Crimes of War: Guilt And Denial in the Twentieth Century

How do societies remember, or forget, the wartime atrocities committed by their soldiers & citizens? Here, leading historians explore this troubling question. Featuring original contributions on the actions of the U.S. in Vietnam & Korea, the Japanese in China, & the Germans during WW2, the contributors offer valuable comparative insight into the explosive politics of memory that surrounds debate over past war crimes. Citing new evidence of atrocities, the authors sketch a distinctive pattern of denial that repeats in each country. They trace the processes by which grave misdeeds are disguised or transformed, guilt denied, & victims blamed for their suffering before a society is prepared to finally confront the grisly truth about the sins of its past.