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Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering
John W. Dower
Japan in the Modern World
New Press, The
August 2012
On Sale: July 31, 2012
336 pages
ISBN: 1595586180
EAN: 9781595586186
Kindle: B005OVT91Q
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
Remembering and reconstructing the past inevitably involves
forgetting—and nowhere more so than in the complex
relationship between the United States and Japan since the
end of World War II. In this provocative and probing series
of essays, John W. Dower—one of our leading historians of
postwar Japan and author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning
Embracing Defeat—explores the uses and abuses to which this
history has been subjected and, with deliberation and
insight, affirms the urgent need for scholars to ask the
questions that are not being asked. Taking as a starting point the work of E.H. Norman, the
unjustly neglected historian of prewar Japan, Ways of
Forgetting, Ways of Remembering sets out both to challenge
historiographical orthodoxy and reveal the configurations of
power inherent in scholarly and popular discourse in Japan
and America. Dower’s fascination with capturing popular
experience leads to sources as far ranging as textiles
adorned with wartime propaganda and the satirical cartoon
panels that decorate traditional karuta playing cards.
Dower, who is rightly known as one of the most perceptive
critics of American foreign policy, also offers a blistering
critique of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the misuse of
postwar Japan as an example of success. Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering is a profound look
at American and Japanese perceptions—past and present—of key
moments in their shared history. An incisive investigation
of the problems of public history and its role in a modern
democracy, these essays are essential reading for anyone
interested in postwar U.S.-Japan relations, as well as the
broader discipline of history.
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