Review of
Instaread Summary, Analysis & Review of Bill
O'Reilly's and Martin Dugard's Killing
the Rising Sun
Five out of five stars
Given Bill O’Reilly’s
reputation for unreasonable rhetoric and his emphasis on “Killing” in the
titles of his books, there was reason to question the content. However, this
summary describes an interesting book in popular history. The brutality of the
Japanese military after it took control of territories is mentioned in detail.
One of the
impressive features of the book is that some of the excesses of the American
military is also part of the book.
For example,
key takeaway five is:
“Besides the use of atomic weapons, the US military
engaged in other extreme war tactics in the Pacific.”
The firebombing of Tokyo that killed over 100,000
people appears in the takeaway. As all students of history know, this was
strictly terror bombing, designed to kill as many people as possible by burning
them out of their homes.
The authors
also spend some effort in discussing the role and use of atomic weapons in
ending the war. Key takeaway four is:
“The use of atomic bombs lacked unanimous approval
among US military leadership.”
It is pointed out that the debate over the use of
atomic weapons against the Japanese took place at the time and continues to
this day.
As a student of
history, I am always looking for new and interesting books. While this book
likely does not contain anything new to me, it clearly is a valuable item in
the popular history of World War II.
No comments:
Post a Comment