Customer Reviews

Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I hadn't planned to write a review of this book, but when I found out that this book had been so thrashed by reviewers who clearly hadn't read it, I felt compelled to dig it out of my stacks, give it another once-over, and write a more fair review.

If your ken of the pacific war begins and ends with technical details about hellcats, zeroes, aircraft carriers, and the like, then this book is simply not for you; you are not ready. However, if you are prepared to accept that in any conflict, there are many narratives beyond the gallantry and sacrifice of fighting men, then maybe, just maybe you are ready to give this book a look. This book is a collection of essays from various authors and representing a variety of viewpoints (thus, we see that any review here that talks about 'the author' is clearly nihilistic rubbish by somebody who has not read the work). However, none of the authors are combat historians. If you are looking for technical info on allied torpedoes or to debate halsey' or ozawa's actions at leyte gulf, you can surely find a book to your liking elsewhere. however, if you want to think about some things that you maybe haven't thought about before - such as the perception and participation of native pacific islanders in actual fighting and how they viewed and reacted to this 'alien' war, then this is for you. For me, by far the most interesting chapter revolves around the video shown to all visitors at pearl harbor and the thought process and politicking that went into the creation of an updated film for the visitors' center. that essay dealt with the issues involved in presenting the pearl harbor story correctly and in context--trying to find that impossible ground called 'historical accuracy' leads of course to idiots on both sides crying out 'historical revisionism' but yet at the end of the day a video must be made -- so, how was it done?

some of the essays are of variable quality. however, by and by, the good stuff is very very good, and the stuff that is a bit more academically full of itself can be safely ignored (and, to be clear, there isn't much of the latter category). Highly recommended.

The below is an excerpt from an article that appeared on 1 Nov 2010 at "Power Line" titled "Investigate This", which discusses a letter written by Penelope A. Blake, Ph.D. regarding a conference that she attended. ([...].)

" ... Professor Blake makes reference in her letter to various parts of a book called Perilous Memories, coedited by Geoffrey White; White was the director of the workshop attended by Professor Blake. This book (or parts of it) was required preliminary reading for the participants in the workshop, and is something like the ur-text that reveals the intentions and worldview behind the workshop itself. It is an appalling if characteristic example of radical postmodernist gibberish complete with all the buzzwords about transnationality, the construction of public memory, and so on."

Before you read this lame, revisionist crap -- totally devoid of academic rigor -- read an article from a Phd that encountered this despicable individual.

[...]

My wish is that I could give zero stars.