Dear General MacArthur: Letters from the Japanese During the American Occupation

by Sodei Rinjiro and Rinjiro Sodei

Book Overview

This unique book compiles some 120 remarkable letters from Japanese citizens to General Douglas MacArthur during the postwar occupation of Japan (1945-1952). Painstakingly culled from a vast... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0742511154
• ISBN13: 9780742511156
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Rich and Illuminating!

"Dear General MacArthur" is a wonderful and very illuminating compilation of letters written by the Japanese to Gen. MacArthur during the American Occupation (1945-1952). Sodei's running commentary alongside the letters is full of powerful insight and helpful explanations which allow the reader to genuinely understand how, and why the Japanese wrote the General with their praise, adoration, pleas, and criticism regarding him and the occupation. It is a "must" read for any who are interested in, or are students of Japanese culture. The letters are moving, incredible, sad, and hilarious. Never in world history did a country ever "love" MacArthur as much as the Japanese did after WWII. As the Pulitzer Prize-winning and illustrious historian of Japan, John W. Dower notes in his foreword, "This is a rare gem of a book. We have nothing else like it concerning Japan." Compiled and expounded by the foremost authority on, and biographer of MacArthur, it is a book that all should enjoy.