Books - General
The twenty books reviewed in this category of general books cover a wide variety
of topics related to Japan's special attack forces. Suicide
Squads by O'Neill provides an excellent overview of each of the many
types of suicide attack weapons employed by the Japanese military in World War
II. Other books cover much narrower topics, such as two fascinating accounts
about piloted glider bombs called ōka (Thunder Gods
by Naito and The Cherry Blossom Squadrons
by the Hagoromo Society).
This section on general books differs from the books in Personal
Narratives that were written by former members of Japan's special attack
corps. Whereas personal narratives give experiences without the need to rely on
other sources, these general books generally rely heavily on other published
sources. For example, almost all books that give the story of the creation of
the first kamikaze corps rely heavily on the personal narrative by Inoguchi and
Nakajima in The Divine Wind.
Some of these general books rely heavily on official battle reports (e.g.,
Brown's Kamikaze and Sholin's The
Sacrificial Lambs), which can become a tedious chronological recitation
of ship name, kamikaze attack date, where hit, and casualties. The general books
in this section contain many of the same photos from the U.S. Navy.
The quality and influence of these books vary greatly. Denis Warner in The
Sacred Warriors provides an extensive bibliography of both Japanese and
English-language sources, which reflects the thoroughness of his research as a
journalist. At the other extreme, some books (e.g., Suicide
Weapon by Barker and Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Gods
by Axell and Kase) do not provide sufficient documentation when material has
been taken directly from other sources. The book Kamikazes
by Earl Rice Jr. targets young readers from upper elementary grades to high
school, but this book turns out to be one of the best-documented and
easily-understood historical accounts for any age group. This fine book gives
both Japanese and American perspectives of the kamikaze attacks, and it also
contains many personal accounts and historical photos.
Most books in this section follow a somewhat similar approach. However,
Ohnuki-Tierney, the anthropology professor who wrote Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms,
approaches the subject of kamikaze pilots in a very different way than any other
author in this section. Her academic analysis of the use of cherry blossom
symbolism by kamikaze units is quite thought-provoking in comparison to some of
dull recitations of battle facts by other authors.
Books - Lists categorizes the books in this
section and in the Personal Narratives section in various ways (e.g.,
publication date, books on specific area of special attack forces). The general
books that have been reviewed in this section are listed below.
Books - General
- Aeronautical Staff
of Aero Publishers, Kamikaze
- Axell and Kase, Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Gods
- Barker, Suicide Weapon
- Brown, Kamikaze
-
Burlingame, Advance Force Pearl Harbor
-
Carruthers, Australia Under Siege:
Japanese Submarine Raiders 1942
-
Cea, Tokubetsu Kogeki Tai. Special
Attack Units
-
Charles River Editors, The Kamikazes: The
History of Japan's World War II Suicide Pilots
-
Cortesi, Valor at Okinawa
- Craddock, First Shot: The Untold Story of
the Japanese Minisubs that Attacked Pearl Harbor
-
Delgado, Kerby, Tilburg, Price, Varmer, Cremer,
and Matthews, The Lost Submarines of Pearl Harbor: The Rediscovery and
Archaeology of Japan's Top-Secret Midget Submarines of World War II
-
Grose, A Very Rude Awakening
- Hagoromo Society, The Cherry Blossom
Squadrons: Born to Die
- Hoyt, The Kamikazes
- Hoyt, The Last Kamikaze
- Iredale, The Kamikaze Hunters: Fighting
for the Pacific, 1945
-
Ishiguro and Januszewski,
Japanese Special Attack Aircraft & Flying Bombs
- Jenkins, Hitting Home: The Japanese Attack
on Sydney 1942
- Lambert, Bombs, Torpedoes and Kamikazes
- Lamont-Brown, Kamikaze:
Japan's Suicide Samurai
- Lardas, The Kamikaze Campaign 1944-45
- Lind, Toku-tai: Japanese Submarine Operations
in Australian Waters
- Millot, Divine Thunder: The Life and
Death of the Kamikazes
-
Morris, Battleship Yamato: Of war, beauty and
irony
-
Mortensen,
Divine Wind: Kamikaze Attacks
Against the US Navy
- Naito, Thunder Gods
- Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms
- O’Neill, Suicide Squads
- Rice, Kamikazes
-
Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs,
and Picket Ships: Okinawa, 1945
-
Sears, At War with the Wind: The Epic
Struggle with Japan's World War II Suicide Bombers
-
Sholin, The Kamikaze
Nightmare: Terror of the Lambs
- Sholin, The Sacrificial Lambs
-
Sholin, Truman's Decision:
Kamikazes the Unknown Factor
- Smith, Kamikaze: To Die for the Emperor
- Spurr, A Glorious Way to
Die
-
Stern, Fire From the Sky: Surviving the
Kamikaze Threat
- Stewart, Kamikaze: Japan's Last Bid for
Victory
- Stille, US Navy Ships vs Kamikazes 1944-45
- Takaki and Sakaida, B-29 Hunters of the
JAAF
- Thurman, Picket Ships at Okinawa
- Veesenmeyer, Kamikaze Terror: Sailors
Who Battled the Divine Wind
- Warner and Seno,
The Coffin Boats:
Japanese Midget Submarine Operations in the Second World War
- Warner and Warner, The Sacred Warriors:
Japan’s Suicide Legions
- Zaloga, Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack
Weapons 1944-45
- Zimmerman, Battleship Yamato: Why She
Matters Today
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