The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy [Paperback]

Hiroyuki Agawa (Author), John Bester (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000

This is the story of both an individual and an organization. The individual is Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the Pearl Harbor raid and commander of the Combined Fleet until his dramatic death in the South Pacific. One of the best-known Japanese wartime leaders -- complex, tough, sympathetic, and realistic -- he believed from the start that Japan was bound to lose the war. The organization is the Imperial Navy, whose gentlemanly traditions and international outlook contrasted strongly with those of the army.

Based on interviews with people who knew him well, private and intimate correspondence, and secret and official documents, it is -- as the New Yorker said -- a "brilliant" book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Candid! fascinating! amusing! and thorough."--Capt. Roger Pineau -- Capt. Roger Pineau

"One of the most comprehensive and enlightening biographies available of a wartime leader."--New York Times -- New York Times

"The most penetrating study of Yamamoto that has ever appeared."--David Kahn, author of The Codebreakers -- David Kahn

"Yamamoto was, in my view, the greatest admiral since Lord Nelson."--William Manchester, author of American Caesar -- William Manchester

Language Notes

Text: English, Japanese (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN) (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770025394
• ISBN-13: 978-4770025395
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,329,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subarashii, June 12, 2001

By 

Karin Paris "nekohime" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy (Paperback)

This was a wonderful book which went into alot of detail about the life of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. He was a much more complex person than most people think. He was no ranting imperialistic flunky. In fact, he held most of those types in contempt. So much so, that he had to maintain constant vigilance because of death threats. However, he did his duty, as he was ordered to do, even though he knew the futility of it. He was also totally against the building of the Yamato and Musashi battleships. Utter "folly" he called them and a waste of time and money. He truly believed that the future of war would be aviation. He was proved right. Its really too bad that he was killed, he would have been of great benefit to the restructuring of the new Japanese government. Anyone interested in a more "personal" look of one of the greatest Admirals in the world, will love this book, like I did.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent study of a complex character, December 27, 2002

By 

Harry Pandolfino (York, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy (Paperback)

This is an excellent study of a complex and contradictory man. Understandably vilified in the heat of war, a more interesting image has appeared over time. One cannot help but admire the daring and gambler quality of a man ordered to start a war he did not agree with and risked his life to prevent. Yamamoto certainly deserves to be remembered as a grand naval commander. It's unlikely any more authoritatve work will ever emerge as the author when directly to people who knew Yamamoto in life

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yamamoto, the Admiral, the womanizer., July 31, 2001

By 

C. H Mitchum (Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy (Paperback)

Admiral Yamamoto did not want to go to war with the United States; a naval war he felt could be sustained for at most 18 months. But go to war he did and it cost him his life. This is an easy to read history of Yamamoto's life, rich in personal details. He turns out to have been an avid womanizer, with one and perhaps two mistresses throughout most of his career. A man who lost interest in his marriage fairly early and was merely a financial contributor for most of his married life. Most of the personal correspondence quoted and many of his poems were written to his number one mistress, with nothing of substance regarding his wife and children.

Yamamoto seems to have come up with the strategy for the attack on Pearl Harbor, but the detailed tactical planning was the work of his staff. Somehow the debacle of Midway, which occurred under his command and which was planned by his staff, did not result in his immediate replacement. This apparently was due to the Imperial Japanese Forces being in full denial mode and not wanting to high light the disaster by removing the hero of Pearl Harbor.

Yamamoto seems to have been something of a figurehead for most of his career after Pearl harbor and until his death. This could be misleading since the author focuses so much of his attention on Yamamoto's personal life and not so much on his naval leadership.

It is particularly interesting to learn that with the many signs pointing to the fact that the Japanese codes had been broken, they denied this possibility and continued to send the "coded" messages which resulted in Yamamoto's plane being shot down by United States P-38s. There is an excellent book on that subject, "Get Yamamoto" but it seems to be out of print ...