GARY J. BASS is the author of The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction and won the Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bernard Schwartz Book Award from the Asia Society, the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature, and the Lionel Gelber Prize, among other awards. He is the William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War at Princeton University. His previous books are Freedom’s Battle and Stay the Hand of Vengeance. A former reporter for The Economist, Bass writes often for The New York Times and has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and other publications.
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“Comprehensive, landmark and riveting. . . . Bass employs the
complexities of the trial as a fulcrum to sketch a wide canvas. . .
. Fascinating.”
—Robert D. Kaplan, The Washington Post
“A magisterial history. . . . A grand account. . . . Bass . . . has
done a great service by spending a decade researching and writing
what will surely be the definitive history . . . . Authoritative. .
. . Few studies will be so balanced. . . . The book is a
well-crafted, warts-and-all account from which almost no one
emerges unscathed.”
—Bill Emmott, Financial Times
“Exhaustive and fascinating. . . . Placing the trial firmly in the
context of colonialism, racial attitudes, the Cold War, and
post-colonial Asian politics, Bass argues, quite rightly, that the
trial ‘reveals some of the reasons why a liberal international
order has not emerged in Asia.’ . . . Bass is right to keep
returning to the question of race.”
—Ian Buruma, The New Yorker
“The word ‘monumental’ is used by reviewers rather too often, but
in this case it is entirely deserved. . . . Outstanding and
detailed. . . . Compelling and deeply humane. . . . Shows
prodigious research, with documents mined in a range of languages,
including Chinese and Japanese, as well as interviews with the
children and grandchildren of several of the justices. The book is
also written in flowing prose that describes characters as well as
processes, and illuminates the links between both. . . . One of the
most powerful elements of Bass’s book is his determination to . . .
make the story an Asian one.”
—Rana Mitter, Times Literary Supplement
“Magnificent. . . . Profound. . . . Judgment at Tokyo encourages a
deeper understanding of the Asian experience. . . . Bass has deeply
studied the intersection of human rights ideals and politics; a
past life in journalism . . . brings clarity and sparkle to his
text. Judgment at Tokyo is written with the gravity the topic
deserves, yet with winks of wit. . . . Vivid. . . . His
contribution extends far beyond Tokyo in the 1940s, shedding light
on an enduring debate.”
—Jennifer Lind, Foreign Affairs
“Every so often, a new work emerges of such immense scholarship and
weight that it really does add a significant difference to our
understanding of the Second World War and its consequences.
Judgement at Tokyo is one such, a monumental work in both scale and
detail, beautifully constructed and written, leaving the reader not
only moved but disturbed . . . . A landmark work—capacious,
intelligent and fair. . . . Fascinating and creditably even-handed.
. . . Bass proves their significance every bit as forensically as
the best courtroom lawyer. . . . Political leaders and military
commanders around the world should read this book—and, with a bit
of good sense, hurriedly learn the cautionary lessons it
holds.”
—James Holland, The Telegraph
“A meticulously researched and authoritative account. . . . Mr
Bass’s assertion that the tribunal’s failure played an important
and largely negative role in the making of modern Asia is
true.”
—The Economist, Best Books of the Year
“Powerful. . . . Judgment at Tokyo is meticulously researched, and
Mr. Bass tells the story in crisp and compelling fashion. . . . Mr.
Bass crosscuts neatly between the tribunal and the events leading
up to it. . . . The book also carries relevance for the current
moment.”
—Tom Nagorski, The Wall Street Journal
“[A] massive, magisterial work. . . . Bass has written an important
book.”
—Max Hastings, The Sunday Times
“Bass has written a massively long and detailed book, always lively
and judgmental. He brings out not only the legal arguments, but the
colour of the great tribunal itself. . . . A balanced account. . .
. [S]harp sketches of the protagonists.”
—Neal Ascherson, The Guardian
“This comprehensive treatment of the prosecution of Japanese war
crimes after World War II is an elegantly written and immersive
account of a moment that shaped not just the politics of the
region, but of the Cold War to come.”
—The New York Times, 100 Notable Books of 2023
“A massive, magisterial account. . . . Bass is a marvelous writer.
He has a sharp, clear eye for telling detail. . . . Readers will
learn a great deal about a fascinating time that saw the collapse
of Western empire in the Far East, the rise of Communist China, and
the astonishing birth of a modern, peaceful, democratic Japan.”
—Evan Thomas, Air Mail
“The definitive scholarly account. . . . A compelling work on the
politics of East Asia.”
—Aryeh Neier, The New Republic
“Elegantly written and comprehensive. . . . It is written with the
panache of a journalist who knows how to pace a scene. . . .
Dramatic.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“A riveting account of this lesser-known piece of Asian history . .
. . Through his vivid storytelling, he . . . exposes the dilemma
between idealism and pragmatism.”
—NPR
“A breathtakingly ambitious and well-executed piece of history,
unlikely to be bettered. . . . This magisterial account—long but
never sprawling; thick with detail yet always engrossing. . . .
Bass’ account is at once pacy—as befits a courtroom drama—and
even-handed. . . . Informed by an impressive amount of archival
work and interviews undertaken across the world.”
—Christopher Harding, History Today
"A groundbreaking new book."
—Suzy Hansen, New York
“Rich and encompassing. . . . Detailed but never dull. . . . The
behind-the-scenes moments that are one of the great joys and
strengths of his book. . . . The great benefits of the
extraordinary range of archival and interview work undertaken by
Bass.”
—Prospect
“Captivating. . . . Insightful. . . . A scrupulous and
comprehensive account.”
—The Japan Times
“A decade in the making, this account of the 1946-48 Tokyo war
crimes trials shows how the Japanese reckoned with the brutal
legacy of the Second World War.”
—The Telegraph, 10 Essential Books of the Year
“Bass has produced an immense work, highly readable and full of
human interest. He has drawn on much fresh material. . . . Most
absorbing. . . . Vivid. . . . The Tokyo trial is less well known to
Western readers than its Nuremberg counterpart, but Bass’s book
will undoubtedly do much to correct that imbalance.”
—Philip Snow, Literary Review
“[A] monumental new book. . . . A vivid blow-by-blow account of the
trial, filled with colourful characters and moments of farce as
well as tragedy. . . . Judgement at Tokyo is based on a mountain of
court records, government archives and interviews with the
descendants of the judges and defendants, and Bass skilfully weaves
all this together into a fascinating narrative.”
—Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Inside Story (Australia)
“Magnificent. . . . A stunning new book. . . . This may be the most
comprehensive account of the Japanese military’s atrocities. . . .
He goes much further than other writers and enhances the reader’s
understanding.”
—National Review
“Comprehensive. . . . Superb. . . . Fascinating original research.
. . . A real contribution. . . . Gary Bass’s work has been defined
by the goal of offering an unsentimental look at the power politics
of the postwar era.”
—Lawfare
“Unfailingly lucid and intelligent. . . . Deeply researched. . . .
It will surely become the standard account.”
—Commonweal
“A very brilliant book. . . . A drama for our time.”
—Forskning & Framsteg (Sweden)
“Well-written and thoroughly documented, the book is scholarship at
its best. . . . Judgment at Tokyo deserves high praise. . . . An
important book that deserves to reach a wide audience.”
—Journal of Military History
“Gary Bass has written nothing less than a masterpiece. With epic
research and mesmerizing narrative power, Judgment at Tokyo has the
makings of an instant classic on China, Japan, and beyond. It reads
as if Robert Caro unleashed his powers of historical illumination
on the moral questions that drive Asia’s volatility today.”
—Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author of Age of Ambition:
Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
“Gary Bass sets for himself a hugely ambitious goal: to tell the
astonishing story of the Tokyo trial while placing the courtroom
drama in the broader Asian and world history. He succeeds
marvelously. Judgment at Tokyo is a vivid and meticulously crafted
account, rich in detail, fair-minded, superbly nuanced. An
indispensable book for understanding a key historical moment, one
with resonances down to our present day.”
—Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of
War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s
Vietnam
“In this superb, beautifully written work of transnational history,
Gary Bass uses the Tokyo trial to illuminate the making of the
modern world. Based on a staggering amount of archival research,
the book provides rich insights into the origins of the Cold War,
the emergence of postcolonial China and India, the rebuilding of
Japan, and the waning of European imperialism.”
—Ramachandra Guha, author of Gandhi: The Years That Changed the
World
“To understand the dynamics of post–World War II Asia, Judgment at
Tokyo is fascinating, essential reading. Bass tells the story
through vivid portraits of the participants—Chinese, Japanese,
American, British, Indian, Filipino, among others—producing an
elegantly written and deeply researched history of an underreported
chapter.”
—Barbara Demick, Baillie Gifford Prize–winning author of Nothing to
Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
“Judgment at Tokyo is a work of singular importance—one that
manages to be balanced, original, human, accessible, and riveting.
It is of huge relevance to our times in the search for a decent
place for ideas about justice in a world of double standards and
patent hypocrisies.”
—Philippe Sands, Baillie Gifford Prize–winning author of East West
Street
“A remarkable achievement from Gary Bass—smart and analytical, told
at a high intellectual altitude, while narrated in gripping
fashion. This is history that matters, asking big questions about
justice for the crimes of World War II while presenting a cast of
fascinating characters.”
—Susan Glasser, coauthor of The Divider
"Deeply researched. . . . Bass turns our focus to the
negotiations in Japan after World War II. A sweeping two-year drama
in and of itself, the trial also created conditions that continue
to reverberate throughout Asia."
—The Washington Post
“A monumental history. . . . An authoritative account. . . . A
towering work of research resurrects a pivotal moment in
history.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Impressive. . . . Bass astounds with his ability to tie so many
complex narratives together. This is a clear-eyed look at a pivotal
period in world history."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Magisterial. . . . A massive history that captures a pivotal
moment in Asian history.”
—Library Journal
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