Ronald H. Spector, in Eagle Against the Sun, provides a concise historical overview of the war between the United States and Japan in World War II. Spector is an American historian, teaching at the University of Alabama, and a major in the Marine Reserves, having served on active duty as a military historian during the invasion of Grenada. It is not surprising, then, to find that he takes a decidedly American perspective on the war with Japan:
So the United States had done the impossible. It had waged war simultaneously on two fronts, separated by thousands of miles, and had prevailed. . . . In the end, it was superior American industrial power and organizational ability which had succeeded (560).
After all, the United States did win the war, so it is inevitable that an American author such as Spector---as both historian and Marine reserve---would focus on the major elements
of that victory, and corresponding elements of the Japanese defeat. Such a pro-American bias is perhaps inevitable, particularly with respect to a war which began with an attack such as the one delivered by Japan upon Pearl Harbor.
Still, this is no propagandistic account of the war. Spector does manage to present both sides of the war in as objective and enlightening a manner as possible from such a perspective. For example, in discussing the various historical views on the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan to end the war, Spector presents an entire spectrum of opinions, including those which take into considerations the psychology of the Japanese leaders. Still, when it comes time to present a conclusion to such an objective survey of views on the bombing of Japan, the author quotes Churchill calling the bombing a "miracle of deliverance" (559), and includes an extended passage from a former American soldier grateful that the bombs were dropped and the planned invasion of Japan was called off. The clear implication on the part of Spector is ...