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    In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia
    In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia
    In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia
    Audiobook12 hours

    In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia

    Written by Ronald H. Spector

    Narrated by Michael Prichard

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Americans are accustomed to thinking that World War II ended on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. Yet on the mainland of Asia, in the vast arc stretching from Manchuria to Burma, peace was a brief, fretful interlude. In some parts of Asia, such as Java and Southern Indonesia, only a few weeks passed before new fighting broke out between nationalist forces and the former colonial powers. In China, a fragile and incomplete peace lasted only a few months, and peace fared no better in Northern Indochina and Korea.

    The result was years of grim and bitter struggles, during which many suffered far more greatly than they had during the war itself. In the Ruins of Empire is a sequel to the author's well-known Eagle Against the Sun. In it, Ronald Spector describes how Vietnamese farmers struggled to survive another war with the French, while U.S. soldiers and marines were amazed to find themselves sent to China and Korea instead of back to their hometowns. In the meantime, five million Japanese soldiers, farmers, and diplomats who were stranded on mainland Asia found themselves in new roles as insurgents, victims, mercenaries, and peacekeepers.

    Much of the material in this book has never been published before, and it casts new and startling light on events that shook the countries of Asia. Spector examines recently released material on these events from Soviet and Chinese archives and two top secret intelligence records released by the United States, as well as newly available Japanese documents. In addition, the author chronicles the individual stories of some of the Americans who were sent in to rescue prisoners of war and to tend to the surrender and repatriation of millions of Japanese.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 31, 2007
    ISBN9781400174171
    In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia
    Author

    Ronald H. Spector

    Ronald H. Spector is an award-winning scholar of modern military history and has taught at the National War College and the US Army War College.  A frequent contributor to scholarly journals, his publications include In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia and After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam. He is professor of history and international affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University.

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    Reviews for In the Ruins of Empire

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    • 5/5
      This is the second or third time I've read this and it's just as marvelous as before. A tale within a tale within a tale by a literary mastermind at the height of her genius.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This is another one I'd just never gotten around to reading. The story is far from what popular culture has made of it (I confess I was most familiar with the Young Frankenstein version) The monster is much more vocal and interesting. Victor is kind of a weenie and it's all a bit overwrought. I listened to the audiobook from the classic tales podcast and the narrator was pretty good, obviously enjoying all the "begone!s" and "wretchs"

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I love this novel because of the way it has so many layers. Every time I read it I get something new out of it. The language is beautiful, almost poetic and it speaks to my soul.

      In this novel, Shelley has simultaneously created both one of my favourite characters and one a characters that I want to punch in the face.

      The Monster is articulate, terrible and wonderful all at the same time.
      Victor Frankenstein is a self-absorbed, whinny jerk.

      What a beautiful story that everyone should read.
    • 3/5
      a good book tended to drag on a bit in some places very opposite from the movie perception of frakenstein
    • 4/5
      I'm glad i finally took the time to read this fairly short classic. Shelley has a gift for narration. She did a great job of both building and destroying sympathy for both frankenstein and his monster. The paradise lost refrences were the only part I would have rather done without.
    • 5/5
      This book surprised me. Neither Dr. Frankenstein or his monster were anything like what I expected from their pop-cultural portrayal. Dr. Frankenstein is far from a mad scientist, and the monster is not entirely a victim, or all that sympathetic in my opinion. How to view the pair seems to be very much at the discretion of the reader. Considered a cautionary tale about science going too far, that is also something for the reader to think about, and decide if that really was the case.On the actual text, this edition features a preface written by Percy Shelley. Don't let it scare you, Mary's writing is much easier to get through. ;). The actual text is shorter than it looks, with about 1/3rd of the book being supplemental material.
    • 5/5
      This edition has a version that has been "translated" into modern English and it is so much more readable than the original (which is here too in an appendix). The plot and everything is the same. There's also a scholarly essay.
    • 3/5
      I think I like the story of how this book came to be better than I liked the actual book. With that said, I'm glad that I read this classic novel.

      Frankenstein must have been extremely chilling when it was first published. I can see why it was so popular. It's a creepy tale that brings up all types of moral questions. To my modern mind it wasn't terrifying. It was more of a "meh" type of scary.

      All the monster really wanted was to love and be loved in return. He begged for friendship. He pleaded with Dr. Frankenstein to create a companion for him. When these things weren't forthcoming he turned to furious revenge.

      “Satan has his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and detested.”

      “I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

      Frankenstein deserves the classic label for it's longevity and timelessness. While the tale isn't as scary as it once was, wonderful writing and fine craftsmanship never go out of style.
    • 3/5
      Frankenstein is a horror and morality novel about an ambitious scientist who wanted to create life by himself and succeeded in creating a being that tormented his life for years to come. The novel is very philosophical and hardly descriptive, it's a point of view novel in truest sense. It derived suspense from the reader's perceptions and nurtured horror from the thoughts of unknown.

      The novel is narrated by letters and two main character, the scientist Frankenstein and the unnamed creature simply called "The Monster". I have done an essay namely "Frankenstein : The Failure and Future of a Modern Scientist" which I focused his occupation, the author's perception take on him and the future of science itself. I couldn't deny that Frankenstein, despite being caricatured heavily by Hollywood (that the monster is always mistakenly named as Frankenstein), is by itself a tale of overshadowing and a foreboding prophetic imagining to the future of science. It's very impressive considering it was written in 1817 by a woman. Had the Victorian scientific society taken her book as something more than just gothic fiction, we could have averted most of the events in our modern society.

      Frankenstein was one of the novel I had chosen in 2005 for the Literature in English SPM elective that I got an A2 in it while I was bored in Terengganu. It was either this book or the Lord of the Flies book which I read and dislike. Actually, I barely had a good opinion on this book too since I was never a fan of Frankenstein since I'm more of a fan of "The Monster".

      I do consider The Monster as a protagonist instead of antagonist. I never actually thought Frankenstein as a sympathetic character especially with many of the book's study guides expressively said so. From the start of The Monster's narration, one could see a creature like him as a newborn in a world where everyone including his 'father' and his adopted family abandoned him just because of his appearance of a corpse. He became self-aware faster and soon developed resentment to the world that wanted him dead for being different. He's a clean slate that was corrupted by circumstances.

      Although, it's not that hard to feel empathy for the Monster but its much harder to be empathy with Frankenstein himself. Maybe because I am a scientist or more appropriately a biological scientist that I abhor his reaction to his creation. I never knew a scientist who dislike his or her work. If you've spent years crafting and studying it, you wouldn't feel or anticipate superficial things that you yourself made. And I find an intense dislike for his character and the narration because he's possibly too much pride onto himself for a person who considered being well-knowledgable. A scientist may take pride with his studies but he shall never have pride that rivalled the gods. That what Frankenstein is actually doing!

      On its essence, it's a simple novel to understand and still maintained its popularity among science fiction derivative including in paranormal genre. It's really is a curious 19th century novel with an ability to be able to be dissected, analysed and still be relevant to the modern times. Unlike the romantic period that glorified the chic-lit of its days, Mary Shelley is one of the pioneer female author who tried to breakthrough the skepticism and two hundred years later, still succeeded.
    • 3/5
      I never knew the true story of Frankenstein, and probably would not have read it had it not been a book club selection. However, I am glad I did. The language is flowery and old English, yet it was not a hard read. The story line is sad and really, it is about the parallels of three lives; that of the monster, Victor Frankenstein, and the drive Robert Walton. Their lives are all affected by the spark that drives their lives; something different for each of the three. Unredeeming, yet there is a message there about hope.
    • 3/5
      So i've heard a lot about Frankenstein, we all know the moaning green monstrous man that has bolts in his neck and the top of his head sewed on right? Wrong! This book is nothing like the film, i was completely surprised to find that firstly the monster isn't even called Frankenstein, that was his creator but the monster him self is never referred to by that name, secondly he isn't green and neither is he described as the figure we are all familiar with. Very surprising! Despite the 3/5 i did really enjoy this book, the problem i found was probably more so the time of year that i've read it. Its a very depressing read, all throughout the character is mostly in a state of devastation, regret and in an ill state of mind. His depression got a tiny bit tedious to read when its nearly christmas and supposed to be a happy festive time, because it was pretty much relentless. There wasnt exactly a happy ending either. I read a 1900's version of the book and have to say i really love the elaborate style of writing, whilst it took longer to read i do occasionally enjoy a book that has some age about it. All in all a good read but not one for such a festive time of year
    • 1/5
      Oh what wretched mortal agony it was to try to read this agonizingly wretched book!
    • 3/5
      This was my second time reading Frankenstein and each time I have struggled with the same issues. I find it very hard to get into the story and once I'm there the narrator is so unreliable I am constantly frustrated by him. I love that the actual story of Frankenstein is so different than what is known in pop culture. I only wish I loved the book more.
    • 3/5
      Finally finished Frankenstein, not an easy read, perhaps the gothic horror genre or the language? Still, interesting from the classics perspective and having been written by a woman in that period...quite a bleak look upon humanity, not that her look upon humanity would be better now!
      Inspired by Ghost stories, I do remember a movie made in the 80's around Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley....I can't help admiring Mary Shelley. What a dark and painful tale to have carried within.

      Tragically sad, hopeless, vain, depraved, mad, obsessive, shameful, ungrateful, self absorbed, extreme, horrific, cruel, unimaginable yet easily understandable.
    • 4/5
      Realizing there are some books I am just never going to get around to, I've decided to at least have the experience of having them read to me via audiobook. I don't consider this a substitution for the reading process, but it ranks as number two when it comes to experiencing a work of literature. I chose FRANKENSTEIN first.I'm glad to finally have experienced this story in its original form. Great story, but it left me sad and angry. I have grown to really despise Victor Frankenstein, a creator who abandoned his creation at the onset, merely because he was ugly. No one in the book affords the Creature any lasting sympathy, this is left only for the readers, if they are so inclined. Even the explorer from the book's framing sequence seems to side with Victor and he supposedly hear the tale exactly as I did. As the book drew to a close I was astounded that he felt admiration for Victor after the man's own tale exposed him as self-pitying, sniveling and often stupid coward. I suppose Mary Shelley must have been commenting on the society she lived in. Strangely, it makes me appreciate the character of Frederick Frankenstein in the comedy YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN more, as he is practically the antithesis of Victor, showing care and compassion for his creation despite his appearance.
    • 4/5
      Frankenstein, Frankenstein, Frankenstein!!! Such a surprise for me! I thought I knew everything about it even before reading it. Likely because of this popular story of a monster created in a castle by night and during a heavy lightening storm. But no, I was totally wrong and the story isn’t about how to create a monster, it is about how this monster could evolve in human society. It really makes the story interesting, especially because we don’t what to think of the monster. Is he good, bad, both??? Sometimes, this monster reminds me some thoughts I had, like, “if I was born twenty years old and had to figure everything by myself”? Moreover, the monster has the bad luck to be also very repulsive. This book is a classic that everyone needs to read, not to stay on wrong ideas that many people have. Plus, the feelings I felt while reading were very unique and therefore, kind of new. I had never been torn that much about a character, and I liked it a lot. However, I don’t share this feeling about Victor (who is the actual Frankenstein, the creature don’t have a name), I totally dislike him. His first idea to play with life was irresponsible and then he didn’t even take care of what he did. Also, I think that everyone should search in which context this book has been written. It may add some suspense.
    • 5/5
      What makes this story magnificent is that it doesn't rely upon cheap thrills or blood or gore to achieve its horror (not that I'm opposed), and yet without any of these things it chills you to the bone with its monster. Although there are shocks and twists along the way, truly terrifying is what Shelley exposes about the nature of humanity, it's biases, its frailty in memory and perception, and its conceptions of truth, beauty, and purpose. As you approach the end, you have a sneaking suspicion the real monster of the book is you, in the emptiness of all that you think you are and all that you are not. That's the magic. As so few books can, this story transcends its pages to include you as one of its destined characters, to spook you with your own conclusions it had set lying in wait…and in this way you sympathize with both Frankenstein and his monster in having both created an existential terror while also being one! And thus you are left unhinged.
      Beware: the more you chew on this book the more it will haunt you...someplace deep, very deep.

      Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. Begun as a ghost story by an intellectually and socially precocious eighteen-year-old author during a cold and rainy summer on the shores of Lake Geneva, the dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his stitched-together creature can be read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor, “the modern Prometheus,” tried to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life.



      Shelly depicts birth as both creative and destructive, and the monster becomes a disfigured mirror of the natural cycle of life.
      The monster, therefore, embodies Dr.Frankenstein’s corruption of nature in the quest for glory.
      The protagonist's hamartia (fatal-flaw) - the god complex - is most clear in the line:
      “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.”

      This, for some, maybe an allegory of Gnosticism whereby God is a tyrant who creates evil in the world through repression.
      What is the final verdict in terms of the Creature's good or evil identity?
      Also are we, as human beings, formed by "nature" or "nurture" or both?
      It is really hard to say who is the monster/evil, Creator =!= Createe.
      But then again, how would we measure humanity in either of them? 

      The Daemon* was innocent, sweet, and caring, but also abused, abandoned, and unloved. The fact that society fails in its ability to sympathize with the creature is evidence enough of the absence of morality and common decency. As a result, the creature is a prime example of isolation. Essentially, the Creature does not begin as the cruel and monstrous murderer, but rather is a product of the lack of sympathy from society, and more importantly from his creator, Victor. Even being the source of the Creature's misery, a dying Victor earns his "child's" loyalty as the Creature drapes himself over his dying "father" and exclaims, "Oh, Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! I...destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst". As if facing the reality he has painfully known all along, the Creature beholds his dead father and states, "Alas! He is cold, he cannot answer me".

      Maybe the monster is more human than the human.

    • 3/5
      While the story had some flaws in my opinion, which I won't enumerate here, I really liked the story overall. I found it very interesting to get the "real" story of Frankenstein after having grown up with a certain image of him from the media, TV, and movies. I was surprised that I had no idea what the story was really like. The only thing my notion of it and the actual book had in common was the fact that Frankenstein created a monster. (Did I miss the lightning bolt?) He didn't even look the same! I was excited at the premise, but then would find the story lacking at times, and was frustrated as I felt great potential for it to have been better. I got the feeling that the author was trying to create some degree of sympathy for the monster, and for most of the book I did not feel it. In fact, I thought he whined a bit too much. But at the end... well, I loved how it ended. I did feel sympathy. He was the monster I wanted him to be. Fun to read right before Halloween.
    • 4/5
      I liked the monster better than Frankenstein. Frankenstein was such a whiny, solipsistic dork. All he does he go on and on about himself and how put upon he is by everything. Well jerk, maybe you shouldn't have created life and then ran away! Or next time make one that's prettier. Idiot.
    • 3/5
      Great book, but I picked horrible timing on reading this. Note to anyone interested in reading this: do not read during/after a break-up. It will make you even more angsty than normal. At times it was legitimately painful to read this because Dr. Frankenstein and his monster are such miserable, wretched creatures and I was too! Too much angst and misery! This book discusses the classic struggle between man and monster, but as Mary Shelley points out in this vivid read, who is more monster; the man or the monster himself? It's not very clear, one wants to pity them both because they both suffer. Dr. Frankenstein suffers because the monster whom he created is so terrifying and supposedly wants to kill his family. The monster suffers because he is so alone and everyone is scared of his scary size and appearance. He does not wish to be alone, but Dr. Frankenstein refuses to make him a companion so he vows vengeance by killing of his creator's family.Eloquently written, and still powerful. This is a read that will resonate with readers long after they've read it.
    • 3/5
      I have thought, but this being a classic piece of literature, I'm not going to write them down for posterity. That never served me well in lit classes, and I don't foresee it going well on the internet.
    • 2/5
      I know I am supposed to think this was a wonderful novel - but I don't. I honestly had a difficult time making myself finish the story - it was like forcing myself to read Grapes of Wrath my junior year all over again.... I think the the monster is vile and there is no room for any critic to say "oh he's really good and it's Frankenstein that makes him bad." I think Frankenstein is too weak and I have no sympathy for him or the monster. Yeah, in this instance the original is not better than the re-interpretations...
    • 4/5
      Sandy bought an extra copy of this for her Sci-fi Literature course by accident, and I'd been feeling nostalgic for my Gothic Literature college course (plus, I needed a book for the "Book from the 1800s for book bingo), so I snatched this up when she offered it on Books, Beer, and Pizza night.

      All I'd forgotten since the last reading! Entirely forgotten was the framing story, with its Victorian polar expedition (qualifies it for a place on my polar fiction shelf, in my opinion!), many other details becoming familiar only as I re-read them.

      All the ways Valtat's New Venice series was influenced by this classic are impossible to elucidate. I also feel compelled now to re-read Alasdair Gray's Poor Things.

      A ghost story, to be sure, but also a story that will leave you pondering how the self is defined by the perceptions and judgements of others. Among other things...
    • 2/5
      Okay, so it's taken me almost six months to finish this one, and part of the motivation to wrap it up is that it's due at the public library this week, and the online system wouldn't let me renew it again!! I'm glad I read it, but I'm glad I'm done with it. It was okay, but I didn't like it as much as I'd hoped.
    • 5/5
      Despite its 19th century style and vocabulary this story still horrifies, partly because the gruesome details are left to the imagination. Victor Frankenstein does not reveal how he reanimates the creature. Stephen King would have spent several bloody chapters arranging the guts and brains and eyeballs. The motion picture image of the creature is only supported by Shelley’s description of the watery yellow eyes and the straight black lips. The pearly white teeth, lustrous flowing black hair, limbs in proportion, and beautiful features give a more godlike aspect to the monster. The violence is barely described. A dead body with finger prints on its throat. An execution. Some screams and sticks and stones to drive the creature out of a cottage. Even the death of Victor’s fiancee is but a muffled scream in a distant bedroom and a body on the bed. The true horror is symbolic, mythical, ethical, and metaphysical. Mary Shelley describes the consequences of hubris in prose while her husband gives a similar image poetically in Ozymandias. “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”
    • 2/5
      I had high hopes for this book. It had some good ideas but they all ended up being underdeveloped, mixed up and shallow. I also found the monster's knowledge and self-teaching to be somewhat improbable and convenient. Finally, I did not appreciate the narrator's worship of Frankenstein. I wanted to strangle the lot of them by the end.
    • 5/5
      total classic book, one of the best books i have ever read and one of my favourite. when i read this i got goosebumps and shivers down my spine it terrified me but i could not put it down. brilliant book. must read for any horror lover.
    • 4/5
      Summary: Driven guy takes things a bit too far and ends up creating something that destroys everything:

      Things I liked.

      Introducing the main protaganist through the eyes of a secondary category. This reminded me a bit of Gatsby and Nick.

      Good questions/ideas: The 'Other', obsession, what is human etc. Good fodder for thinking/rethinking about what you believe.

      Things I thought could be improved:

      Main character is pretty whiney, and doesn't really take a lot of responsbility for his actions. It makes him hard to relate to a bit unlikeable. Given most of the story is told through his eyes that's a problem. I'd probably recommend giving him a bit more self-awareness at the end, preserving his stupidity in the main story, to increase the sense of empathy and connection with his tale.

      Some of the plotting is a bit far fetched and obviously contrived to drive the story. In particular I remember when he decides to reveal his secret to Elizabeth but only 'after' their fateful wedding day. If he was going to be truthful with her wouldn't he/she do it immediately. .

      Highlight:

      Probably when the 'other' spoke for the first time. Hollywood had taught me to expect one thing. I was pretty taken aback and appreciated the variation.

      Lessons Learned:

      Chill out in life or you might find the object of your obsession ends up wrecking all the good things you have in your life.
    • 5/5
      The Basics

      Victor Frankenstein has a strange fascination with medicine and magic. He believes the two can be combined to overcome our human limitations. Like death and the creation of new life. When he is mocked for his beliefs, he decides to take matters into his own hands and prove his theories. In the process, he begins down a path toward his own destruction.

      My Thoughts

      What more can be said about this book that hasn’t already been said and by wiser folks than me? It’s a classic with good reason. Shelley created tropes, characters, and cliches that are still in use today. She created an entire genre from scratch. Imagine a science fiction story, the tale of a monster, or a fusion of science fiction and horror, and then imagine not having it (or at least not having it in the incarnation you may know or love) if Shelley hadn’t had this grim inspiration. The world feels more empty just thinking it.

      Maybe someone would’ve figured out the art of telling a story like this eventually, but I wonder if they would’ve done it in such a beautiful way with such rich language. I realize the language might hold some readers back, but I want to encourage anyone intimidated by Shelley’s writing to push through anyway. Enjoy the words and the way they’re written. Stephen King, to paraphrase, once said you should read books for the great writing, and you should read other books for the story, but when you find a book with great writing and a wonderful story, cherish that book. I cherish this book, because it has an abundance of both.

      The story itself spans years and continents in a short space, and for that, it moves with a deepening sense of suspense. It’s dark and tragic, and the complicated characters reflect this. I’ve heard it said that Victor is the villain and the creature an anti-hero. For my interpretation (since that’s all I had to give with so many voices already speaking on this topic), they were both the heroes of their own story, both wrecked by the other, making them also villains. As much as I sympathized with the creature, I can’t justify everything he did. And as much as Victor had his faults and his terrible mistakes, I felt for him when he expressed guilt to the point of being unable to share his dark secrets.

      There’s more to be said. With something that stood the test of time like this has, there would be. But the most I can say is that I appreciate this book, I enjoyed it immensely, and I feel better for having read it.

      Final Rating

      5/5
    • 4/5
      A fairly quick read, and enjoyable.