Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia (Paperback) - Gary J. Bass

The definitive account of the Tokyo war crimes trials of 1946-8 and the impact the settlement has had on post-war China and Japan, and on the wider the world right up to the present day.

A Finalist for the 2024 Cundill History Prize
Longlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize
A Best Book of the Year in The Economist, Prospect, The Telegraph, TLS, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Foreign Affairs

'Magisterial' - Max Hastings, The Sunday Times
'Monumental' - Rana Mitter, Times Literary Supplement

A landmark history of the postwar trials of Japan's leaders as war criminals, and their impact on the modern history of Asia and the world.

'Every so often, a new work emerges of such immense scholarship and weight that it really does add a significant difference to our understanding of the Second World War and its consequences. Judgement at Tokyo is a monumental work in both scale and detail' - James Holland, The Sunday Telegraph

'A work of singular importance . . . balanced, original, human, accessible, and riveting' - Philippe Sands, author of East-West Street

In the aftermath of World War II, the victorious Allied powers turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. The Tokyo trial - the largely overlooked counterpart to Nuremberg - was an opportunity both to render judgment on the Allies' vanquished foes and to create a legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of aggressive war. For the Japanese leaders on trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism and that the court was no more than victors' justice.

Judgement at Tokyo is a magnificent, riveting story of wartime action, dramatic courtroom battles, and the epic formative years of postwar Asia.

'A comprehensive, landmark and riveting book' - The Washington Post, 'The 10 Best Books of 2023'
'Breathtakingly ambitious and unlikely to be bettered as a portrait of the trials and their place in postwar global history' - History Today

About the Author

Gary J. Bass is a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of Judgement at Tokyo and The Blood Telegram, winner of the Cundill History Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. A former reporter for The Economist, Bass has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Washington Post amongst others. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.