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Ian BurumaIan Buruma
Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan: Memories of War in Germany and Japan Paperback – 9 November 2009
by Ian Buruma (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 70 ratings
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WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION
'A comparative study of great subtlety and intelligence'
Spectator
In this highly original and now classic text, Ian Buruma explores and compares how Germany and Japan have attempted to come to terms with their violent pasts, and investigates the painful realities of living with guilt - and with its denial
As he travels through both countries, Burma encounters people whose honesty in confronting their past is strikingly brave, and other who astonish by the ingenuity of their evasions of responsibility In Auschwitz, Berlin, Hiroshima and Tokyo he explores the contradictory attitudes of scholars, politicians and survivors towards the Second World War and visits the contrasting monuments that commemorate the atrocities of the war. These opposing voices reveal how an obsession with the past, especially distorted versions of it, continually raises questions about who should indeed pay the wages of guilt.
'Absorbing and sometimes surprising'
A.C. Grayling, Financial Times
'Buruma's sensitive account . . . is most disturbing to read. I strongly recommend this unusual book'
Paul Johnson, Sunday Times
'Wise and very readable'
New Statesman
336 pages
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Review
"'A comparative study of great subtlety and intelligence' Spectator * 'A profound book' Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Telegraph 'Absorbing and sometimes surprising' A. C. Grayling, Financial Times 'Buruma's sensitive account... is most disturbing to read. I strongly recommend [this] unusual book.' Sunday Times"
About the Author
Ian Buruma is currently Luce Professor at Bard College, New York. His previous books include Voltaire's Coconuts, The Missionary and the Libertine,The Wages of Guilt, Inventing Japan, God's Dust and Bad Elements, Occidentalism (Atlantic 2004) and Murder in Amsterdam (Atlantic 2006).
Product details
Publisher : ATLANTIC PBS; 1st edition (9 November 2009)
Language : English
Paperback : 336 pages
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 70 ratings
About the author
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Ian Buruma
Ian Buruma was educated in Holland and Japan. He has spent many years in Asia, which he has written about in God's Dust, A Japanese Mirror, and Behind the Mask. He has also written Playing the Game, The Wages of Guilt, and Anglomania. Buruma is currently a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Institute for the Humanities in Washington, DC.
Top reviews from other countries
Grace Fortiter
4.0 out of 5 stars How Japanese and Germans Interpret WW2 TodayReviewed in the United States on 4 January 2017
Verified Purchase
Comparing the attitudes of Japanese and Germans toward World War II, in retrospect. Burma, well known as a writer for the NY Review of Books and other intellectual publications, is somewhat speculative here, and the writing is not first-rate, but his interpretations are provocative. To me, he makes an especially illuminating distinction between how West Germans and Germans in the East DDR dealt with "German guilt" -- the Ossies felt less German than communist, he thinks -- the Soviets were anti-fascist from the start so the mythos was that DDR was cleaner than the West -- which opened yet another schism to paper over when reunification occurred after 1989. He also reflects that the Japanese are far less soul-searching about their wartime role and motives, indeed a retrospective glow has fueled Japanese nationalism and militarism in recent decades, the idea being that Japan was seeking an anti-colonial union of Asia (never mind atrocities of Nanking et al.)
5 people found this helpfulReport
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Very insightfulReviewed in the United States on 27 January 2016
Verified Purchase
Great book!
As someone with a graduate degree in Global and International Studies, who has spent much of the last 10 years traveling/working/researching in over 60 countries, even I was really quite shocked talking to many Japanese during a recent several month trip there about their historical memory of World War 2. The general denial of wrongdoing, the semi-glorification of imperial militarism, the often bitter racism towards former imperial subjects such as Koreans, Chinese, and Filipinos, and the common ignorance of history was all deeply unsettling. This book skillfully provides the background to this situation and gives context for how this came to be. It mostly dismisses explanations that focus on religious/cultural differences (which always bothered me as they often seemed to reek of orientalism and racism) for why different axis powers have faced up to their pasts in such different ways and looks at how politics have shaped remembrance. Although I don't agree with all his points and was a bit bothered by sections of the concluding chapter, I have to admit that this was overall insightful and well written.
4 people found this helpfulReport
Stephen M Catchpole
5.0 out of 5 stars In the present day situation I recommend this bookReviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 October 2015
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Interesting read, makes you reflect on aspects of the aftermath of the war on the Germans and the Japanese. Written on a humanistic level not as a reference book. Also contributes to how the situation we have today developed it shows the dichotomy of the world and how this evolved after World War Two. Interesting now as the Japanese attempt to change their constitution and Germany is the economic powerhouse in Europe while the UK and France still use vast amounts of their national budgets on defense and Nuclear deterrents.I recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their understanding of how the defeated nations in WWII rebuilt their countries and national identities.
5 people found this helpfulReport
Andreas Falke
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating comparative studyReviewed in Germany on 14 September 2015
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How do nations deal with a highly problematic past in war crimes and/or genocide? Buruma has an amazing understanding of the cultural background of both nations, and discovers unexpected similarities and surprising differences. He has a solid understanding of the domestic political dynamics that shape perception, and an ear for grass-roots attitudes of common citizens. His exploitation of works of arts dealing with the troubled past of both nations is stimulating, but one could question whether the reactions to these works is representative or valid today. This exposes one main weakness: The book is more than 20 years, and is necessarily a bit dated. An up-date would make this classic more convincing.
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Jonathan Banks
4.0 out of 5 stars The content of the book is excellent - well written and engaging portrayal of how these ...Reviewed in Canada on 16 January 2016
Verified Purchase
The content of the book is excellent - well written and engaging portrayal of how these two nations have dealt with their past. The copy had a defect in the print type making one line on most pages a much smaller font.
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'The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan': Is it fair to compare wartime experiences?
BY IAIN MALONEY
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES
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May 27, 2017
Despite regular, if sometimes half-hearted apologies, China and South Korea have repeatedly accused Japan of being unrepentant and insincere in its attitude to World War II. The nation's acceptance of defeat and acknowledgment or denial of guilt is most often compared with that of Germany.
The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan, by Ian Buruma.
344 pages
NEW YORK PREVIEW BOOKS, Nonfiction.
Ian Buruma's book was, surprisingly, the first time anyone bothered exploring these assumptions in any depth. He rejects lazy cultural presumptions about "saving face" and other Asian stereotypes versus a Judeo-Christian confessional attitude — ideas so often trotted out to explain the discrepancy between Germany's perceived repentance and Japan's apparent equivocation. Instead, he focuses on geopolitical differences in the aftermath of the conflict. He describes how "the end of the Third Reich in Germany was a complete break in history" while "Japan continued to be governed by much the same bureaucratic and political elite," putting each nation on different trajectories from the first. The division of Germany into East and West and the realities of Cold War politics in Asia and the utilization of Japan by the U.S. during the Korean and Vietnam wars also "politicized and polarized" views of history.
Buruma is a compelling writer and his personal involvement with the research —traveling to both countries and interviewing people on every side of the issue — raises this book far beyond a dry sociological study.
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