Thomas F. (hardtack) -
As I've read so much about World War II, and the politics surrounding it, I felt this would be a good book to get an opposing view as to U.S. involvement in that war. While the author does make a few good points, overall I think his understanding of the issues involved are greatly affected by his anti-war bias. Having participated in a war myself, as a U.S. Marine officer, I am also not a great fan of armed conflicts. I'm a believer that wars usually result from the complete failure of incompetent politicians to successfully resolve issues. That's enough of my beliefs.
Where I think the author really displays his incomplete knowledge of the U.S. participation in World War II, is his seemingly unconcern about ordinary people. He makes numerous assumptions to support his views, and feels that we should have let Nazi Germany control Europe and allow the Japanese do what they wanted in China and the Pacific, just as long as we didn't get involved.
Most of us have some knowledge of the horrendous Nazi atrocities in Europe, but what the Japanese did in China and other countries often made the Nazis look like choir boys. In the Philippines alone one out of every twenty Filipinos died---often horroribly ---during the Japanese occupation, and untold millions died in China, where the Japanese even practiced biological warfare.
Apparently, the author was quite content to allow the Japanese and the Nazis to continue their atrocities on an extended basis. If he had had his way, the U.S. would have been just as guilty of those atrocities as Japan and Germany.
Where I think the author really displays his incomplete knowledge of the U.S. participation in World War II, is his seemingly unconcern about ordinary people. He makes numerous assumptions to support his views, and feels that we should have let Nazi Germany control Europe and allow the Japanese do what they wanted in China and the Pacific, just as long as we didn't get involved.
Most of us have some knowledge of the horrendous Nazi atrocities in Europe, but what the Japanese did in China and other countries often made the Nazis look like choir boys. In the Philippines alone one out of every twenty Filipinos died---often horroribly ---during the Japanese occupation, and untold millions died in China, where the Japanese even practiced biological warfare.
Apparently, the author was quite content to allow the Japanese and the Nazis to continue their atrocities on an extended basis. If he had had his way, the U.S. would have been just as guilty of those atrocities as Japan and Germany.
