''War Without Mercy: Race & Power In the Pacific War'' is a 1986 history book written by
John W. Dower and published by
W. W. Norton & Company.
The book covers the views of the Japanese and their Western adversaries during the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
, with a particular focus on the United States.
Overview
In ''War Without Mercy'', Dower, emeritus professor at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
, examines the
Pacific Campaign in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
through a racial lens.
He argues that the fighting between the US and the Japanese be seen as a race war, as evidenced in "songs, slogans, propaganda reports, secret documents, Hollywood movies, the mass media and quotes from soldiers, leader and politicians".
[
Dower contrasts Western racism toward Japanese people with attitudes toward Germans/Nazis since in the US, Germans overall were differentiated from Nazis. He contends that that differentiation was not complete or perfect, but was still different from the attitudes toward the entire Japanese people. He points to the different kinds of treatment people of German and Japanese descent were treated with (]internment
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
in the case of Japanese-Americans versus overlooking the German American Bund's open support for Hitler right up to the declaration of war).[
]
Reception
While accepting some of the tenets of Dower's arguments, historians have also pushed back on some of his other points. For example, British journalist and historian Max Hastings
Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...
argues that American views toward the Japanese accounted for little where aerial bombardment was concerned. Civilian populations in both Japan and Germany, he notes, were subjected to heavy Allied bombing raids in spite of the casualties war planners knew this would inflict.
Sections
''War Without Mercy'' is divided into four sections. The first section describes the patterns of a race war. The second and third part are a matched set: Part II covers the war from a Western viewpoint, while Part III relays the war as seen by Japanese eyes. Kitano says "The point-counterpoint scenario, as the two cultures misunderstand, misperceived, misinterpret and attempt to justify the destruction of each other is skillfully done." The final part is an epilogue, explaining how those intense viewpoints subsided, but may not have entirely disappeared.[ ]
See also
* '' An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus''
References
Publication
*Total pages: 399.
History books about World War II
Books about Japan
Occupied Japan
1986 non-fiction books
W. W. Norton & Company books
Internment of Japanese Americans
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