On Thursday, March 12, the Contemporary History Institute welcomes Dr. Michael A. Barnhart on “Japan’s Fateful Choices: Entering and Exiting the Pacific War, 1941-1945” at 4:30 p.m. in Baker 242.
Barnhart is Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of History at Stony Brook University. His major works include Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919-1941 and Japan and the World Since 1868. He is currently writing a political history of American foreign relations from 1607 to the present.
“Students of the past, both professional and amateur, tend to see Japan’s decision to attack the United States in December 1941 as an act of desperation committed by a shortsighted or desperate group of leaders, forced by American economic pressure, the consequences of Japan’s war in China, or both. Japan’s decision to surrender, nearly four years later, would seem a predictable, hopeless result of that attack, which left a devastated and powerless Japan with little choice and no postwar options, destined (or doomed) to be an American satellite. Both impressions badly misinterpret the historical record,” says Barnhart.
Barnhart’s major works include Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919-1941 and Japan and the World Since 1868. He is currently writing a political history of American foreign relations from 1607 to the present.
This event is free and open to the public.
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