Judgement at Tokyo

A Finalist for the 2024 Cundill History Prize
Longlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize

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.

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.