Major Historical Trends

World War II: The Pacific

This quarter we will be reading John Dower's War Without Mercy: Race & Power in the Pacific War. Dower, a professor at MIT, is one of our outstanding scholars of Japanese history and World War II in the Pacific. This book has been called “the most important study of the Pacific War ever published.” Dower focused his study on the role of propaganda and the images the United States and Japan formulated during the course of the conflict. He found that the war, with its racial background, devolved into a vicious conflict of cultures that profoundly influenced the course of events.

The book is available at the public library and can be purchased from Amazon in a variety of formats.

July 18: Preface and Part One

August 1: Part Two

August 15: Part Three

August 29: Part Four, Epilogue

Seminar Leader: Neil Heyman is Professor Emeritus of History at San Diego State University. He earned his BA summa cum laude at Yale and his doctorate at Stanford. He is a specialist in the twentieth-century history of Russia and Germany, World War I, and history through film. He is the author of five books along with numerous articles and reviews.

Presenter Biography