Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan

(Paperback, Main)

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WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION'A comparative study of great subtlety and intelligence'SpectatorIn this highly original and now classic text, Ian Buruma explores and compares how Germany and Japan have attempted to come to terms with their violent pasts, and investigates the painful realities of living with guilt - and with its denialAs he travels through both countries, Burma encounters people whose honesty in confronting their past is strikingly brave, and other who astonish by the ingenuity of their evasions of responsibility In Auschwitz, Berlin, Hiroshima and Tokyo he explores the contradictory attitudes of scholars, politicians and survivors towards the Second World War and visits the contrasting monuments that commemorate the atrocities of the war. These opposing voices reveal how an obsession with the past, especially distorted versions of it, continually raises questions about who should indeed pay the wages of guilt.'Absorbing and sometimes surprising'A.C. Grayling, Financial Times'Buruma's sensitive account . . . is most disturbing to read. I strongly recommend this unusual book'Paul Johnson, Sunday Times'Wise and very readable'New Statesman

Reviews

"'A comparative study of great subtlety and intelligence' Spectator * 'A profound book' Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Telegraph 'Absorbing and sometimes surprising' A. C. Grayling, Financial Times 'Buruma's sensitive account... is most disturbing to read. I strongly recommend [this] unusual book.' Sunday Times"

Author Bio

Ian Buruma is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College in New York state. His previous books include God's Dust, Bad Elements, Anglomania and Murder in Amsterdam, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Current Interest Book and was shortlisted for The Samuel Johnson Prize. He was the recipient of the 2008 Shorenstein Journalism Award, which honoured him for his distinguished body of work, and the 2008 Erasmus Prize.