The Rising Sun: The Decline & Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–45 is a sweeping, Pulitzer Prize–winning epic that brings to life the dramatic rise, catastrophic fall, and enduring legacy of Japan’s WWII era. Told through meticulous research and firsthand accounts from both Japanese and Allied perspectives, Toland constructs a vivid, human-centered chronicle of ambition, strategy, cultural forces, and the devastating cost of total war. From imperial boardrooms to remote Pacific battlefields, this masterwork captures the motivations and miscalculations that shaped one of history’s most consequential conflicts. For readers of military history, international affairs, and powerful narrative nonfiction, The Rising Sun stands as an unmatched, definitive portrait of a nation at war—and the world it irrevocably changed.
