DIVINE THUNDER: Life and Death of the Kamikazes

A short account of the kamikazes in World War Ii with only paragraph-to-page descriptions of its Shinto origins and the Bushido code by which ""a samurai lives in such a way that he is always ready to die."" This book is really only a tabulation of the assaults by actions from the Philippines through Okinawa, in the air primarily but also underwater (midget submarines) and on the ground in direct combat. At the close Millet unleashes a slack speculation: ""If Japan had been victorious, would not the kamikaze principle have been praised all over the world"" and he seems to admire this exemplification of ""the forgotten message of human grandeur."" In the beginning, and in spite of Yukio Mishima, he indicates that the ""country is no longer the same."" The facts themselves serve only the facts as they generate little interest and a line like ""There were many other combats all over the Pacific during which the Japanese had occasion to apply the same tactics"" would indicate that he has also been too literally translated from the French.