The Fall of Japan: A Chronicle of the End of an Empire

William Craig, author of Enemy at the Gates (made into a motion picture in 2001), provides a riveting account of all the players behind Japan's inevitable confrontation with the West. His compelling narrative follows the driving ambition of General Hideki Tojo, the Army strongman who rose to Minister of War and then to Japanese Premier, and Isoroku Yamamoto, mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the Japanese suffered their defeat at Midway in 1942, they no longer ruled the Pacific. By 1944, they knew any possibility of victory was remote. From their daring plans to regain control of the sea to the nightmare that followed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this fascinating chronicle captures all the tension of a nation at war.