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 artist" who had wrecked Japan's economy and opened it to Communist influence, and power was shifted to Japan's old elite. Cut off from its former trading partners, which were now all Communist-controlled, Japan, with U.S. backing, turned its attention to the rich but unstable Southeast Asian states. The stage was thus set for U.S. intervention in China, Korea, and Vietnam.
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.
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