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John Toland - 11/8/2008 8:08:27 AM   
ilovestrategy


Posts: 3611
Joined: 6/11/2005
From: San Diego
Status: offline 		I've read his Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire. I liked his writing style so much I started reading Adolf Hitler and I'm halfway through it.
It just astounds me the amount of research that he did and this was before the internet.

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After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
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RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 9:55:41 AM   
Terminus


Posts: 41459
Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		Well, the vast majority of research of all types was done before there was Internet...

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RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 12:39:43 PM   
Widell


Posts: 913
Joined: 4/27/2005
From: Trollhättan, Sweden
Status: offline 		What! No Wikipedia?

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RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 1:40:36 PM   
Titanwarrior89


Posts: 3283
Joined: 8/28/2003
From: arkansas
Status: offline 		Read it myself. Its a good read. He has writen some good stuff.
quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

I've read his Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire. I liked his writing style so much I started reading Adolf Hitler and I'm halfway through it.
It just astounds me the amount of research that he did and this was before the internet.



< Message edited by Titanwarrior89 -- 11/8/2008 1:41:15 PM >

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Post #: 4
RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 1:53:38 PM   
SlickWilhelm


Posts: 1854
Joined: 7/22/2007
From: Rochester, MN
Status: offline 		Oh boy, another chance to groom a John Toland fan! :)

ilovestrategy, you've got a lot of great reading ahead of you. The book you've just read, The Rising Sun:The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire was the book that earned Toland the Pulitzer Prize.

Some of his other more famous books:

The Last One Hundred Days - The last 100 days of WWII.
No Man's Land: 1918, the Last Year of the Great War.
But Not in Shame - The first six months of WWII in the Pacific.
Adolf Hitler
Battle: The Story of the Bulge

What stands out in my mind as to what makes Toland great, is his decision to tell his stories by using the experiences of humans caught up in the situations. His narrative also sucks you in and keeps you there throughout. With Cornelius Ryan, he is the most interesting of the great historic authors of the last half of the 20th century.

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Post #: 5
RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 2:37:41 PM   
sol_invictus


Posts: 1961
Joined: 10/2/2001
From: Kentucky
Status: offline 		I have only read Battle, since Toland writes on subjects that I am not really interested in, but I must say that Battle is one of the best histories of WWII combat I have ever read. If only he had written on some Napoleonic subjects.

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RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 4:04:59 PM   
sullafelix

 

Posts: 1520
Joined: 1/11/2005
Status: offline 		Toland was in Japan right after the war. I believe he was in the army. He also had a Japanese wife. I love No Man's land and Rising Sun. The only caveat is that in Rising Sun he follows the " company line " that Hirohito  ( Showa ) was pretty much a totally uninvolved spectator in the planning of the war. Toland's findings and that reporting of events has been debunked by many authors since the book was written. I was at a VFW sponsored talk of his that also included a German army major from WW2 and a representative of the Japanese consulate. During the Q+A period I asked him why he came to such different conclusion than the newer authors on the emperors involvement. I was not unrespectful or rude in my question. I phrased it as politely as I could. His answer was bluntly they were wrong, with no explanation of why.

One thing that was very surprising from the Vets was that at least from the ones who spoke from the crowd, was that they felt that there was really no need to have fought Japan and negotiations should have prevented it. They showed no animosity whatsoever toward Japan. I have no idea how many fought in the PTO compared to ETO. Their feelings toward Nazi Germany were however loud and vocal that Germanny had to be crushed ( not just beaten ). I was completely taken aback that with the pearl Harbor attack and no DOW that the Vets felt that way, and there were quite a few that held this opinion. many even apologized for the bomb.

As a personal note I had to go to his house a few years after this and deliver something. I must have been in a fog that day because I never noticed Toland's name on the slip. I got inside the house and saw a large history library and then the fact that the woman I was speaking to was Japanese, before it finally clicked. I tried to involve him in converation just to say how much I enjoyed his works. His bedside manner left a lot to be desired, I'll leave it at that.

(in reply to sol_invictus)
Post #: 7
RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 8:05:05 PM   
ilovestrategy


Posts: 3611
Joined: 6/11/2005
From: San Diego
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Well, the vast majority of research of all types was done before there was Internet...



TERMINUS!!!!!!!! You beat me in both WIT and POST COUNT!!!!!!!!


*shakes fist in ultimate frustration*

At leasT I got to use some smileys!

_____________________________

After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
Now CIV IV has me in it's evil clutches!

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Post #: 8
RE: John Toland - 11/8/2008 8:06:04 PM   
ilovestrategy


Posts: 3611
Joined: 6/11/2005
From: San Diego
Status: offline 		Oh, and ignore that capital "T" in least. Dang typos! 

_____________________________

After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
Now CIV IV has me in it's evil clutches!

(in reply to ilovestrategy)
Post #: 9
RE: John Toland - 11/9/2008 10:03:01 AM   
leastonh1


Posts: 879
Joined: 2/12/2005
From: West Yorkshire, England
Status: offline 		Just ordered Battle, based on this thread. Thanks guys! 

All the best,
Jim


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Richard Winters: We're paratroopers, Lieutenant, we're supposed to be surrounded.

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Post #: 10
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