Book Report (War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War)
Maria Lendor Book Report (War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War)
Throughout the course of history it is apparent that racism is present in most societies. During times of war people of a certain race may choose to segregate themselves in order to become the leading power in their society. In his book, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War published in New York by Pantheon books and copyrighted in 1986, John W. Dower presents arguments for both the United States and Japan which constitute similarities in the belief of a superior race as well as illustrates contradictions on how each side viewed the war.
The book begins with “Part I: Enemies” which is made up of the first 3 chapters. Part I starts off with a summary of the idea of a race war because of the race issues that erupted everywhere in World War II. Dower mentions that “apart from the genocide of the Jews, racism remains one of the great neglected subjects of World War Two.”(page 4) Dower swiftly narrows focus to just the American and Japanese race conflicts. The first chapter briefly discusses the stereotypes each country had for one another, like the “subhuman” interpretation that western allies had towards the Japanese and the “demons and monsters” interpretation the Japanese had towards Americans. (pages 9-10) Dower also briefly touches on the similarities of both the Japanese and American racism, like when he suggests that “The propagandistic deception often lies, not in the false claims of the enemy atrocities, but in the pious depiction of such behavior as peculiar to the other side.” (page 12) Chapter 2 looks into the 7 documentaries by Frank Capra titled Why We Fight. These films were very controversial in America though originally intended for orientating new soldiers. Know Your Enemy-Japan was the most controversial. What was interesting about this film is that it was not released until after 3 years because the government did not like the way the Japanese
Throughout the course of history it is apparent that racism is present in most societies. During times of war people of a certain race may choose to segregate themselves in order to become the leading power in their society. In his book, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War published in New York by Pantheon books and copyrighted in 1986, John W. Dower presents arguments for both the United States and Japan which constitute similarities in the belief of a superior race as well as illustrates contradictions on how each side viewed the war.
The book begins with “Part I: Enemies” which is made up of the first 3 chapters. Part I starts off with a summary of the idea of a race war because of the race issues that erupted everywhere in World War II. Dower mentions that “apart from the genocide of the Jews, racism remains one of the great neglected subjects of World War Two.”(page 4) Dower swiftly narrows focus to just the American and Japanese race conflicts. The first chapter briefly discusses the stereotypes each country had for one another, like the “subhuman” interpretation that western allies had towards the Japanese and the “demons and monsters” interpretation the Japanese had towards Americans. (pages 9-10) Dower also briefly touches on the similarities of both the Japanese and American racism, like when he suggests that “The propagandistic deception often lies, not in the false claims of the enemy atrocities, but in the pious depiction of such behavior as peculiar to the other side.” (page 12) Chapter 2 looks into the 7 documentaries by Frank Capra titled Why We Fight. These films were very controversial in America though originally intended for orientating new soldiers. Know Your Enemy-Japan was the most controversial. What was interesting about this film is that it was not released until after 3 years because the government did not like the way the Japanese