Title: Whose Back was Stabbed?: FDR’s Secret War on Japan by Koichi Mera
Publisher: Hamilton Books
Author: Koichi Mera
ISBN: 978-0761868958
Pages: 220
Genre: Non-Fiction
Reviewed by: Aaron Washington

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This book is about Japan. The author focused on two major events that happened in Japan in the 1940s; the attack by the Japanese Navy of the Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the Occupation Policy of the Allied Forces after Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945. After reading this book, I was made to understand what led to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War and the effects that followed. I read this book from Japan’s perspective so as to understand how the Japanese felt about the attacks.

Other than learning about Japan and historical events, I also got to read about the author’s life. Living in Korea as a Japanese, the author’s life was somehow affected by the events. The earliest happenings were perhaps when the author and his parents left Seoul after Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945. As a sixth grader, the author had to move quickly and adapt to the changes that followed. Escaping Korea wasn’t exactly easy. America’s occupation of Japan affected the people. Things were a bit complex as superpowers tried to flex their muscles. As a young boy, the author had to experience things not everyone his age experienced.

After reading this book, I had a totally different perspective of the Pacific War. The narrative that is spread by mainstream media and American publications sometimes have alternative facts. Through this book, I got to view the war from a different view. I was also able to understand how the war started, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s role in the war. I love that the author combined his personal experience and research when writing this book. There a lot of questions about the Pacific War that were answered in this book. The author listed the facts systematically making the reader’s work easy.

With a background like Koichi Mera’s, one can surely write a lot about the war. The author had all the information when writing and stated only stated the truth. The Tokyo Trial, The Potsdam Declaration, The Persecution of Japanese Immigrants in the 1880s, Japan’s role in the liberation of Asia and America’s global domination were some of my favorite reads. USSR challenging the US was another interesting part of the book. After reading this book, I came to the conclusion that America instigated the Pacific War. Japan may actually not have been the inciter as it is widely believed.

Koichi Mera’s book is amazing. The author is an excellent writer who knows how to lay down facts in his writing. The first thing I loved about this book was how the author narrated the events that happened. A lot of books have been written about the Pacific War but not many books read like ‘Whose Back was Stabbed?: FDR’s Secret War on Japan’. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a not-so-mainstream version of the war; for you will see the other side that is rarely spoken about.