Judgement at Tokyo - World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia
By Gary J. Bass

A Finalist for the 2024 Cundill History PrizeLonglisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford PrizeA Best Book of the Year inand The Economist,and Prospect,and The Telegraph,and TLS,and The New York Times,and The Washington Post,and The New Yorker,and andand Foreign Affairs'Magisterial'and - Max Hastings,and The Sunday Times'Monumental'and - Rana Mitter,and Times Literary SupplementA landmark history of the postwar trials of Japan's leaders as war criminals, and their impact on the modern history of Asia and the world.'Every so often, a new work emerges of such immense scholarship and weight that it really does add a significant difference to our understanding of the Second World War and its consequences.and Judgement at Tokyoand is a monumental work in both scale and detail'and - James Holland,and The Sunday Telegraph'A work of singular importance . . . balanced, original, human, accessible, and riveting'and - Philippe Sands, author ofand East-West StreetIn the aftermath of World War II, the victorious Allied powers turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. The Tokyo trial - the largely overlooked counterpart to Nuremberg - was an opportunity both to render judgment on the Allies' vanquished foes and to create a legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of aggressive war. For the Japanese leaders on trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism and that the court was no more than victors' justice.Judgement at Tokyoand is a magnificent, riveting story of wartime action, dramatic courtroom battles, and the epic formative years of postwar Asia.'A comprehensive, landmark and riveting book'and -and The Washington Post, 'The 10 Best Books of 2023''Breathtakingly ambitious and unlikely to be bettered as a portrait of the trials and their place in postwar global history'and -and History Today