Toland, John,U.S.Afamouswriter、historian。Born in Wisconsin in 1912, experiencedthe Second World War。In his youth, Tolan never thought of becoming a historian. His dream at that time was to becomeBroadwayOfplaywright。In college, Tolan learnedTheatrea literary creation.[1]
After graduating from college, he packed his bags and traveled all over the United States.Before the age of 42, he was an unsuccessful playwright in his career, an unappreciated officer in the officialdom, and a loser in his family life.In 1954, someone asked Tolan to write a book about big airships. He used his relationship when serving in the air force to visit many people who had experienced the era of airships and learned a lot of first-hand information.The book Ship in the Sky made him famous.
For researchers, history is the result of careful research, the truth and context of a series of major events;For ordinary people, it is the feeling of being in the scene and the memory of the deep heart, while for John Tolan, history is the natural combination of the two.His main works are From Beggar to Head of State - Biography of Hitler, Scandal: Pearl Harbor Incident and Its Consequences《Occupy Japan》《The decline and fall of the Japanese Empire》《Long battle: the Korean War in the eyes of Americans》。The book "The Fall of the Japanese Empire" won him the title ofPulitzer Prize 。
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Tolan never thought of becoming a historian when he was young. His dream at that time was to becomeBroadwayThe playwright of.In college, Tolan studied drama creation.After graduating from college, he packed his bags and traveled all over the United States to explore the world alone.Before the age of 42, he was an unsuccessful playwright in his career, an unappreciated officer in the officialdom, and a loser in his family life.In 1954, someone asked Toland to write a book about big airships.He used his relationship when serving in the air force to visit many people who had experienced the era of airship, and mastered a large number of exclusive first-hand materials.The book made him famous.
Before that, he had written one or two hundred short stories, 25 plays and 5 novels, and none of them had been published except a few short stories.ExactlyShips in the SkyThe writing of a book made him find a career that really suits him.In Tolan's own words, from this year on, he began to "live in history".Tolan believes that good history (works) is "living history".In childhood,Porter BrownHe once lived in his home for some time.At that time, Brown often took little Tolan to the nearby Governor's Theatre to watch movies.When the film was halfway through, Brown would take little Tolan home.After returning home, the two of them discussed writing the end of the film, and then came back two days later to see how it developed.Each time, the script adapted by them is more wonderful than the original.Tolan later recalled that Brown's most influential words were: "Whatever you write, don't say it, but act it.".Tolan's understanding of this is that "we should not tell it from our own point of view, but like a play, let what actually happened repeat, which is the so-called living history".This is also the creed Toland followed in his writing.Tolan wrote the book, abandoning the astringency and dullness of traditional historical works, and replacing it with rich detailed descriptions and dialogues, so that readers can feel as if they were in the scene.His books are independent, creative, literary and infectious.Therefore, every new work will cause a sensation.
The Long Battle: The Korean War in the Eyes of the Americans (Revised Edition) was published by the China Social Sciences Press in August 1993 by [US] John Tolan.
The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire is a book published by New Star Press in 2008 by John Tolan.The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire is a long historical documentary work written by the American historian John Tolan, which takes war as the theme.In the book, the author describes that during the Second World War, Japanese imperialism echoed Hitler's Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945, opening up an aggressive battlefield in the east, traversing Asia, invading China, and ravaging
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Tolan's book not only focuses on traditional historical data, but also on interviews with the parties concerned.In his book, he will tell readers everything he knows.In order to write "Battle: The Story of the Commando", he interviewed American generalsclarke, German GeneralMantofieldBaron, legendary commando captainSkelzeny... There are more than 400 war survivors and 75 civilians who have experienced the war.In order to collect materials, he successively worked in the United States, Britain, France, GermanyBelgium, Spain andLuxembourgAfter running 100000 miles, I went to the office of members of CongressNational Archives、West Pointandthe PentagonCastles of all sizes in Ardennes, abandoned mines in BelgiumDahao Concentration CampGas chamberSpanish beaches, as well as countless former battlefields... This book has established his position in the historiography of World War II.In 1965, Toland wrote and publishedThe Last 100 DaysOne book.This book was written in early 1945Soviet Red ArmyApproaching the eastern border of Germany, the heads of the Soviet Union, the United States and BritainYalta ConferenceAt the beginning, it shows the breathtaking scenes of the European battlefield in the late World War II.In order to write this book, Tolan and his Japanese wife, Shouzi, drove through the Iron Curtain to Eastern European countries where few Westerners set foot at that time.Later, in order to write《Adolf Hitler》(i.e. familiar to Chinese readers《From Beggar to Leader》）He visited Germany again.When he first arrived in Germany, Tolan bought a brand new car.Ten months later, it has gone through numerous overhauls and is no longer presentable.This time, Toland interviewed German admiral Carl Dunitz,HitlerThe personal doctor, secretary and driver almost died in Hitler's hands（William Shire Written by《Rise and fall of the Third Reich》Has a wonderful description of this person),Eva Braun His girlfriend Snid, Hitler's cousin Hans... even found the psychiatry analysis report made by the US intelligence service for Hitler during the war.It is these first-hand materials that make this book fascinating and full of texture.The New York Times Book Review praised it as "a wonderful and attractive popular historical book, which is the most fully described one of the books we have read about Hitler".
Perhaps because of his marriage to a Japanese wife, Tolan has a lingering Asian complex in his works.Several works on Asia are the essence of Tolan's works.As early as 1961, he wrote a book about the beginning of the Pacific War, A Clear conscience.Later, he wrote The Rising Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire《The decline and fall of the Japanese Empire》）, God of War, Scandal: Pearl Harbor Incident and Its Consequences, Occupy Japan《Long battle: the Korean War in the eyes of Americans》。Among them, The Rising Sun won him the title of 1971American publishing industryHighest award——Pulitzer Prize 。When collecting materials for the book A Clear conscience, Tolan suffered humiliationPearl Harbor、MacArthurHidingthe PhilippinesHis footprints were left in caves, slums in Hong Kong, reception halls of former Japanese naval generals, cottages and caves in Okinawa and Saipan.At the same time, his trip around the Pacific Ocean also made him meet many new friends, including young Tony Aquino（Cory Aquino And laterGloria Macapagal-Arroyo Ramos。These friends helped Tolan find several informants who had been silent for a long time.In Taipei, Tolan metChiang Kai shek"Vice President" ofChen Cheng。When the interview lasted for an hour, Chen Cheng asked Tolan if he wanted to use his bathroom.In this small room, Chen Cheng handed him a heavy document and said quietly: This is his autobiography, which will never be published in Taiwan.In the Philippines, the dying former president Osmailia told Tolan a secret that had been buried in his heart for 20 years with tears in his eyes: that was in 1942, when he was the president of the PhilippinesQuezonAbout to evacuateManilaOn the eve of, he ordered Laurier and Tony's father Benigno Aquino to disguise themselves as traitors and wait for the Japanese, and vowed never to tell the truth.Osmelia hoped that Tolan would clear Laurier and Aquino before the people of the world. They are heroes who put life and death aside to protect their nation and compatriots.
Another feature of Tolan's book writing is to advertise the so-called“objectivism”, always standing in the perspective of a "world citizen", trying to make the work without ideological color.Tolan paid a visit in his early yearsSnow, and attendedAmerican Communist Party, determined to be the second Snow.Later, because of dissatisfaction with the fact that the US Communist Party followed the Soviet Union on the war issue, it left the party because of its vacillating policy.When serving in the Air Force, he was also ostracized because he brought a black officer to the officer canteen for dinner.These experiences in his youth made him only use narrative techniques in his works, not directly express his own views.But people can still see his likes and dislikes from his description of the event.This is why Tolan has always been criticized by the traditional American historians as "lacking moral sense" and "objectivism".In 1982, Toland wroteScandal: Pearl Harbor and Its ConsequencesIt is a vivid example of this feature.In this book, Toland first proposed:Franklin Delano Roosevelt、MarshallAccording to the decoded Japanese codePearl Harbor IncidentIt was known five days before the outbreakJapanese Joint FleetForwardPearl HarborIn terms of the movement, the US Intelligence Department has also judged that the goal of the Japanese fleet is Pearl Harbor.But Roosevelt wanted to break theisolationismEmotion, combined with intelligence misjudgment, intentionally hit Pearl Harbor, which eventually led to thousands of American soldiers being killed by Japanese aircraft bombardment.After the book was published, it caused a great stir in the United States, and the evaluation of the intellectual circles on the book was almost acerbic.
Tolan came to China twice in his old age.He is full of respect for this ancient land and the people here.In China, Tolan met many peers in the history field, including the famous American history expert of Nankai UniversityHua QingzhaoProfessor.With Tolan's great help, Hua Qingzhao was able to go to the United States to consult the archives of the American government during the Truman period.The result of this work is regarded as the best work in this field《From Yalta to Panmunjom》。The Biography of Contemporary Writers published in the United States commented on Tolan and his works in this way: "In each of his books, Tolan has to interview the actual participants of that historical fact, sometimes hundreds of them, in order to get different aspects of the event from those who know the matter best. He tries his best to hold an objective attitude towards these interviewees.'I believe it's my responsibility,' he said. 'Tell you everything and let you draw your own conclusions.I keep my opinions to a minimum. '"This is the most appropriate evaluation of Tolan.
