From the AGI Bookshelf: Year Zero: A History of 1945
In this review, AGI Senior Research Program Associate Parke Nicholson discusses Ian Buruma’s Year Zero: A History of 1945 (Penguin Press, 2013). Writing for The Diplomat this past December, Mr. Nicholson notes the book’s insights into German and Japanese post-war reconciliation. Although moderate parties benefited from both Germans’ and Japanese citizens’ desire for stability, Germany’s success in reconciling with its neighbors was largely absent in Japan.
This message has also been a longtime focus of AGI’s Society, Culture, and Politics program, where Director Lily Gardner Feldman — an expert on the topic — recently led a conference, titled “Political and Societal Leadership in Encouraging Reconciliation: A Comparison of Japanese and German Foreign Policies in their Neighborhoods.”
