by David E. Hoffman (2009)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning history of how Reagan, Gorbachev, and secret Soviet scientists grappled with biological warfare labs, automated doomsday retaliation systems, and the nightmare of loose nuclear weapons.
John Lewis Gaddis
Pulitzer Prize-winner John Lewis Gaddis delivers the definitive one-volume narrative of the forty-five-year ideological struggle that divided the world and brought humanity to the brink of nuclear extinction.
John W. Dower
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, John W. Dower examines Japan during the American occupation from 1945 to 1952, exploring how a shattered, defeated empire reinvented itself into a peace-state and economic titan.
James M. McPherson
Is blood thicker than water? is a celebrated work by James M. McPherson (Pulitzer Prize Winner), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.
Michael Schaller
This book provides a novel perspective on the origins of the Cold War in Asia, tracing it all the way back to the occupation of Japan after the Second World War. Schaller argues that the reconstruction of postwar Japan not only shaped the future of that country but the future of U.S. policy throughout postwar Asia, leading up to the controversial interventions in China, Korea, and Vietnam. The author shows how after the war, the United States sought to develop Japan as a stable bulwark against both Soviet expansion and Asian revolution. Schaller depicts the intense contest that raged among Americans, pitting the flamboyant Occupation Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, against virtually all civilian and military planners in Washington, including the president. First hailed as a hero and given nearly free reign to shape Japan's future, MacArthur was ultimately denounced by Truman and his advisors as a "bunko artist" who had wrecked Japan's economy and opened it to Communist influence. In place of MacArthur's ambitious social and economic reforms, the new Occupation program reconcentrated power in the hands of Japans's old elite. The book shows how Communist control of China and North Korea cut Japan off from its historic trading partners and forced officials to focus on developing the rich but unstable Southeast Asian states. Washington feared that economic blackmail alone would pull Japan into the Soviet orbit. Determined to secure Japan--the ultimate "domino"--The United States spurned possible detente with China, extended military aid to the French in Indochina, and finally entered the Korean War.--Publisher description.