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John W. Dower

ジョン・W・ダウアー

John W. Dower

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1938-06-21 （Providence, Rhode Island, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Providence (birthplace) → Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts) → University of California, San Diego (faculty) → University of Wisconsin–Madison (faculty)

Career

Occupations
Historian, Author, Professor
Active Years
1959-
Affiliations
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California, San Diego, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars, Visualizing Cultures (project)
Memberships
American Philosophical Society (member)
Influenced By
Albert M. Craig

Education

Amherst College
American Studies
Degree: Bachelor's degree
Period: 1955–1959
Year of Graduation: 1959
Country: United States
BA in American Studies
Harvard University
History and Far Eastern Languages
Degree: PhD
Period: 1966–1972
Year of Graduation: 1972
Country: United States
Doctoral dissertation developed into a biography of Shigeru Yoshida

Awards

National Book Critics Circle Award
1986
Work: War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
National Book Award (Nonfiction)
1999
Work: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
Category: Nonfiction
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
2000
Work: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
Organization: The Pulitzer Prizes
Result: 受賞
Bancroft Prize
2000
Work: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
Organization: Columbia University (Bancroft Prize)
Result: 受賞
L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award
2000
Work: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
Organization: PEN New England
Result: 受賞
John K. Fairbank Prize
2000
Work: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
Organization: American Historical Association
Result: 受賞
Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award
Organization: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Result: 受賞
Elected to the American Philosophical Society
2007
Organization: American Philosophical Society
Result: 選出

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

1999 History, Nonfiction

A detailed study of Japan after World War II, analyzing political, social, and cultural transformations under occupation, reconstruction processes, and the formation of collective memory.

OccupationPostwar reconstructionMemory and history

War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War

1986 History, War studies

Analyzes how racial perceptions and propaganda influenced the character and violence of the Pacific War, focusing on mutual images between the United States and Japan.

RacePropagandaUS-Japan relations

Empire and Aftermath: Yoshida Shigeru and the Japanese experience, 1878–1954

1988 Biography, History

A biographical study of Shigeru Yoshida that traces Japan's transition from empire to postwar society, developed from Dower's doctoral dissertation.

Leader biographyModern Japanese historyPostwar transition

Bibliography

  • Origins of the Modern Japanese State: Selected Writings of E.H. Norman (1975)
  • War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (1986)
  • Empire and Aftermath: Yoshida Shigeru and the Japanese experience, 1878–1954 (1988)
  • Japan in War and Peace: Selected Essays (1995)
  • Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (1999)
  • Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq (2010)
  • Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World (2011)
  • The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II (2017)

Adaptations

  • Documentary 'Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima' (executive producer)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Scholarly and analytical, based on primary sourcesCombines rigorous argumentation with narrative history
Recurring Motifs
War and memoryUS–Japan relationsImages and propaganda

Legacy

John W. Dower is an internationally respected historian of war and postwar Japan. Embracing Defeat had major influence on understandings of postwar Japan and is widely read by scholars and the public. Through projects like Visualizing Cultures he promoted the importance of visual sources in teaching and public history.

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society

Archives

  • Amherst College Archives (John W. Dower Papers)

In Popular Culture

  • Appearances and interviews on C-SPAN
  • Visualizing Cultures online project used widely as an educational resource

Trivia

  • Co-creator of the Visualizing Cultures project, which sparked controversy over contextualization of visual materials.
  • Embracing Defeat won multiple major awards including the National Book Award (1999) and the Pulitzer Prize (2000).
  • Served as executive producer of the documentary 'Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima'.