Sensationalist Title, Moi?

[Mulboyne]

Political Affairs Review
Besides writing an important history, Horne adds to our understanding of the evolution of white supremacy. This book primarily focuses on "race and racism within the British Empire in Asia," but also shows how British white supremacy and Japanese responses impacted colonized peoples in the Empire from West Africa to the Malay Peninsula as well as people of color in the US. Particularly, the Japanese show-of-force against white supremacy impacted the push for civil rights in the US after World War II.

[Charles]

A less sensational, more balanced perspective on racial issues surrounding WWII would be War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War by Pulitzer Prizewinner and well-regarded Harvard scholar John Dower.

[Socratesabroad]

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/383/1/38/

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Mulboyne, care to divulge how you just 'happened' to come across this review?

[Mulboyne]

I'd like to say I found it while browsing the Japan Communist Party site. More mundanely, Google Images threw it up when I was looking for the a book cover pic.

[Socratesabroad]

I'd like to say I found it while browsing the Japan Communist Party site.

Fair enough

I'm left with the sense that maybe Horne is writing out of his depth.

As a former history (and sociology double) major, I'll say up front that I more of a classicist. I attach little weight to 'multidisciplinary' fields centering on any specific race, religion, or sex.

That said, Chapel Hill is a respected school (especially in the South) and isn't likely to hire unqualified people. If I recall, Horne has an MA and PhD in history both from Columbia. Again, good qualifications.

If you accept him as an specialist in African & Afro-American studies, just what qualifications does he have to write about Asian-Pacific or Japanese history? And the answer, kids, is...absolutely none, at least as far as I can find. I haven't seen anything mentioning Horne's Japanese ability or if he even speaks the language.

Note: a historian writing about Japan who doesn't speak the language is the history field's equivalent of the doe-eyed newbie reporter prattling on about how polite Japanese are and how strange and unique everything is - that, or Tyler Brule