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Matthew Legare - Thriller Author

Website for Matthew Legare, writer of historical, thriller, and noir novels, including the Reiko Watanabe/Inspector Aizawa series set in 1930s Japan.

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History

Shanghai by Riichi Yokomitsu – a Japanese Novel of Interwar Shanghai

February 17, 2023 by Matthew Legare 4 Comments

Shanghai by Riichi YokomitsuShanghai between the world wars is a fascination of Westerns, the Chinese themselves, but also the Japanese. The zeitgeist of 1920s Shanghai is reflected in the appropriately named Shanghai by Riichi Yokomitsu.
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Tagged With: China, Japan, Japanese fiction, Shanghai

Human Bullets by Tadayoshi Sakurai – A Memoir of the Russo-Japanese War

December 16, 2022 by Matthew Legare 1 Comment

Human Bullets by Tadayoshi SakuraiThe Russo-Japanese War is a fascinating conflict that, arguably, was one of the most important events in the 20th century. It contributed to the decline of the Russian Empire, paving the way for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and gave rise to the Japanese Empire, paving the way to Pearl Harbor. And yet, this war is often overlooked in the West, leading to a dearth of first-hand English language accounts. Thankfully, Human Bullets (1906) by Tadayoshi Sakurai survives to fill that void.

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Tagged With: History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Memoirs, Military History

The Japanese Home Front 1937 – 1945 by Philipp Jowett & Adam Hook

September 17, 2022 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

Japanese Homefront OspreyAs I’ve stated many times, there’s long been a blind spot about the Asian Theater of World War II. You can stack the books written about Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan side by side, the former would dwarf the latter. When books do appear about Japan during World War II, they are usually about the front in the Pacific, or, less often, in the Chinese and Burma theaters. A notable exception is Japan At War: An Oral History. However, Osprey Publishing has recently released The Japanese Home Front 1937 – 1945, which aims to help fill that gap.

[Read more…] about The Japanese Home Front 1937 – 1945 by Philipp Jowett & Adam Hook

Tagged With: Japanese History, Japanese Military

The Bitter Peace by Philip S. Jowett – Conflict in China 1928-1937

July 15, 2022 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

The Bitter Peace by Philip S. Jowett

Chinese history has long been ignored in the West, but a few spotlights do shine out from time to time on certain events, even if only to provide superficial understanding. These usually point to the Opium Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, and, recently, the Sino-Japanese War. However, there is a small window of time in Chinese history that contained multiple smaller wars, which has almost been completely ignored by Western scholars. This brief era is what The Bitter Peace – Conflict in China 1928-37 by Philip S. Jowett illuminates.

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Tagged With: China, Chinese History, History, Military History

Japan’s Greatest Victory, Britain’s Worst Defeat By Masanobu Tsuji Review

June 10, 2022 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

Japan's Greatest Victory by Masanobu Tsuji

It’s often said, “history is written by the victors,” and this only half true. While the narrative of World War II is definitely constructed from the Allied lens, this does not mean that the vanquished were unable to tell their stories. German officers and soldiers pumped out volumes of memoirs during the postwar years, many of which were consumed voraciously by readers in America and Britain. Japanese memoirs were more sparse, at least regarding translations that made it to the West. One notable exception was Masanobu Tsuji’s memoir Japan’s Greatest Victory, Britain’s Worst Defeat.

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Tagged With: History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Memoirs, World War II

Japanese Destroyer Captain – A Memoir of The Pacific War

April 14, 2022 by Matthew Legare 6 Comments

Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi HaraJapanese Destroyer Captain is the postwar memoir of Tameichi Hara, a Japanese Navy officer who earned the nickname the “Miracle Captain.” He is one of the only Japanese captains to have survived the entire Pacific War from its beginning in 1941 to its end in 1945. Of the 175 destroyers the Imperial Navy possessed during World War II, 129 were sunk.

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Tagged With: History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Memoirs, nonfiction, World War II

China’s Good War by Rana Mitter Review

August 21, 2021 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

China's Good WarWorld War II has been cemented of the national consciousness as a “good war” in the Allied nations – America, Britain, Russia – for decades now. However, the fourth major partner of the Allies – China – has only recently embraced this narrative and until fairly recently, even downplayed its importance. This shift is the crux of Rana Mitter’s new book China Good War. [Read more…] about China’s Good War by Rana Mitter Review

Tagged With: Book Reviews, China, History, Japan, World War II

Terror in Japan: The October Plot, Blood Brotherhood, & May 15 Incident – Japanese History

May 14, 2021 by Matthew Legare 4 Comments

The years of 1931-32 were a turning point in Japanese history, typified by military coups, invasions, and political assassinations. Although this era only gets a fewNissho Inoue and the Ketsumeidan sentences in English language history books, the specific details of three events – the October Incident, the Blood Brotherhood Incident, and the 5-15 Incident – are fascinating in their own right and read like a thriller novel. I’ve taken information from various sources to create a thoroughly researched and detailed account of these events that changed the course of Japan.

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Tagged With: History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Tokyo, World War II

Japanese Songs from the 1930s – Music of the Reiko/Aizawa Series

April 17, 2021 by Matthew Legare 16 Comments

I am often asked if the musical references and songs that I include in the Reiko Watanabe/Inspector Aizawa series are real. Well, the answer is ‘yes’ and I have the reciepts to prove it. [Read more…] about Japanese Songs from the 1930s – Music of the Reiko/Aizawa Series

Tagged With: Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military

Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal Review

August 23, 2020 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal is a historical novel by Nail Edworthy, dealing with the Nazi hunt for the Holy Grail. It answers the question, ‘what if Indiana Jones was told through the Nazis’ point of view?’

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Tagged With: Berlin, Book Reviews, Germany, historical fiction, Secret History

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