The Emperor's General: Amazon.de: James Webb: Englische Bücher

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Webb's vividly imagined thriller arrives with imprimatur of Tom Wolfe, who calls him one of the five most important writers in America today. Does Webb justify this lavish praise? In the year 1945, General MacArthur has brought off the allied triumph in the Pacific. Webb's hero, Captain Jay Marsh, a young aide-de-camp, is happy to serve his hero. But when he discovers that the General has undertaken a strange agreement with the Emperor of Japan, Marsh finds himself dealing with a bizarre scenario in which MacArthur plans to become an American Caesar, ruling over his conquered Japanese subjects while preserving their imperial system. Webb's fascinating and original plot is carried off with considerable style and authority, and he is particularly assured in his characterisation: MacArthur is created with a convincing detail that is cleverly not allowed to eclipse the tormented protagonist Marsh.

Like all the best historical fiction, the day-to-day detail of the forties is sketched in with assurance and the narrative (culminating in the rigged trial of Japan's greatest General) is handled with clarity and precision. It's no surprise that the film rights for The Emperor's General have been sold--but, as a reading experience, this is a book that justifies Wolfe's fulsome praise --Barry Forshaw, Amazon.co.uk -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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Despite popular sentiments that World War II was in fact a good war, there was some disagreement about that immediately following the conflict. After the Marshall Plan and the "democratization" of Japan, conspiracy mongers accused forces in the U.S. government of assisting our former enemies in rebuilding their economic powers at the expense of our national interest. At their worst, these suspicions aided the rise of McCarthyism; at their best, they give us snappy espionage novels such as James Webb's The Emperor's General, which speculates that Douglas MacArthur lost the peace by allowing Japan to regain its sphere of influence in the Pacific Rim.

This hypothesis is presented by the book's protagonist, Jay Marsh, an inexperienced captain serving as one of MacArthur's aides. Throughout the course of the novel, young Marsh suspects that the general is shielding Japan's imperial elite from war-crimes trials being undertaken by various military commissions. He soon sheds his naïveté, becoming both seduced and appalled by the Japanese-U.S. alliance of global hegemony. Webb avoids the Grishamesque hit-and-run action sequences that sacrifice the "reality" of many conspiratorial novels, making Marsh into MacArthur's doppelgänger, a character whose intense love of the East is entangled with a sense of compromised honor. The general's loss of the Philippines is matched with Marsh's betrayal of his Filipina fiancée, propelling all the characters towards their destiny. The fact that the U.S. secured its military objectives by protecting Japan's leaders should come as no surprise to the historically informed, but the all too human motivations that Webb gives to MacArthur's actions ought to keep the reader hooked to the last page. --John M. Anderson -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .

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Ein Muss fuer jeden Japan-Liebhaber 28. September 2001

Von Ein Kunde

Format:Taschenbuch

Selbst ueber ein Jahr in Japan gewesen und mich dort intensiv mit der japanischen Geschichte auseinandergesetzt, hat mir James Webb "The Emperor's General" einen spannenden und historisch weitgehend korrekten Einblick in die direkte Nachkriegs-Geschichte dieses schwierigen Landes gegeben. Obwohl einzelne historische Fakten zur Aufrechterhaltung der Spannung manchmal in Details abgeaendert wurden, gibt das Buch doch einen sehr tiefen Einblick nicht nur ueber die japanische Kultur, sondern auch ueber den tiefgreifenden Aufbruch ins Ungewisse, den das japansiche Volk nach der vernichtenden Niederlage gewagt hat. Derjenige, der Japan kennt, wird vieles von dem was er beobachtet hat, neu ausgelegt finden, und fuer Neulinge ist alles Fremde einleuchtend erklaert. Ein durch und durch empfehlenswertes Buch.

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Excellent! 6. Juli 2000

Exceptional piece of historic fiction. The characters are vivid and realistic. The historical background is very well laid out and comes alive in the context of this excellent novel. This book has it all--history, war, romance, intrigue. Very highly recommended!

Excellent read and history lesson 20. Juni 2000

Von Jurg Gassmann

I lived in Japan in the late 80s. I found it remarkable to read in print in Webb's novel about historical episodes which were generally common knowledge to anyone who questioned the sanitised official line about the Occupation Period (put forward by both Americans and Japanese), but could not be written about by academics who valued their career prospects. Webb's book tallies precisely with David Bergamini's analysis. On top of that, an excellent read.

A smear campaign

Well, I'm going to be the odd man out. I found this book grated on my nerves from the very first page. The protagonist is an arrogant, pretentious, self-important prig. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 22. Mai 2000 von Chris Joiner

The Emperor's General changes a world

I found myself rivetted, absorbed page after page, chapter after chapter of this deeply satisfying underbelly view of great men, great cultures, great deceit & gullibility. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 22. Mai 2000 von Rebecca Brown

Well-written historical fiction

Jay Marsh is a young, idealistic, Army Captain who has been assigned to Douglas McArthur's staff. We follow him from the time of McArthur's return to liberate the Phillipines in... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 21. Mai 2000 von Old Fisherman

The Emperor's General

I could not put the Emperor's General down. Japan at the end of the war was brought vividly to life, the complex character of Douglas McArthur, the politics of the surrender as... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 9. Mai 2000 von Anne B. Cahillane

A novel that reads like history

Not everyone went home to the USA from the Pacific when World War II ended. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur went on to become the virtual ruler of Japan from 1945 until the... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 27. April 2000 von phsayles@prodigy.net

Read this book

This book was extremely interesting to read as it mixed military history with insights of other cultures and several fascinating stories that run in parallell. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 22. April 2000 von Anders Lundberg

The General's Prince

Though it talks a great deal about MacArthur and the Emporer of Japan, the book is really about Jay Marsh, whom I call "The General's Prince. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 21. M�rz 2000 von K. Crawford

Two great stories, intertwined.

This book has two main stories. The first is the "inside story" of McArthur's reconstruction of Japan, as seen by a young aide. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 7. Februar 2000 von Kevin Murphy

A Great Work of Historical Fiction

Anyone interested in how MacArthur transformed Japan at the end of WWII should read this book. The book does a great job, in the form of very readable historical fiction, of... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 23. Januar 2000 von Shogun Len

The general who wished he were an emperor

In the Emperor's General, James Webb proves that he is as good at bringing real historical figures to life as he is in portraying the harsh life of combat from the eyes of... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 3. Dezember 1999 von Doug Vaughn

The Emperor's General [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

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