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The Last Mission: The Secret History of World War II's Final BattleA gripping account of the final American bombing mission of World War II and how it prevented a military coup that would have kept Japan in the war. How close did the Japanese come to not surrendering to Allied forces on August 15, 1945? The Last Mission explores this question through two previously neglected strands of late World War II history, whose very interconnections could have caused a harrowing shift in the course of the postwar world. On the
A gripping account of the final American bombing mission of World War II and how it prevented a military coup that would have kept Japan in the war. How close did the Japanese come to not surrendering to Allied forces on August 15, 1945? The Last Mission explores this question through two previously neglected strands of late--World War II history, whose very interconnections could have caused a harrowing shift in the course of the postwar world. On the final night of the war, as Emperor Hirohito recorded a message of surrender for the Japanese people, a band of Japanese rebels, commanded by War Minister Anami's elite staff, burst into the palace. They had plotted a massive coup that aimed to destroy the recordings of the Imperial Rescript of surrender and issue false orders forged with the Emperor's seal commanding the widely dispersed Japanese military to continue the war. If this rebellion had succeeded, the military would have proceeded with large-scale kamikaze attacks on Allied forces, costing huge casualties and just possibly provoking the Americans to drop a third atomic bomb on Japan over Tokyo-and continue to drop more bombs as Japanese resistance stiffened. Meanwhile, in the midst of an "end-of-war" celebration on Guam, Air Force radio operator Jim Smith and his fellow crewmen received urgent orders for a bombing mission over Japan's sole remaining oil refinery north of Tokyo. As a stream of American B-29B bombers approached Tokyo, Japanese air defenses, fearing the approaching planes signaled the threat of a third atomic bomb, ordered a total blackout in Tokyo and the Imperial Palace, completely disrupting the rebels' plans. Smith and his fellow crewmembers completed the mission, and a few hours later, the Emperor announced the surrender over Japan's airwaves, dictating the end of the war. The Last Mission is an insightful piece of speculative investigation that combines narrative storytelling with historical contingency and explores how two seemingly unrelated events could have profoundly changed the course of modern history.Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Broadway Books
Published: 05/06/2003
ISBN: 9780767907798
Pages: 384
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 1.10d
Review Citations: Kliatt 09/01/2003 pg. 42
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4.4 ★★★★★
Based on 14 reviews
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★★★★★ 5
Buy it!!!
Format: Paperback
Wonderful book. Great presentation you should absolutely buy and read this work!
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Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2026
★★★★★ 5
A timeless guide to spiritual perfection
Format: Kindle
A classic book on spiritual perfection and how to achieve it. The metaphors may be set in the past, but there is enough commonality with the present that this generation can still understand what this great Saint is communicating. He only makes one mistake: Spiritual perfection is not a possibility only for monks; lay people can achieve it as well. This is a book that all can profit from, whether one is just beginning to climb or is near the top.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2025
★★★★★ 5
An Eritrean Oriental Orthodox Tewahedo Nun's Comments
Format: Kindle
For 28 years I served (with a lowercase "s" ) alongside my Eastern Orthodox husband/Archpriest, who reposed in 2018. Now as a Tewahedo Hermitess, with access to the world rather than strict enclosure inside the monastery, little father John Climacus' book serves as a helpful reference guide to me to determine how Eastern (communion) coenobitic monks during post-Chalcedonian Schizm tried to refine and perfect the more ancient Syriac strivings of stages of spiritual perfection started first by the "Sons and Daughters of the Covenant" transformed into a "narrow path to salvation" inside tonsured communities. While we do not use little father John's book as a key "focal point" in our Oriental Churches, it is important to preserve this copy - true to its original content - like all watershed moments in Orthodox Church History, and investigate if there are living parallels of little Father John's system used by Oriental monasteries, written by their respective Hegumens, within the same relevant time period. I am guessing there are probably so, because what Christ truly teaches and inspires, He never usually leaves to one person alone. "Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in My Name, there Am I in the midst of them" is the Peace of the Apostolic covenant of Christ, among the Churches founded by His 12 Apostles - a Peace and a symmetry that still can be found despite the heartbreaking misinformation, bias, and (in some spots of the world) bitter kernels of monastically - engendered hatred towards reunification of Eastern and Oriental communities into one, whole, functional and understood Church. He who has ears, let him hear (and examine)!
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Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2025
★★★★★ 5
The Essential Work Other Than the Bible for Orthodox Christians
Format: Kindle
I just finished reading The Ladder for the fourth time. I read it every Great Lent before our Sunday of St. John Climacus. It is stern and austere being written for monks, but glorious in the lessons it provides for those of us not monastics. It is a roadmap to a Christian life, challenging and aspirational, inspiring and humbling. I learn something new with each reading, and my faith deepens. But been non-Christian readers can profit from this, as it is a great meditation on a life well loved, and an excellent depiction of the essence of a dedicated Christian life.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Great spiritual guide
It’s a fairly confusing book if you don’t know a lot about the Orthodox Church. But for anyone with enough patience to want to learn how to grow spiritually this is perfect.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2025