War Without Mercy is at once a startling and sickening chronicle of racism in the Second World War. Focusing mainly upon how it played out between the Japanese and Americans, this book goes into great detail to show that racist sentiments existed, and strongly, in internal and international relations. As politically sensitive as the topic may be, Dower does an excellent job in presenting, insofar as possible, all the relevant information, thus rendering a complete, even if not perfect, understanding of racism in the war.
The book covers in great detail the background, unfolding, and conclusion of the ‘race war’ of prejudice, propaganda, and perpetrations. Dower’s point is as much demonstrative as interpretive, as he documents the motivations behind American and Japanese actions in the war.
The book first addresses the American side: how they viewed foreigners, specifically the Asiatic people, and particularly the Japanese. Actually, the American view of the Japanese changed throughout the war (and directly pre-war) years: first they were characterized as inferior human beings, lesser-than Europeans or Americans. After the attack at Pearl Harbor and the quick victories in the Pacific, they were then seen as superhuman, able and willing to destroy the whole civilized world. Then it was back to depicting them as inferior persons, incapable of standing up to the Americans in fair fight. Each way, the Japanese were distinctly dehumanized, viewed as little more than beasts, apes, in their dispositions and actions. They were seen as worse than the Nazis, and deserving of punishment, even extermination (or at the very least, subjugation). Hence the tactics of war and the policies of home, which at the one sought to destroy the Japanese, and at the second to marginalize them.
After dealing first with the Americans, Dower then addresses the perspective of the Japanese: how they saw the war, and how they at once tried to establish their own cultural identity as well as counteract American propaganda. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is that the Japanese, as much as they portrayed the Americans as capitalists who enslaved other people, themselves engaged in enslavement, treating native peoples as subordinate to themselves. Ironically, they even sought to depict themselves as white, or rather, whiter and more civilized, than the subservient oriental (i.e., Chinese, Korean, Filipino, etc.) that they benevolently rescued from the brutal Anglo-Americans.
What Dower brings out most in the comparison of these two perspectives is that both nations were very much the same in their expression (in characterizing the enemy as ‘other’, subhuman, beastly, demonic, etc.), and motivation (in order to buffer national pride, steel the populace, enthuse the soldiers to kill, and etc.). The results of each were saddening: brutality unimaginable, indifference incalculable, and atrocities unspeakable. The Japanese led by far on this reckoning, with their torture, death camps, slave labor, executions, and brutally imaginative ways of slaughter. Unfortunately, the Americans responded on their part by dehumanizing the Japanese, leading to annihilation tactics against the enemy (firebombing, for instance). After the most horrific events of all – the Atomic Bombs – this terrible unfolding was brought to an abrupt end at the conclusion of the war, with seeming amicability replacing the stereotypical prejudices, and resumption of everyday occupations overriding the former mayhem of war and death. The once raging fires of hate were smothered out, and all but forgotten in the postwar years, relegated to the easily disregarded past of injustices; justice has been done, however, with the truth of the horrors clearly related in War Without Mercy, bringing clarity to the distorted and forgotten account of race relations in WWII.
As it is, World War II is probably one of the most popular subjects for historians and writers; thousands – hundreds of thousands – of works exist covering numerous aspects of the war. War Without Mercy is unique specifically because of its specific focus, which is so inherently controversial (and yet so equitably balanced) that the reader is stunned by the deductions. The book brings forth new evidence, fresh interpretation, and startling conclusions to overall provide a remarkably distinctive perspective on World War II – an impressive feat in its own right.
As is apparent, the book’s strengths rest upon its originality, balanced perspective, and academic treatment of a sensitive subject. Weakness it has not, save, perhaps, that it was published near three decades before this time; no doubt it would benefit from any revisions the author could wish to make with the inevitable passage of time that allows for new evidence and perspectives. As it is, War Without Mercy is an authoritative treatment of race and power in the Pacific War. John Dower is professor emeritus of Japanese History at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Pulitzer-Prize winning author of a number of books specializing on Japanese history, particularly in World War II.
Recommended.
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Top reviews from other countries
- DanielReviewed in Canada on February 5, 2023
War Without Mercy and acknowledging the wrongs of both participants during World War Two
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