- Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Bantam; Reissue edition (Jan 4 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0553578545
- ISBN-13: 978-0553578546
- Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 2.5 x 17.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #717,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Gen. Douglas MacArthur makes a provocative central character for a World War II novel, brash and swaggering, deeply complex in his contradictions. These qualities are exploited to animated theatrical effect by military-specialty author Webb (Fields of Fire). This is the story of MacArthur's actions at the end of the war in the Pacific in 1945, told from the point of view of Jay Marsh, a translator who worked on the general's staff as a young captain. Now a droll old man, a retired banker and ambassador, Marsh reconstructs his youthful days serving in the general's inner circle, his "royal court." MacArthur was by then appointed "Supreme Commander," a living caricature with his trademark sunglasses and corncob pipe, busy "making history" as he met with the defeated Japanese. Marsh, in love with an aristocratic Filipino woman, is torn between loyalty to his chief and to his own growth as an independently thinking man. In his reading, Dukes plays up the characterizations, giving MacArthur a deep, drawling snobbish lilt and assuming full-blown Japanese accents for his depictions of the deposed Asian military leaders. Despite these overblown flourishes, Webb's novel comes across highly convincing on tape, taut and compelling in its unfolding surprises and made realistic in its fine human detailing. Based on the Broadway hardcover. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Masterpiece,
This review is from: The Emperor's General (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a masterfully written historical novel that I would place in the same category as "Gone With the Wind" and "The Far Pavilions."
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb - One of my all-time favourites.,
By
This review is from: The Emperor's General (Mass Market Paperback)
The Emperor's General is set at the end of World War 2 in the Pacific and centres around the American occupation of Japan following the surrender of the Japanese. It tells of the political chess game played out between the Japanese Emperor and General MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the allies in Asia. The story is told through the eyes of Captain Jay Marsh, an aide to General MacArthur. The three main characters in the story are Jay Marsh, General MacArthur and number one advisor to the Emperor, Lord Privy Seal Koichi Kido. Although the surrounding events to the story are based on historical facts and the major historical figures did exist, the author James Webb tells us the story is otherwise one of fiction, and the interplay of the characters is drawn from his surmise and deduction. Nonetheless, one can't help but ponder how much Webb has accurately deducted from his research. I thoroughly enjoy historical novels, but tend to lean towards ones that have a deal of action in them. The Emperor's General has no battlefield fighting and no action in the normal sense of the word contained within the story, so it was going to be a test for me and I think a test for the book to see if it could hold my interest. I wasn't disappointed. This is a beautifully written book. It draws you into the story in such a subtle way that it has a mystical quality to it. Webb has masterfully created the atmosphere of the Asian cities where the story unfolds. Reading about the Philippines, one can feel the prickly heat and the rain soaked roads leading from the capital Manila. The destruction of Tokyo is contrasted vividly with the elegance of the few remaining buildings deliberately left untouched by allied bombing. Webb has portrayed Japanese culture and tradition in a very convincing manner and has woven it into the story intricately. This aspect plays a lead part in the crafting of this story and from this perspective the book will appeal to those with an interest in Asian cultures and is a wonderful introduction to those interested in knowing something about the Japanese psyche. Running parallel to the political mind game being played out in Tokyo, where Captain Jay Marsh is stationed for most of the story, is the romance between Marsh and his Philippine lover Divina Clara. Marsh is torn between his love for Divina and his love for the diplomatic role he plays in the shaping of Japan. The relationship between the young American Captain and the beautiful Philippine woman is a swirling mix of romance, clash of cultures and a surreal Asian atmosphere which is all marvellously rendered by Webb. The unfolding relationship between Marsh, MacArthur and the Lord Privy Seal Koichi Kido is where the obvious drama in this story takes place, but always hauntingly in the background is this yearning romance which culminates the book. My hat is off to the author. This is an engrossing and stunning stage-show penned in the highest calibre. I know these words have been used before to describe this book, but they are so appropriate I feel obliged to reiterate them. The Emperor's General is "sublime, romantic" and utterly mesmerising. "An unforgettable read".
5.0 out of 5 stars
They Got away With It!,
By
This review is from: The Emperor's General (Mass Market Paperback)
James Webb's novel is based on the fictional story of one of General Mac Arthur's aids. One Captian Jay Marsh.Based immediatly after the liberation of the Phillipines and then the defeat of Japan. Webb takes us on a journey of mystery and intruge that still surrounds the favourable peace terms offered to Japan. It is known that Mac Arthur favoured a hurriedly established democratic government in Japan, mainly to stave off the threat of Communisim that was slowly overhauling the Asian mainland. Webb deals with this issue in the dramatic style he is known for. I could continue but that would spoil the story.
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