America and the Japanese Miracle

“This book is an ambitious attempt to place postwar economic history within the wider realm of international relations. It is a pioneering study of patient administrations, angry Congressmen, and pleading Japanese bureaucrats. . . . Forsberg’s account of the difficulties and successes of U.S. dealings with Japan on the economic front in the 1950s remains a substantial achievement.” — American Historical Review

“Forsberg’s book is a solid, well-researched work that should be studied by anyone seriously interested in the postwar relationship between Japan and the United States.” — Americandiplomacy.org

“Forsberg . . . does an exceptional job . . . [and] make[s] important contributions to the history of Cold War economic diplomacy.” — Journal of American History

“[This book] brings needed attention to important trends in United States-Japan relations during the 1950s. . . . It will join the short list of standard works for those seeking to understand the origins of the crucial and intense-and at times quite tense-bilateral relationship between the United States and Japan during the last fifty years.” — Harvard Business History Review

“Lucid and highly readable. . . . Makes a major contribution to our knowledge. While it is primarily a study of US foreign economic policy, and the Japanese response to it, it has important lessons to tell about the interface between the political and diplomatic process, economic institutions and economic performance. Its publication should be welcomed by business historians across the board.” — Business History

“An important, revealing account. Forsberg, with excellent research, carefully tells us about the seedtime that surprisingly made Japan the world’s number two economic power and, especially, how those seeds were nourished: partially by the blood of the Korean conflict and notably by the U.S.-Japanese fears, and differing perceptions, of the accelerating Cold War.” — Walter LaFeber, Cornell University

“Friction between the United States and Japan over trade and investment issues has been a prominent feature of the international landscape for years. Many forget, however, the importance the U.S. assigned to Japan’s economic recovery and growth as an aim of American security policy in the decades after World War II. Aaron Forsberg’s book reminds us of the myriad ways American policy encouraged and facilitated Japan’s growth, and explores the ways in which bilateral commercial tensions were an almost inevitable by-product of this strategic and economic collaboration. An excellent read.” — Michael H. Armacost, Brookings Institution

“Aaron Forsberg has given us a clear-eyed look at what it took to promote Japanese economic recovery. Moreover, Forsberg knows the story from the Japanese perspective as well. The result is an especially useful book both to scholars and a general audience.” — Lloyd C. Gardner, Rutgers University