'At last a sound, readable, well-researched and balanced book about the late Emperor has been produced ... It should be a standard work for all students of the Showa period' - Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Introduction; Chapter 1 The making of the Sh?wa Emperor; Chapter 2 Japanese aggression and the limits of imperial influence, 1926-1933; Chapter 3 The challenge of Sh?wa Restoration radicalism, 1931-1937; Chapter 4 The Emperor and war, 1937-1940; Chapter 5 World war and the imperial will, 1941-1945; Chapter 6 The Emperor and the Occupation, 1945-1952; Chapter 7 The politics of imperial symbolism, 1952-1970; Chapter 8 The Emperor and the imperial institution in late Sh?wa Japan, 1970-1989; Conclusion;

Stephen S. Large is Reader in Modern Japanese History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He has published widely in his subject.