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Just about a third of the way through this book. What's the forumistas general consensus on it? Obviously its a general overview and it doesn't go into great detail, unlike Shattered Sword though this book only focus on a single battle not the whole war, but its a great overview of the Japanese side so far. Especially the lead up to war part.

I was thought it was a good read with alot of interesting information.  Also a easy read.

I loved the book and found it essential reading as part of increasing my understanding of the Pacific threatre.

Great book, well written, and packed with useful facts especially on the decision making side.
A great insight into the Japanese mindset before and during WWII

The book suffers from being dated (published 1970) and Toland's blatant Japanese bias. Despite that, it is full of useful information and presents the war from a viewpoint seldom seen among Western authors.

Well, I think bias is too strong a word to describe this book.
I think the book is written from a sympathetic viewpoint.That is how I feel he has interpreted the facts.[:)]

It was written in the 70's, but that certainly does not invalidate the time and research put into this book.

I literally wore out my paperback, thats how much I love this book.

Hi all,

I have it for years (10+) and I wholeheartedly recommend it! [:)]


Leo "Apollo11"

Good book, well written and easy to read since not "too scientific".

Regarding his bias - well, since his book "Infamy" Toland is considered to be a revisionist (he bolsters the thesis that FRD knew in advance of the pending PH attack but did nothing).

Just wanted to add my recommendation, I think Empire101 had it best with 'sympathetic', but not too biased. Definitely gives a good understanding of the politics and how the tensions between military and the last remnants of the old genro statesmen class played out, resulting in the militarist government, and the inevitability of the war.

I really liked 'Rising Sun'. Also 'The Last 100 Days'.

I really loved Rising Sun, I wish I had more free time to read, I would definitely dig into his other works as well.

I very nice book to start off a study of the Pacific War. I read this the first time some 35 years ago and still think of it as one of those must haves.

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

Good book, well written and easy to read since not "too scientific".

Regarding his bias - well, since his book "Infamy" Toland is considered to be a revisionist (he bolsters the thesis that FRD knew in advance of the pending PH attack but did nothing).

I don't recall any hint of this in "Rising Sun"...


Leo "Apollo11"

Since it was one of the first books with a Japanese point of view it seemed revisionist. My two pennies.

Its a good book. worth a read. I'm careful these days when using the 'bias' label. Its a thorny slope. Books that challenge one's world view often get accused of being biased. A typical example is Glantz. I often see his works on the Eastern Front labeled as either "biased" or having a very pro Soviet viewpoint because they utilize Soviet archive material. If so, then what of the works that came before that largely were based on Western sources? Are they biased towards the West by default?

This isn't to say i havn't come across a few books that do read to me as biased but in the end, you take away from any book what you will, and thats based totally on one's own agenda and world view.

Blah blah. All that said, its worth a read. Getting a good look at how the Japanese saw things is a key to understanding how things were. I don't agree with Tolland's views on a number of things, but its still a good book. My only warning is that it goes heavily into politics which can be challenging to wade through. Not as bad as wadding through Clay Blair's 2nd volume on the Uboat war....but it can fatigue.

I enjoyed the book greatly and it certainly offered up a great deal of information that was never before included in other Western histories.

As far as bias is concerned I would agree that it was more sympathetic to the Japanese than I had previously encountered in histories but I would hardly call it bias.

(IIRC Mr Toland married a Japanese woman...it's probably all her fault)

It's told from the Japanese point of view. That's not bias. It's the point of the book. It might SEEM biased if you're expecting equal time, but you're not going to get that with this book. The title and subtitle will tell you that. Toland also wrote a great book about WW1. Haven't seen that on the shelves for a bit, but if you can find it, get it.

IIRC that was called "1918" and was a really great exposition of that last year of WWI.

ORIGINAL: spence

I enjoyed the book greatly and it certainly offered up a great deal of information that was never before included in other Western histories.

As far as bias is concerned I would agree that it was more sympathetic to the Japanese than I had previously encountered in histories but I would hardly call it bias.

(IIRC Mr Toland married a Japanese woman...it's probably all her fault)

[:D]