When the fighting is finished, history is written, inevitably by those in power, observes Mr Dower.
ECONOMIST: A timely meditation on shaping narratives of the past
"Generally, the 80s were rubbish - there was just this feeling in 80s Britain that it was all just synthetic, " Dower said.
For a solution, Mr Dower looks to the 20th-century views of E.
ECONOMIST: A timely meditation on shaping narratives of the past
Even Germany and even Japan, Dower notes, experienced periods of parliamentary politics, if not outright democracy, during the century prior to World War II.
Though it needed a last-second basket by Sam Dower to take a 27-26 lead into halftime, Gonzaga outscored the Lions 39-22 in the second half.
One irony: Given U.S. press censorship (which Dower discusses at length), only those in the dock could, in their own defense, openly justify Japan's wartime actions.
The lesson for Mr Dower is not only that reluctant civilians must be mobilised by propaganda to fight and die, but also that new realities force new biases.
ECONOMIST: A timely meditation on shaping narratives of the past
Previously, Mr Dower mapped the political topography of Japan in the years leading up to, during and after the Pacific war through the eyes of Shigeru Yoshida, who became prime minister during the allied occupation.
"There was this feeling that Britain rocked again - but that was the problem, it became so quickly caricatured with terms like Britpop and Swinging London and Cool Britannia that it ended very quickly, " Dower said.
Dower is also very good at detailing the genesis of the American-written Japanese Constitution, which, he says, was partly a means to head off other drafts, some from the Japanese, that would have abolished the monarchy.
Dower is not the first writer to describe the trials as "victors' justice" or to deplore the hypocrisy in branding as war criminals people who would soon not only walk free but serve in senior government posts.
In most states, wives have dower rights.
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Dower is equally good at evoking the sense of the time, and examining how Japanese popular culture reflected the hurt and the overwhelming sense of having been grossly misled by their rulers in a surprisingly rich outpouring of contemporary memoirs, books, cartoons, films and other media.
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