Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Trained since childhood to lead his nation as a living deity, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito cultivated a detached façade which masked a fierce cunning and powerful ambition. Historian Herbert P. Bix has unearthed hundreds of previously untapped documents, including the unpublished letters and diaries of Hirohito’s royal court, shedding light on his uniquely active yet self—effacing stewardship.

Debunking the common image of Hirohito as a pawn in the hands of the military, Bix exposes the emperor’s personal involvement in every stage of the Pacific War. He shows how Hirohito avoided punishment for his nation’s defeat and how the Japanese people have struggled to come to terms with this dark chapter in their history. The Pulitzer Prize—winning Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan explains the impact this enigmatic figure had on Japan and its place on the world stage.

Herbert P. Bix earned his Ph.D. in history and Far Eastern languages from Harvard University. For the past thirty years, he has written extensively on modern and contemporary Japanese history in leading journals in the U.S. and Japan. He has taught Japanese history at a number of American and Japanese Universities, most recently at Harvard and the Graduate School of Social Sciences at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. He lives in Winthrop, MA.

“A historical bombshell ... The most controversial book yet on Japan’s previous emperor.” — The Economist