I have a weird hesitation before I start James M. Scott’s books. There are thicker books while there are others which are going to be more emotionally fraught. It’s not either of those things, but rather that I know his books end up so immersive that I need to be in the right headspace to fully enjoy them. I don’t want to be distracted or rushed. I know I am going to love them, but I want to be able to experience them fully. This is especially true for Empire of Ashes as it is (what I assume to be) Scott’s last book on the Pacific Theater of World War II. I’ve been on this ride since his Rampage, and I wanted him to stick the landing. As always, any concerns or hesitations I had were not well-founded.
Even people who don’t read World War II literature should be somewhat aware of the setup. FDR has died, Truman is taking over, and Hirohito is the last of the Axis powers. The U.S. is about ready to invade the Japanese Home Islands and a bloodletting never before seen is about to commence. Then, an alternative emerges after hiding in the shadows. Well, perhaps I should say two alternatives: Fat Man and Little Boy.
Yes, everyone had to read everything above in school ad nauseam. I wouldn’t recommend anything to you that didn’t bring something new to the table. Scott is all about the humans at the center of the drama. Truman gets the most attention, but Hirohito is put into focus as well. Most importantly, Scott illustrates just how horribly dysfunctional Japan’s government was at the end of the war (Side note: The perfect complement to Scott’s book is Evan Thomas’ Road to Surrender which gets into the minute details of Japan’s hopelessly disordered decision making). Scott has a lot of ground to cover, but by being character-driven, he doesn’t need the nitty gritty of every decision. You don’t have to spend dozens of pages on Truman’s decision to drop the bomb when you’ve already thoroughly explained who this man was and how he thought about everything.
When Scott does step away from the characters, his visceral writing gets to shine through. His description of what happened when the bombs were dropped will not soon to be out of my mind. As for whether dropping the bombs was the right thing to do, well I firmly believe no book will ever be able to convince everyone one way or another. Instead, we get great books like this one.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by W.W. Norton.)
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