IN THE RUINS OF EMPIRE

Ronald Spector's FROM THE RUINS OF EMPIRE: The Japanese Surrender and How Peace Was Lost in Asia is a unique history revealing how the end of the war in the Pacific unexpectedly spawned new and violent conflicts determined to overthrow the old Colonial powers.

Following the end of WWII, 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, peace lasted only a few weeks 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. With the end of the Cold War, new material on these events has become available from Soviet and Chinese archives. Spector also draws from recently declassified US documents as well as newly available material from Japan. Spector is professor of history and international relations at George Washington University, and was distinguished professor of strategy at the National War College as well as distinguished guest professor at Kyoto University at Tokyo. He is the author of several books, including Eagle Against the Sun.