Japan: The Years of Triumph

by Louis Allen

Publisher American Heritage Press; 1St Edition edition (January 1, 1971) ASIN B000PHR5LA

Genres: History

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

A talented linguist, Louis Allen (born Louis Levy) was educated at the University of Manchester and the Sorbonne. During the Second World War, upon completion of the Services translators' course in Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, he was posted to India, where he served with the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC), the South East Asia Translation and Interrogation Centre (SEATIC), and the 17th Division.

After the war Allen became a lecturer (later Reader) in French at the University of Durham. During this time, he wrote five books on the war in the Pacific, as well as numerous articles on Japanese history, politics, and literature.

Reviews

[MorningSun · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of the bizarre, ahistorical claim at the end that Imperial Japan and the “East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere” were somehow anti-colonialist in nature, this book is a very good and succinct history of the Japanese Empire from the Meiji Restoration into the Second World War. It definitely piqued my interest in this history, and I’ll be checking out the recommended “further reading” when I have the chance.