Customer Reviews

American Shogun: A Tale of Two Cultures

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I found this book worthwhile reading for the author's interesting and, at times, startling insights into the events and characters he describes. But, the coverage of the events leading up to and during the war in the Pacific are often at odds with the facts and the logical conclusions of anyone familiar with the details of the actual events.

Also, the book's editors know absolutely nothing about WWII and performed poorly in correcting obvious errors. For example, B-52 airplanes are mentioned twice within the text, but these eight engine jet bombers wouldn't make an appearance until the late 1950's. Possibly the author meant B-25's, although in one instance I doubt that MacArthur had any B-25's and certainly never employed B-52's. In another instance, the author has MacArthur starting his invasion of Leyte after his successful invasion of Luzon. In reality, it was just the reverse. In defending the controversial Philipine campaign in 1942, the author has MacArthur's forces outnumbered when in fact the Japanese were initially outnumbered when they invaded Luzon after Pearl Harbor. The editing and factual errors that went uncorrected were amatuerish and make the reader lose confidence in the author's research and/or honesty of presentation.

However, despite the poor scholarship and atrocious editing, the author almost redeems himself with very interesting insights into the Japanese character. For example, the author's description of how it was impossible for the Japanese to understand the Americans and their incredibly unique 2,000 year old culture was masterful. His explanation of how the Japanese viewed the August,1945 bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a very sophisticated piece of psychological analysis, if true.

The book over-reached in trying to develop three separate themes: biographies of Hirohito and MacArthur, the Pacific war and the occupation of Japan after the war. I had hoped the book would focus more on the occupation years and what MacArthur and the Americans did and how Japan reacted. He does this for a third of the book, but he often fails to give a coherent picture of the events and his conclusions alternate dizzyingly between praise and condemnation of American actions.

His description of WWII is the weakest section of the book. I'd recommend the reader disregard the author's treatment of events and motives and consult other, more reputable histories of these years. For example, MacArthur's initial defense of the Philipines was considered poor generalship, despite the author's effusive praise. MacArthur made the mistake of organizing a beach front defense agaist the Japanese landing and the Japanese simply landed elsewhere without opposition. A majority of Japanese casualties weren't caused by MacArthur's forces, but rather by malaria, dengue fever and malnutrition. MacArthur treated our Australian allies with contempt and misused their fighting qualities. In his inter-sevice rivalry with the Navy, he advocated ambitious but logistically impossible plans such as the 1942 invasion of New Britain and capture of Rabaul.

The author obviously likes MacArthur, although he tried hard to perform an even-handed analysis of MacArthur's character. Where this plan failed was the author's propensity to skip over or understate some of MacArthur's outrageous and egotistical actions. For example, he dismisses in one sentence MacArthur's acceptance of the Medal of Honor after his escape from Correigidor. Awarding America's highest medal to someone for a successful escape was an insult to those left behind to die and suffer starvation and torture by the Japanese. The author isn't an American and perhaps failed to grasp this important nuance. To shine a praiseworthy light on MacArthur's WWII military campaign, the author is forced to understate or leave unmentioned several blunders and emotional judgments on MacArthur's part. The author never mentions MacArthur's mistake in trying to repel the Japanese on the beach when so many landing sites were available within the Philipines - how this can be considered brilliant military strategy is difficult to understand. And, he neglects to mention that the MacArthur publicity machine portrayed this non-existent beach defense as a furious battle was a complete lie.

In summary, the author excels in insights into motives and psychological analysis. While his insights and analysis may not be true, he did a workman like job and there is no way to factually determine if such nebulous things as motives can be accurately determined. Still, the author tries hard and I liked and admired his reasoning. Buy this book for these qualities, but if you want a conventional history, I'd recommend something else.

The first thing that comes to mind, where are the footnotes? Robert Harvey's American Shogun: General MacArthur, Emperor Hirohito and the Drama of Modern Japan examines the lives of General Douglas MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito, and how these two men were significant to American and Japan history. Robert Harvey does not explore unknown territory. Most of the material in this book has already been studied and examined by other writers and historians. What is unique about this book?

Harvey attempts to intertwine the stories of MacArthur and Hirohito as two monumental actors of World War II history. However, the book oversimplifies and overemphasizes certain aspects of each of the men's histories, and their roles in shaping or creating a particular historical event in which they were the participants. As an observation, the events and their intricate details tend to take over the narrative, which were posed in the discussions of the atrocities in Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, post-war Japan, and the Korean War. What did MacArthur and Hirohito think about at the time these events occurred? MacArthur's story surpasses Hirohito's, and throughout the book one wonders, what happened to Hirohito and what did he do during World War II? His name disappears amongst the mass information. In addition, at times, the bulk of the book reiterates what has been mentioned before in other books, such as William Manchester's American Caesar and Herbert Bix's Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan as well as John Dower's Embracing Defeat, which provides an overall assessment of post-war Japan; Harvey specifically states the these books were the inspiration to his research.

American Shogun may interest history readers who may want general insight about MacArthur and Hirohito. Possibly to compensate for the lack of notes, Harvey provides a good bibliographical list where readers may further inform themselves. Little do we read about the activities that occurred before and after the Pacific War, but Harvey offers a little insight for those who want to understand this part of history.

This book is a just another run-of-the-mill book to gather some quick $ and 5 mins fame. Besides lacking genuine insight on the subject, Robert Harvey hasn't done a better research in getting some of the facts mentioned in the book straight. For example, after the ending of Korean war for over 50 years, anyone who is adequately read on that piece of history knows that the commander of the Chinese force is actually Marshal Peng DeHuai, not Marshal Lin Piao, as it was presented in Harvey's book.

For a better narrative on the relationship and interation between Gen. McArthur and Hirohito and the making of modern Japan, read the books: 1) Hirohito, and the making of modern Japan. written by Harvard scholar Herbert P. BIX. and 2) Emperor Hirohito and Showa Japan by Stephen S. Large. At least they have notes attached to the book for scholarly research and presentation.

I picked this up thinking it was about the occupation of Japan. The occupation is less than 1/3 of the book. While the book's a good read, it sprawls beyond the subtitle too.

Harvey is at his best when describing the colorful life of MacArthur and the social/political/economic state pre-war Japan. At times the text bogs with no point to the larger story, for instance, over 10 pages on a family during the bombing of Nagasaki. The Philippine part while lengthy, could be justified because it shaped MacArthur. The Korean saga, while interesting, is far too long for a book called "Shogun" about the "drama of modern Japan". These are a few examples where more focus would improve the book.

The emperor's restoration is an example of Harvey at his best. He brings to bear all opinion of the time, including a reasonably popular one in Japan, for abdication in favor of his son. The emperor's staying in place, (only to build his own celebrity and undermine MacArthur), and the effect that protecting the emperor from prosecution had on the war crimes trials, left me with two new perspectives.

One is a new understanding of Koizumi's visits visits to the Yasukuni shrine. I had thought these visits were merely to appease a right wing, but I see them in a wider context. The war crimes trials, the post-war behavior of the emperor (not divine, but descended from the sun), and the forces at work to discredit MacArthur, provide substance to the view that the Japanese military was responding and not aggressing.

The other is that I now understand why so many young Japanese have never heard of MacArthur. I teach and have recently taught perhaps 200 Japanese students, who are late teens to early 30's. It's unusual when a student recoginzes his name. Given the forces above, which provide context for the recent text book controversy, it's pretty clear that this piece of history is not accessible to the average citizen.

(Amazon advertizes this book as a "two for" with a bio on Huey Long. I puzzled over this strange mix. Perhaps the Amazon marketers have read the book. Harvey quotes FDR is as saying MacArthur and Long are the most dangerous men in America.)

During the years leading up to Pearl Harbor, Japan was becoming the most industrialized state in Asia while the US was emerging from its depression years and becoming a global power. Today's partnership between the two was forged by Pearl Harbor events and the reconciliation of the two nations afterward - a relationship cemented by the experiences of two leaders of the times: General MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito. AMERICAN SHOGUN: GENERAL MACARTHUR, EMPEROR HIROHITO AND THE DRAMA OF MODERN JAPAN surveys these two men and how a popular American hero and a Japanese monarch came together to bring two great nations together. It surveys events of war, peace, and eventual friendship and is a 'must' for any who would understand the evolution of modern political relations between the two nations.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor

California Bookwatch

Although this book gives a brief biography of MacArthur and of Hirohito its concentration is on the years after World War II when MacArthur was the undisputed leader of Japan. He was charged with bringing democracy to Japan and putting an end to the military control of the country.

This period of changing the entire structure of a country was perhaps half successful. The ideas of democacy seem to have taken good hold. The great denial that the Japanese seem to have about their role, and the role of the Emperor in World War II, however, still continues.

Part of MacArthur's dictates was the virtual elimination of the Japanese military forces. This has allowed their best scientists and engineers to be devoted to working on consumer goods while in America the 'best and the brightese' work on weapons.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this book is something not in the book at all. This is the story of what we did in Japan. Did it teach us anything about how to make similar changes in Iraq.