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Title details for The Wages of Guilt by Ian Buruma - Available

The Wages of Guilt

Memories of War in Germany and Japan

by Ian Buruma
ebook
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In this now classic book, internationally famed journalist Ian Buruma examines how Germany and Japan have attempted to come to terms with their conduct during World War II—a war that they aggressively began and humiliatingly lost, and in the course of which they committed monstrous war crimes. As he travels through both countries, to Berlin and Tokyo, Hiroshima and Auschwitz, he encounters people who are remarkably honest in confronting the past and others who astonish by their evasions of responsibility, some who wish to forget the past and others who wish to use it as a warning against the resurgence of militarism.
Buruma explores these contrasting responses to the war and the two countries’ very different ways of memorializing its atrocities, as well as the ways in which political movements, government policies, literature, and art have been shaped by its shadow. Today, seventy years after the end of the war, he finds that while the Germans have for the most part coped with the darkest period of their history, the Japanese remain haunted by historical controversies that should have been resolved long ago. Sensitive yet unsparing, complex and unsettling, this is a profound study of how people face up to or deny terrible legacies of guilt and shame.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 1, 2015

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781590178591
      • File size: 2273 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781590178591
      • File size: 2273 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 30, 1994
      This thought-provoking inquiry has a powerful theme: people must be held accountable for the society in which they live. To learn why the collective German memory of WW II is so different from the Japanese, Buruma ( Playing the Game ) traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, visiting war museums, viewing films about the war and interviewing citizens from all walks of life. He discovered that most Japanese soldiers believed slaughtering ``inferior races'' such as the Chinese and Koreans not only accorded with the emperor's will but demonstrated loyalty. The Christian mayor of Nagasaki made the stunning observation to the author that because his compatriots worship nature only, the question of individual responsibility rarely arises in Japan. As for the Germans, it is Buruma's perception that they need to unburden their wartime guilt and receive forgiveness, whereas the Japanese prefer to remain silent and are puzzled by German preoccupation with the war. If the former Axis partners have anything in common, according to Buruma, it is the fear of their own resurgent militarism.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 29, 1995
      Buruma examines how Germany and Japan have separately dealt with the guilt they bear for acts committed during WWII.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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