American Occupation of Japan: The Orgins of the Cold War in Asia

by Michael Schaller

Book Overview

In this novel and intriguing book, Michael Schaller traces the origins of the Cold War in Asia to the postwar occupation of Japan by U.S. troops. Determined to secure Japan as a bulwark against both Soviet expansion and Asian revolution, the U.S. instituted ambitious social and economic reforms under the direction of the flamboyant Occupation Commander, General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur was later denounced by the Truman Administration as a "bunko...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195051904
• ISBN13: 9780195051902
• Release Date: October 1987
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Been there, learned about that

As one who lived in Occupied Japan for several months, I've always wanted to know what was happening overall to influence our day-to-day lives. This book, by a respected historian, provides the flow of geopolitical events that helped explain that time of our family's life. Prof. Schaller also provides the documentation that shreds whatever naive respect I once had for Douglas MacArthur. More detail is available in a separate biography by the same author who has also written an account of the relations between Japan and the US beginning with the Korean War and the Peacy Treaty of 1952 and for the years afterward.