Embracing Defeat

By: John W. Dower

Narrated by: Edward Lewis

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.

Critic reviews

• 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)

Wonderful history, abominable reading

I've heard John Dower speak a couple times, and likely have an autographed version of this book in my office. But I wasn't going to have time to sit down and read it, so turned to Audible to "read" it during my commute.

It is as thoughtful as I expected, well researched with a touch of cynicism in the writing, entirely apropos to the history he deftly weaves together. I've read enough economic and business history (and fiction in Japanese, including "business" novels that begin in the postwar chaos) to have images of that era, his analysis makes sense and gave me context for the bits I know. I intend to read more.

But the reading was almost unlistenable, because Lewis didn't take the trouble to learn how to pronounce Japanese. That's inexcusable, because the language only has 5 vowels, all present in standard English, and 14 consonants (counting h/p/b as one), only the "flap r" isn't present in English, but any singer knows it (singing an "rrrr..." is generally a no-no), and using a standard spoken "r" doesn't make names incomprehensible. I had to re-listen on occasion to catch a place name or personal name. I will not listen to anything else narrated by Lewis.

Now Audible has two other Dower works, by different narrators. I will surely listen to samples first, but may rather force myself to read the hard copies.

Production Note

I have already listened to this book and rated it very high. I forgot to mention one production note. After each section and or chapter there was no pause at the end before the next section. This was irritating and difficult to understand why it was done.

Very poor narration

The material is extremely interesting. In fact, fascinating. The level of detail and research is commendable. However, the narration leaves a lot to be desired. If I could I would return the audio book and purchase a hard copy instead.

Superb and detailed study

This is a great deep dive into Japan’s emergence after the war. It’s objective, interesting and very readable. Highly recommended.

Well done, author

I haven’t found many books covering this subject. They are more interested in the war. But this was well covered and very readable (or listenable) in spite of not having much competition.

A subject like this can easily become mired in statistics that cause the eyes to glaze over. A little of that, but without it you miss part of the stories.

Thanks to all who made this book happen.