, and early ideals of demilitarization and radical reform were soon challenged by the United States' decision to incorporate Japan into the Cold War Pax Americana.

©1999 John W. Dower (P)1999 Blackstone Audio Inc. 20th Century Asia Military Modern Wars & Conflicts World War Socialism China Soviet Union Self-Determination Imperialism Russia Liberalism Imperial Japan Capitalism
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

  • Winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Non-Fiction

"A magisterial and beautifully written book....A pleasure to read." (New York Times)
"An extraordinarily illuminating book....Surely the most significant work to date on the postwar era in Japan." (Wall Street Journal)
"The writing of history doesn't get much better than this....[Dower] deftly situates the political story within a rich cultural context....The book is most remarkable, however, for the way Dower judiciously explores the complex moral and political issues....Dazzling." (Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most Relevant
Great insights in post WWII Japan presented in a logical and coherent way. there was a good discussion on the nuances and problems

Very well researched

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fascinating especially when compared to postwar reconstruction of the Germanies and the rest of Europe (see Tony Judy’s masterpiece Postwar).
The audio book is marred by robotic narration with strange pacing and some jarring pronunciation errors.

Exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) analysis of the occupation and reconstruction of Japan at the end of the Second World War.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.