''Togo and the Rise of Japanese Sea Power'' is a 1936 non-fiction book by Edwin A. Falk, published by
Longmans, Green and Co.
Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC.
Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...
Bradley A. Fiske, a former rear admiral of the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
, gave an introduction. The book is about
Tōgō Heihachirō
Marshal-Admiral Marquis , served as a '' gensui'' or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He claimed descent from Samurai Shijo Kingo, and he was an integral part of preserving ...
.
Paul H. Clyde of the
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
described the book as "a narrative of the growth of Japanese sea power" in addition to being a work about Tōgō himself.
Background
Falk consulted published documents from the time period, memoir documents, and published biographies. He did not have access to Japanese government documents. He also was not fluent in Japanese; John Haskell Kemble of
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...
wrote that the two omissions "handicapped" Falk.
[Kemble, p. 371.]
Contents
The book has a bibliography, several charts, and an index.
[ Kemble stated that those three give the book more "usefulness" and that the charts were "well-designed".][
G. Nye Steiger of ]Simmons College
Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include:
* Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts
* Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky
* Har ...
noted that Falk did criticize Togo for sinking the ''Kowshing'' even though Falk ordinarily showed "enthsiasm" for the subject and for the Navy of Japan.[Steiger, p. 790.]
Reception
Clyde stated that he was pleased that the preface was not made into propaganda for the United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, but he argued that the work should have omitted the preface.
Kemble stated that it was overall "an excellent piece of work".[ He stated that some titles stated in the footnotes' notations of biographies did not accurately reflect titles of works.][
M. D. Kennedy, in the journal '']International Affairs
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...
'', stated that considering this book and two other biographies about Togo, this one was "by far the best."[Kennedy, p. 168.] Kennedy criticized attempts to incorporate slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
.[
William A. Langer of '']Foreign Affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...
'' stated the work was "an important contribution" to its wider field about naval history of Japan.
Steiger wrote that the book gives a "perfunctory treatment" to the subject of the Japanese navy and that its tone is that of a "popular nature". Steiger felt that the portions dealing with the Battle of Tsushima
The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...
, the Battle of the Yellow Sea
The Battle of the Yellow Sea ( ja, 黄海海戦, Kōkai kaisen; russian: Бой в Жёлтом море) was a major naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 A ...
, and the Russo Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
were the highest quality chapters, while there was too much "over-writing" in initial chapters perhaps because there was not enough "solid material".[
Payson J. Treat of ]Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
wrote that considering this book and two other biographies about Togo, this one was the "most useful". Treat argued that the book works well as a biography of Togo, although some mistakes in historical details lessen its historical value.
'' The Military Engineer'' described it as "An excellent biography and a masterful military and diplomatic study ...['' The Military Engineer''.]
References
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* - Published online on 2 September 2013.
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Notes
Further reading
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External links
*
Togo and the Rise of Japanese Sea Power
' - Available at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
1937 non-fiction books
History books about Japan
Tōgō Heihachirō
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