Rising Sun Victorious: The Alternate History of How the Japanese won the Pacific War

by Peter G. Tsouras

Book Overview

"Everyone with an interest in the Pacific War will find something stimulating in this thought-provoking study of what might have been." British Army Review In war, victory can be held hostage to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0739416987
• ISBN13: 9780739416983
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: SFBC Science Fiction
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Rising Sun etc

Unfortunately I do not have a review since all my purchases in December were gifts for others.

Revenge of the Mikado

This is a fascinating series of essay-format speculations on what it would have taken for the Japanese to win, or at least do considerably better, in World War Two. Despite the title, most of the authors cannot realistically portray a scenario where there is outright victory; rather the consensus seems to be that it would have taken a hell of a lot of luck (and disasters on the American side) even to get a negotiated armistice. Japan's best shot, as told in the first chapter, would have been to invade the USSR and kept peace with America. Next best shot: get the carriers at Pearl Harbor rather than the battleships. Overall an intriguing work but it cements my view that the Imperial forces were doomed from the get-go.

Another Option

I would like to check with the experts that developed these scenarios to see if another option could be established. This new option is a variation of Germany's use of Russians to topple Stalin. The Japanese develope a clique of anti-Chiang Kaishek Chinese to establish a united China allied with Japan, not a vassal state. I enjoyed this book and the companion book on ways Hitler could have won the war.

A "What if?" that informs as well as entertains

The field of "counterfactual" history or Alternate History is divided into fictional accounts, written up as novels, and pseudo documentaries, written up as history books might be done in the alternate future caused by the changed events.The more challenging task is the latter because in fiction one can mix fact and fantasy without having to explain the choices... after all, it's a novel. However the essay format requires some hard thinking and deep research, because even a fake history has to be footnoted. This counterfactual collection of essays on might-have-been wars in the Pacific does not disappoint. Many of the entries utilize fake references which are supposedly written in that rearranged future. The fake notes are distinguished from the real by an asterisk. It's a measure of the verisimilitude of the accounts that many of these fake references could be accepted as real, though some, such as court martials of Douglas MacArthur and victorious Japanese generals' memoirs are more self-evident.Just because these alternate histories are cast as essays does not mean they are colorless didactic prose. The reading is lively and provocative, just as good military history should be. Some discussions with a few of the contributors at a book signing convinced me that these authors had considered most of the pitfalls of their thesis in advance. This book is not simply another variant of that old Saturday Night Live gag about a television show that answers adolescent inquiries such as "what if Napoleon had B-52s at Waterloo" or "What if Margaret Truman could fly" (she lead a wing of B-24s in a raid over Germany). None of these conjectural essays depend on "magic"....such as wonder weapons concocted from thin air, or giving allies or axis forces that could not have been possibly available. Nor are there dramatic personality changes. The key commanders and political leaders all stay "in character" reacting to each changed situation as one might expect.This book broadens horizons and, miracle of miracles, finds something new to say about WW II.Highly recommended.

FULL OF POSSIBILITIES

Overall an excellent book. There were so many points of time during WWII where one person's action guided the entire war. A very eye-opening book.