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THE IMPERIAL CRUISE: A Secret History of Empire and War, by James Bradley (Back Bay/Little, Brown, $16.99.)
James Bradley is the son of John Bradley, one of the men who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima. He is the author of "Flags of our Fathers" and "Flyboys." His most recent book is "The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War."
Read the original article at: www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/books/review/PaperRow-t.html
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Editor's Choice
Bradley, whose Flags of Our Fathers recounted how his father helped plant the American flag on Iwo Jima, here contends that William Taft's covert 1905 diplomatic mission to Japan helped set the stage for World War II in the Pacific, the Chinese Communist Revolution and the Korean War. With each port of call, Bradley assesses the effects of American race-based foreign policy calculations in Asia: the brutal counterinsurgency in the Philippines, the forced annexation of Hawaii, the betrayal of promises to protect Korea from Japanese expansionism. "Engrossing and revelatory, The Imperial Cruise is revisionist history at its best," Ronald Steel wrote here.
