MIT World Speakers

John W. Dower

John Dower's interests lie in modern Japanese history and US-Japan relations. His publications have received numerous awards. His most recent book, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (1999), won numerous honors, including the Pulitzer Prize in Letters for General Nonfiction, National Book Award in Nonfiction, Bancroft Prize in American History, John K. Fairbank Prize in Asian History, Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History, Mark Lynton History Prize, and L. L. Winship/PEN New England Prize. Other books include Empire and Aftermath: Yoshida Shigeru and the Japanese Experience (1979); War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War, (1986); and collected essays under the title Japan in War and Peace (1994). Dower was also the executive producer of a documentary film entitled Hellfire -- A Journey from Hiroshima, which was nominated in 1988 for an Academy Award.

Dower received his Ph.D. in 1972 in History and Far Eastern Languages from Harvard University.