Gary J. Bass, "Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia" (Knopf, 2023)
In December 1948, a panel of 12 judges sentenced 23 Japanese officials for war crimes. Seven, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, were sentenced to death. The sentencing ended the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, an over-two-year-long trial over Imperial Japan\u2019s atrocities in China and its decision to attack the U.S.\nBut unlike the trials at Nuremberg, now seen as one of the touchstones of modern international law, the trials at Tokyo were a messy affair. The ruling wasn\u2019t unanimous, with two judges dissenting. Indian judge Radhabinod Pal even chose to acquit everybody. The judges couldn\u2019t agree on anything, the prosecution made significant mistakes, and the defense constantly complained about not having enough time and resources.\nGary Bass tells the entire story of the trials at Tokyo\u2014from their formulation at the end of a long World War by a triumphant yet weary U.S., to the eventual decision to let many sentenced defendants out on parole as Japan became a close Cold War ally of Washington\u2014in his book\xa0Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia\xa0(Knopf: 2023)\nGary Bass is also the author of\xa0The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissenger and a Forgotten Genocide\xa0(Vintage: 2014),\xa0which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction and won the Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations, among other awards. He is the William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War at Princeton University. His previous books are\xa0Freedom's Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention\xa0(Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group: 2008) and\xa0Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals\xa0(Princeton University Press: 2002). A former reporter for The Economist, Bass writes often for The New York Times and has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and other publications.\nYou can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at\xa0The Asian Review of Books. Including its review of\xa0Judgment at Tokyo. Follow on Twitter at\xa0@BookReviewsAsia.\nNicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at\xa0@nickrigordon.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies