Research Catalog

Blossoms in the wind : human legacies of the Kamikaze

Title
Blossoms in the wind : human legacies of the Kamikaze / M.G. Sheftall.
Author
Sheftall, M. G. (Mordecai G.)
Publication
  • New York : Dutton Caliber, [2023]
  • ©2005

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Details

Description
x, 478 pages; 24 cm
Summary
A revelatory and groundbreaking account of Imperial Japan's kamikaze--the suicide pilots of World War II--as told through the eyes of the survivors. In the final year of World War II, a horrific new weapon was unleashed in the Pacific: the kamikaze. Idealistic, young Japanese men had been taught that there was no greater glory than to sacrifice one's life to defend the homeland. Now, with the war all but lost, thousands of these determined warriors were hastily trained in the basics of piloting an airplane, then sent out in waves to crash into enemy warships, suicide attacks that killed altogether some seven thousand American sailors. But what of those men who took the sacred oath to die in battle and lived? In the wake of 9/11, ethnographer M. G. Sheftall was given unprecedented access to the cloistered community of Japan's last remaining kamikaze survivors. As an American fluent in Japanese, Sheftall was the only westerner to ever sit face-to-face with these men and hear their stories. The result is a fascinating journey into the lives, indoctrination, and mindsets of the kamikaze, through the eyes of participants who are now lost to time.
Subject
  • Japan. Kaigun. Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kōgekitai
  • World War, 1939-1945 > Aerial operations, Japanese
  • Kamikaze airplanes
  • Kamikaze pilots
  • Suicide > Japan > Psychological aspects
  • World War, 1939-1945 > Campaigns > Pacific Ocean
  • Kamikaze pilots > Japan
  • Japan > History, Military
Note
  • "Previously published as an NAL Caliber hardcover in 2005 and trade paperback in 2006."--Title page verso.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 461-469) and index.
Contents
Part One. A time for heroes -- Part Two. All boys dream of flying -- Part Three. The ultimate smart bomb -- Part Four. A soldier's scrapbook -- Part Five. Nadeshiko -- Part Six. Bride doll -- Part Seven. Doctor Hiroshima -- Part Eight. Torpedomen in twilight.
ISBN
  • 9780593472316
  • 0593472314
  • 9780593472323 (canceled/invalid)
  • 0593472322 (canceled/invalid)
OCLC
  • on1330404630
  • SCSB-14669517
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library