Men to Devils, Devils to Men: Japanese War Crimes and Chinese Justice - Rilegato

Kushner, Barak

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0674728912 ISBN 13: 9780674728912

Casa editrice: Harvard Univ Pr, 2015

Riassunto

The Japanese Army committed numerous atrocities during its pitiless campaigns in China from 1931 to 1945. When the Chinese emerged victorious with the Allies at the end of World War II, many seemed ready to exact retribution for these crimes. Rather than resort to violence, however, they chose to deal with their former enemy through legal and diplomatic means. Focusing on the trials of, and policies toward, Japanese war criminals in the postwar period, Men to Devils, Devils to Men analyzes the complex political maneuvering between China and Japan that shaped East Asian realpolitik during the Cold War.

Barak Kushner examines how factions of Nationalists and Communists within China structured the war crimes trials in ways meant to strengthen their competing claims to political rule. On the international stage, both China and Japan propagandized the tribunals, promoting or blocking them for their own advantage. Both nations vied to prove their justness to the world: competing groups in China by emphasizing their magnanimous policy toward the Japanese; Japan by openly cooperating with postwar democratization initiatives. At home, however, Japan allowed the legitimacy of the war crimes trials to be questioned in intense debates that became a formidable force in postwar Japanese politics.

In uncovering the different ways the pursuit of justice for Japanese war crimes influenced Sino-Japanese relations in the postwar years, Men to Devils, Devils to Men reveals a Cold War dynamic that still roils East Asian relations today.

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Recensione:

A fascinating and reliable account of the ending of the long war between China and Japan in 1945, with particular emphasis on how the Chinese dealt with Japanese war criminals and how the Japanese failed to come to terms with their own war crimes. As Kushner shows, Chinese authorities were eager to show themselves as knowledgeable about international law rather than seeking revenge, which often resulted in their hesitation to conduct lengthy trials of a large number of Japanese, who on their part had little awareness of their war crimes, even viewing themselves as having been victims of circumstances. This book is must reading for anyone interested in understanding the still tortuous relationship between the two countries. --Akira Iriye, editor of "Global Interdependence: The World after 1945""

Men to Devils, Devils to Men breaks through national boundaries to show how war crimes and the question of war guilt reshaped East Asia after the Second World War. It is a major book on an important and timely topic, and will spark serious debate about the Cold War, law in Asia, and the end of empire. --Rana Mitter, author of Forgotten Ally: China s World War II, 1937 1945

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Harvard Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0674728912
• ISBN 13: 9780674728912
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 403