Critical Book Review of Japan's Imperial Army
(Edward J. Drea, Japan’s Imperial Army: It’s Rise and Fall 1853-1945. Kansas: the University Press of Kansas, 2009)
A look at Japan’s army through the eyes of Edward J. Drea is a very well informed and organized view. Basing his information off of a surplus of Japanese historical accounts (being well versed in the Japanese language) and English accounts alike, Drea has dug deeper into Japanese history as viewed by the rest of the world than any other. Japan’s Imperial Army is respectively a brief overview of an extensive period of Japanese history. Covering topics from the Meiji Restoration to the Asian Pacific War, this book provides the reader with a conscious understanding of the events that lead up to Japan’s role in World War II. Because the book is more of an overview, it becomes a little unclear as to what Drea’s bias is, but through a good reading one can infer that he supports the Japanese army and favors their victories over else’s. He repeatedly implies that the modernization and replacement of the old Japanese army lead to the success and domination Japan had over the world for a period of time.
Although upon first diving into this book one may feel a bit overwhelmed by the Japanese names of important people and places including accent marks that feel quite intimidating and cannot even be found in the symbols section of Microsoft Word, Drea gives a good description of the major happenings in Japanese history are. Once the reader gets past the confusing names and somewhat heavy language, it’s really quite simple and appealing to any who may be interested in military strategy and Japanese history.
Within the first couple of chapters, Drea really focuses on explaining and giving a good background on how the new Japanese army came to be. The shogunate opening up ports to trade as Commodore Matthew Perry was sent out to haggle in the mid 1800’s began a period of turmoil between the shogun (more often referred to as the bakufu throughout the course
A look at Japan’s army through the eyes of Edward J. Drea is a very well informed and organized view. Basing his information off of a surplus of Japanese historical accounts (being well versed in the Japanese language) and English accounts alike, Drea has dug deeper into Japanese history as viewed by the rest of the world than any other. Japan’s Imperial Army is respectively a brief overview of an extensive period of Japanese history. Covering topics from the Meiji Restoration to the Asian Pacific War, this book provides the reader with a conscious understanding of the events that lead up to Japan’s role in World War II. Because the book is more of an overview, it becomes a little unclear as to what Drea’s bias is, but through a good reading one can infer that he supports the Japanese army and favors their victories over else’s. He repeatedly implies that the modernization and replacement of the old Japanese army lead to the success and domination Japan had over the world for a period of time.
Although upon first diving into this book one may feel a bit overwhelmed by the Japanese names of important people and places including accent marks that feel quite intimidating and cannot even be found in the symbols section of Microsoft Word, Drea gives a good description of the major happenings in Japanese history are. Once the reader gets past the confusing names and somewhat heavy language, it’s really quite simple and appealing to any who may be interested in military strategy and Japanese history.
Within the first couple of chapters, Drea really focuses on explaining and giving a good background on how the new Japanese army came to be. The shogunate opening up ports to trade as Commodore Matthew Perry was sent out to haggle in the mid 1800’s began a period of turmoil between the shogun (more often referred to as the bakufu throughout the course