“Packed with carefully chosen photos . . . this book is a moving reminder of the material and moral devastation left behind by Nazi Germany.” ―Rudy Koshar, University of Wisconsin–Madison The Allied forces that entered Germany at the close of World War II were looking for remorse and open admissions of guilt from the Germans. Instead, they saw arrogance, servility, and a population thoroughly brainwashed by Nazis. But photos from the period tell a more complex story. In fact, Dagmar Barnouw argues that postwar Allied and German photography holds many possible clues for understanding the recent German past. A significant addition to the scholarship on postwar German culture and political identity, this book makes an important contribution to the current discussion of German memory. “Provocative, brilliant, and unsettling.” —Washington Times “[Barnouw’s] thoughtful analysis of a large assortment of photographs . . . allows Barnouw to look at how and not just what people saw, and to bring that perspective into conversation with the historical debates about the war’s end in Germany.” —Journal of Contemporary History) “[Barnouw’s] work shows that perspective plays a key role both in photography and in trying to master Germany’s past. [F]ascinating.” —Library Journal

A chronicle of the frontline photographers of World War II recounts the sometimes harrowing exploits of the American Military Photographers, men armed with cameras who accompanied the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy into battle.

Before 1940, the Japanese empire stood as the greatest single threat to the American presence in the Pacific and East Asia. To a lesser degree, the formerly hegemonic colonial powers of Britain, France, and the Netherlands still controlled portions of the region. At the same time, subjugated peoples in East Asia and Southeast Asia struggled to throw off colonialism. By the late 1930s, the competition exploded into armed conflict. Japan looked like the early victor, but the United States eventually established itself as the hegemonic power in the Pacific Basin by 1945. Yet when it comes to the American movement out into the Pacific, there is more to the story that has yet to be revealed. In War in the American Pacific and East Asia, 1941–1972, editor Hal Friedman brings together nine essays that explore lesser known aspects and consequences of America's military expansion into the Pacific during and after World War II. This study explores how the United States won the Pacific War against Japan and how it sought to secure that victory in the decades that followed, ensure it never endured another Pearl Harbor–style defeat, and saw the Pacific fulfill a Manifest Destiny–like role as an American frontier projected toward East Asia. The collection explores the role of the US military in the Pacific Basin in different ways by presenting essays on interservice rivalry and military advising as well as unique topics that are new to military history, such as the investigations of strategic communications, military public relations, institutional cultures of elite forces, foodways, and the military's interaction with the press. Together, these essays provide a path for historians to pursue groundbreaking areas of research about the Pacific and establish the Pacific War as the pivotal point in the twentieth century in the Pacific Basin.