This book describes Japanese diplomacy and events in Japan that led to the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, the course of that war, and the eventual defeat of Japanese forces in 1945. With extensive use of documents and interviews with Japan’s former leaders, the author tells that story from a predominantly Japanese point of view. He begins by describing a failed 1936 coup by army officers disgruntled by their government’s expansionist policy in China. He includes in the book information on the causes of World War II in the Pacific, the major battles in that theater of the war, such as the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Japanese home front during the war, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the circumstances of the Japanese surrender. The book contains photographs and maps.