The Japanese wartime empire, 1931-1945 /

This third and final volume in a series on Japanese imperialism contains 12 substantive chapters: two on activities in the formal colonies of Korea and Taiwan; four on the management of Northeast Asia; three on Japanese attempts to control Southeast Asia; and three miscellaneous essays on the "comfort women" phenomenon, the links between wartime imperialism and Japan's post-WW I economy, and a comparison of Japanese and German wartime empires. In addition, Duus has provided an interesting and helpful introductory essay. The essays illuminate several important themes. First, Japan's wartime empire represented the culmination of responses to opportunities rather than the result of careful strategic planning. Second, Japan's wartime empire was marked by a wide variety of systems of control. Third, several authors point to the unusual effort of Japanese colonial administrators to encourage industrial development. Finally, Japan's wartime empire was severely overextended, which undermined its efforts to hold the system together. None of these themes are original, yet they are brought together here with crispness and clarity. Upper-division undergraduates and above. W. D. Kinzley University of South Carolina