Parks M. Coble, “China’s War Reporters: The Legacy of Resistance against Japan” (Harvard UP, 2015)
Parks M. Coble‘s new book is a wonderful study of memory, war, and history that takes the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 and its aftermath as its focus. China’s War Reporters: The Legacy of Resistance against Japan (Harvard University Press, 2015) is organized in two major parts. The first part (Ch. 1-5) look closely at writing done by journalists and intellectuals during the war, focusing especially on those who were associated with the National Salvation Movement. Here we find a fascinating account of Chinese journals, newspapers, and war reporters that pays special attention to the political and ideological motivations behind wartime writers’ choices of what to report and how to report it. The distinctions here between rural and urban experiences and knowledge of the war are especially striking. The second part (Ch. 6-7) looks at the “re-remembering” of the war, including the consequences of communist rule for Salvation Movement writers in the immediate aftermath of the war, the disappearance of their legacy from public memory, and the refiguring of their work in the context of post-Mao “new remembering” of the war. Coble also considers the consequences of an increasing emphasis on nationalism in China for the re-remembering of the war in academic and popular media. Collectively, the chapters of China’s War Reporters argue that the particular way that the war has been remembered in China has distorted and constrained historical scholarship. It’s an exceptionally clear and well-written history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
10 Aug 20151h 3min
Barak Kushner, “Men to Devils, Devils to Men: Japanese War Crimes and Chinese Justice” (Harvard UP, 2015)
Barak Kushner‘s new book considers what happened in the wake of Japan’s surrender, looking closely at diplomatic and military efforts to bring “Japanese imperial behavior” to justice. Men to Devils, Devils to Men: Japanese War Crimes and Chinese Justice (Harvard University Press, 2015) focuses on the aftermath of the Japanese war crimes, asking a number of important questions: “How did the Chinese legally deal with Japanese war crimes?” and “What were the Japanese responses, and [how] did these processes shape early Cold War Sino-Japanese relations?” Two ways of reconsidering history shape the study. First, Kushner reframes Japan as a decolonizing empire, not just a defeated country. At the same time, he looks at the “shifting landscape of the concept of law in East Asia” and its impact on relations in the region during this period, especially in terms of international law and associated notions of accountability. These two broad historiographical re-orientations motivate an extraordinarily thoughtful and detailed treatment of the ways that conflict between the KMT and the CCP, and relations of both with other global powers, shaped the notion and history of war crimes trials. It’s a clearly written and compellingly argued account that’s also a pleasure to read! To hear our conversation about Barak’s previous book Slurp!: A Social and Culinary History of Ramen – Japan’s Favorite Noodle Soup, see here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
1 Aug 20151h 7min
Suzanne Broderick, “Real War vs. Reel War: Veterans, Hollywood, and WWII” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015)
In hew new book Real War vs. Reel War: Veterans, Hollywood, and WWII (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015), Suzanne Broderick shares how she discussed a number of World War II films with veterans and others who experienced the conflict first hand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
24 Juni 201559min
David R. Stone, “The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917” (UP of Kansas, 2015)
Readers wanting to learn more about the Great War on the Eastern Front can do no better than David R. Stone‘s new work, The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 (University Press of Kansas, 2015). The last work to treat this comprehensively was Norman Stone’s (no relation), The Eastern Front, 1914-1917, published in 1975. While literature in English has been sparse, the Russian-language literature on the Eastern Front has grown tremendously in recent decades, and so an update was desperately needed. David Stone does more than updated the earlier Stone’s work, though. He deftly shifts our perspective not only on the Eastern Front but on the war as a whole by emphasizing commonalities (among empires, operations, home fronts) while appropriately highlighting the many unique challenges faced by the tsarist state. We learn not only about the iconic clashes in East Prussia or the Brusilov Offensive, but see the critical importance of campaigns in Poland, the Caucasus, and Romania to the Russian defeat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
12 Juni 201545min
Juergen Matthaus et al., “War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939: The Einsatzgruppen in Poland” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union. We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum’s excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
18 Maj 201552min
Michael Leggiere, “Blucher: Scourge of Napoleon” (U Oklahoma Press, 2014)
I have really enjoyed Michael Leggiere‘s earlier work, including the excellent Napoleon and Berlin : The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813 (2002), like this work, part of the Campaigns and Commanders series at the University of Oklahoma Press. In Blucher: Scourge of Napoleon (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014), Leggiere rescues Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher from the shadow cast by Wellington (and Wellington’s many and prolific admirers). It was Blucher, argues Leggiere, who continually bedeviled Napoleon after 1812 and who created the conditions for the Emperor’s few but decisive defeats, including Leipzig (1813) and Waterloo (1815) – hence the subtitle. Partly because of the focus on Wellington, partly because of myth-making on the part of German nationalists and military leaders, Blucher is too often presented as a strategic imbecile, a mere hard-charging hussar, deserving of the label applied by his troops: “Marshal Forward.” But Leggiere highlights Blucher’srestraint, his canny retreats, as well as his political savvy, to present a much more nuanced picture. Blucher: Scourge of Napoleon was the winner of the 2015 Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
1 Maj 201557min
Benjamin Armstrong, “Twenty-First-Century Mahan” and “Twenty-First-Century Sims” (Naval Institute, 2013-2015)
Alfred Thayer Mahan and William Sims – two of the most important figures in American Naval History – are the subject of our discussion with Lieutenant Commander Benjamin (“BJ”) Armstrong. A doctoral candidate in the Department of War Studies at Kings College London, Armstrong is the author of two books collecting and analyzing critical essays by both men: Twenty-First-Century Mahan: Sound Military Conclusions for the Modern Era (Naval Institute Press, 2013) and Twenty-First-Century Sims: Innovation, Education, and Leadership in the Modern Era (Naval Institute Press, 2015). We’re covering both books together in this interview, as they are so closely tied to each other conceptually and thematically, as well as being so recently published and available to the general public. Through the collected essays and his commentary, Armstrong makes a strong case for both the continued relevance and timelessness of the two men and their lesser known or understood works, not only as related to the operations of the United States Navy in the present day, but as touchstones for national security and international relations. A disclaimer, though: the thoughts that Lieutenant Commander Armstrong expresses in this interview are his own, and do not in any way reflect the policies or opinions of the Defense Department or the United States Navy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
25 Apr 20151h 15min
Colonel Ty Seidule, “West Point History of the Civil War” (Simon and Schuster, 2014)
We’re very fortunate to be joined by the editor of The West Point History of the Civil War (Simon and Schuster, 2014), the Head of the History Department at the United States Military Academy, Colonel Ty Seidule. Unlike most surveys, the new West Point History of the Civil War draws upon some of the best talent in the field of Civil War history, all called together to craft a synthetic text that not only forms the basis of the Military Academy’s course on the subject, but also provides a very informative overview for the general public. Lavishly illustrated and featuring well-conceived maps and graphs, The West Point History of the Civil War is served by a fully digitized version, optimized for use on tablet platforms. Our interview with Colonel Seidule focuses on the special challenges he and his team confronted in crafting this text, and the place of the Civil War in the American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
13 Mars 201541min
