Kamikaze : Japan's suicide gods by Axell, Albert, 加瀬, 英明(1936- ), Kase, Hideaki, 1936- instant download

Kamikaze : Japan's suicide gods by Axell, Albert, 加瀬, 英明(1936- ), Kase, Hideaki, 1936- instant download

xiv, 274 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : 24 cm, \"The use of the Japanese Kamikaze pilots during the Second World War was one of the most dramatic and chilling developments of the war. But who were the Kamikaze pilots and what motivated them to make the ultimate sacrifice?\" \"The call for Kamikaze pilots drew a staggering response. Three times as many applied for suicide flights as the number of planes available. The authors of Kamikaze: Japan's Suicide Gods look into the hearts and minds of the Kamikaze pilots, viewed in the full context of the war and the Japanese cultures and traditions out of which the Kamikaze emerged. Based on interviews with Kamikaze survivors, unpublished memoirs, and documents not previously open to the public, the book portrays one of the most extraordinary and astonishing events in history, an event that has made Kamikaze a household word around the world.\" \"In the present era of frequent suicide bombers, the authors show parallels between the Kamikaze and the Al-Qaeda activists of the September 11 attacks. Of special interest, the book reveals not only the confidential suicide instructions issued to the Kamikaze pilots, but also points to similarities with the instructions found in the luggage of one of the leaders of the September 11 suicide attacks.\"--Jacket, Includes bibliographical references (pages 264-267) and index, Japan : the naked truth -- The fragile peace -- Birth of the kamikaze -- The first official human bomb -- Women's stories -- Sex, marriage and morale -- The suicide manual -- A general who loved Brahms -- Two survivors -- Christ, Allah and kamikaze -- 'You are already gods' -- Last poems and letters -- Second thoughts -- Eyewitnesses -- The Koreans -- The last Banzai : the final toll -- Exotic weapons -- Hirohito, Hiroshima and the Russians -- From pilot to dirt farmer -- Viewpoints -- Stalin's kamikaze pilots -- ... and Hitler's -- British 'kamikazes' ... and American -- Reputations