Retribution

The Battle for Japan, 1944 - 45

By: Max Hastings

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 27 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

In his critically acclaimed Armageddon, Hastings detailed the last twelve months of the struggle for Germany. Here, in what can be considered a companion volume, he covers the horrific story of the war against Japan. By the summer of 1944 it was clear that Japan’s defeat was inevitable, but how the drive to victory would be achieved remained to be seen. The ensuing drama–that ended in Japan’s utter devastation–was acted out across the vast stage of Asia. In recounting the saga of this time and place, Max Hastings gives us incisive portraits of the theater’s key figures–MacArthur, Nimitz, Mountbatten, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. But he is equally adept in his portrayals of the ordinary soldiers and sailors–American, British, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese–caught in some of the war’s bloodiest campaigns.

With unprecedented insight, Hastings discusses Japan’s war against China, now all but forgotten in the West, MacArthur’s follies in the Philippines, the Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the Soviet blitzkrieg in Manchuria. He analyzes the decision-making process that led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki–which, he convincingly argues, ultimately saved lives. Finally, he delves into the Japanese wartime mind-set, which caused an otherwise civilized society to carry out atrocities that haunt the nation to this day. Retribution is a brilliant telling of an epic conflict from a master military historian at the height of his powers.

©2007 Max Hastings (P)2008 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Hastings is a military historian in the grand tradition . . . He is equally adept at analyzing the broad sweep of strategy and creating thrilling set pieces that put the reader in the cockpit of a fighter plane or the conning tower of a submarine."--Evan Thomas, The New York Times Book Review

"Compelling . . . To the broad sweep of military events Mr. Hastings adds myriad human stories . . . and he does not hesitate to offer his own keen analysis along the way."--Peter R. Kann, The Wall Street Journal

"The great merit of Max Hastings's many books on war is his skill at bringing the numbers, as it were, down to earth. Through the imaginative power of his writing, we get an inkling . . . of what it must have been like to slog one's way up a cliff at Iwo Jima, or be firebombed in Tokyo."--Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books

A Must Read!

If you could sum up Retribution in three words, what would they be?

Illuminating, Clear, Inspiring

What other book might you compare Retribution to and why?

As we go further away from the Pacific War - now about 70 plus years - new works are coming out all the time. Because of that, it is hard to find comparisons to this work.

Which character – as performed by Simon Vance – was your favorite?

None really stand out in my mind although, when I first heard Mr Vance go into character, I was both surprised and delighted.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Chapter 19 and its crystal clear summary of the events that lead to the dropping of the atomic bomb. There are so many wild and whacky revisions swirling around the decision to drop the bombs and Mr Hastings’ work confidently deals with these theories with his use of historical records and facts and puts emotional opinions aside. He does what good historians do, and that is getting inside the heads of the decision makers of the period bases on primary sources. I recommend his whole work, but if you can only read one chapter, that chapter should not be missed.

Any additional comments?

Mr Vance’s Japanese pronunciation was not perfect and at times it was irritating but overall was better then some of the other readers I have come across.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants to have a ride into and through the period and the huge events that still echo in the country I have called home for over forty years… Japan!

A Fascinating dynamic spectacle that's only peer is the Eastern Front

I listened to Inferno, another book by Max Hastings prior to this one, it was a broader overview of WWII, all the chapters on the war with Japan and Southeast Asia sparked my interest. Until this point my reading on WWII had been obsessed with the Battles on the eastern front, the decisive theatre. I hadn't drilled down into this theatre. It was far more dynamic and involved a lot more global players than I ironically thought. The war was more intense and far ranging. The level of detail, casualty ratios, amount of equipment, scope of operations, and logistics was incredible and unparalleled during the war it seems anywhere else. I highly recommend this book to any student of history. One of the more fascinating themes that arose from this was the battle between technology ad overwhelming firepower on the side of the US pitted against the lack of it on the side of the Japanese, and yet how the Japanese were able to counter this to a very effective extent to a man, and were probably the best defensive infantry force of the war. Incredible and extremely sad at the same time. This book opened an enormous new gap of World War II interest for me and I hope it will for you as well.

Cogent, balanced, analytical

A clear explanation of the circumstances surrounding the end of the war in the Pacific. By combining individual narratives with a few key historical issues, Hastings has completed a masterpiece.

Detailed

This book is very detailed and very interesting. i enjoyed learning about aspects of the conflict that are much less publicized.

Outstanding exposition and brilliantly narrated

Outstanding exposition of the War in the Pacific and its aftermath and brilliantly narrated. This covers the war at sea and on land from the perspectives of all belligerents and critiques fairly the decisions of commanders on both sides.

Sir Max gives readers a ground-level look at war

Max Hastings' books are a nice complement to more high politics or military histories of the 20th century conflicts. Although he does not cover the high commands' discussions as well as some (like Gerhard Weinberg), very few authors get you the diary entries and newspaper accounts of Burmese farmers, Polish villagers, and Chinese special forces working for the Soviets. Hastings gets readers down to the ground level better than any other historian, and thus his books are good to read along side those of Richard Frank, Ian Kershaw, and Richard Evans (for WW2). Also, Simon Vance is a superb narrator - he does accents without going overboard (I.e. he doesn't pronounce say Chungqing like a native, so non-Chinese would have trouble understanding it, but he basically pronounces the sounds (if not the tones) correctly. This is the way narrators shoukd handle non-English words for an English-speaking audience. Vance generally sounds like an Oxford Don in his class, and he is a delight to listen to. I wish all authors of 20th century British and wartime histories would insist on Simin Vance as their book reader - he is excellent.

Good stuff Max

Really appreciate the broad and encompassing approach taken in Retribution. Hastings has included many aspects of the war that rarely see print in the west; Russian military involvement in the far east, the impact on civilian populations under Japanese rule, etc....
I don't entirely agree with many of Hastings assertions and, to be frank, find himat times unable to step outside his own cultural assumptions; however, that being said, Retribution is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the extraordinary events of and surrounding World War II. He exposes the humanity of many military and political leaders; their successes and short-comings, their fears and apprehensions. Finally; he informs a modern world about the perils of cultural hubris, the confusion caused by technological limitations, and ignorance of perceived superiority

Very encompassing book on the WWII

Mr Hastings does a fabulous job on telling the story of the war in the Pacific.

Much Like Inferno

Like Hastings' book on the entire war, the value is in hearing from so many viewpoints--all ranks and roles. You share in the personal experience of the soldier, surface sailor, submariner, airman, and POW, as well as civilians, under attack and not, from the highest government offices to the everyday citizens of the imperial colonies. As expected, the politics and execution of the U.S. island-hopping campaigns are covered in great detail, but the China-Burma theater, Royal Navy and Australian contributions, and voices from the Russian invasion of Manchuria are included as well. There is fair analysis and admiration where due without hero worship. To that I'll just add that Hastings is no MacArthur fan, so his parting words on how the general played his best role during the postwar occupation almost invite an extra subchapter. This audiobook has a different reader than Inferno, also with a British accent, but here with a repertoire of American voices that comes in useful. Very well worth the time invested.

A profound education

Even as a die-hard fan of Max Hastings, I genuflect anew before this great writer. The prose is masterful, the delivery of Simon Vance vivid and gripping, the story as harrowing and relentlessly bleak as you might expect. Even as the story focuses on the last twelve months of the Pacific War, it throws fascinating and vital light retrospectively on the entire war prior. As a tribute to the men and women of the allied armed forces in World War Two, there is no more moving book.