Even after eighty years since the end of a conflict that killed thirty-five million people, there remains deeply-felt bitterness and anger about the way the Asia-Pacific War was fought, especially by the Japanese.

The war in the East stretched from Hawaii to India - with Japanese forces attacking Singapore, China and Malaysia, as well as bombing the north coast of Australia. The Allied forces, led by the US, waged an island-by-island counteroffensive that eventually saw the invasion of the Japanese homeland.

Japan has been vilified for the countless examples of its cruelty to civilians and prisoners of war. These criticisms have led to a backlash in Japan, where many deny that the accusations are true.

By going back to the origins of modern Japan, and by using only Japanese accounts, Japan's War: Hirohito's Holy War Against the West offers a powerful account of the conflict and explains in detail why the Japanese conducted the war in the way that they did.