The United States and China will not go to war in our time over Taiwan. China is not engaging in provocative actions leading toward an invasion. So why the fuss? I’d prefer to let the argument speak for itself, but my background is relevant. I threw away my Mao (and Che) T-shirt sophomore year. I […]

Joe Biden’s China policy is unnecessarily adversarial. It is impractical and dangerous. It plays out as if U.S. foreign policy is run by WWII reenactors. China was artificially reimagined as an enemy-in-a-box as the wars of terror sputtered out and America needed a new Bond villian. Biden envisions China as an autocratic foe for democracy […]

Here’s an excerpt from my book, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, on sale now at Amazon. This excerpt is told from the perspective of the main character, Lieutenant Nate Hooper. I’m lucky enough to have a friend with a boat. Sitting at the stern, I watch the boat create its wake, then as […]

August 6 usually doesn’t make headlines in America. But mark the day by what absence demonstrates: on the 72nd anniversary of the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and some 140,000 non-combatants, there is no call for reflection in the United States. In an era where pundits routinely worry about America’s loss of moral standing because of […]

For military historians, walking a battlefield is a special experience. That’s where things previously locked away in books happened, the hill that blocked an advance, the river that defended an important city and altered the course of human history. Historians visit Waterloo, Gettysburg, and Normandy all the time. Things work differently for those interested in […]

There is a lot to say about this day, when 72 years ago, the United States became the first and only nation to use nuclear weapons. So much is said every day about Iran and nuclear weapons, and terrorists and nuclear weapons, Putin with nuclear weapons and so forth, but that one fact remains among […]

A new review of Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan from the Historical Novel Society says “This anti-war novel in the tradition of Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five unfolds in reverse order timeline. It is intense and bloody, with moments of prized grace preserving its humanity.” Here’s the full review: Although set in WWII […]

It was a rescue mission, but one that years later turned the tables on victim and rescuer. Abandoned by their own government, American servicemembers who came to the aid of Japanese disaster victims will now benefit from a fund set up for them by a former prime minister. Following a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent […]

I’ve visited Hiroshima many times. The thing that always struck me about Hiroshima was simply being there. The train pulled into the station under an announcement that you had arrived in Hiroshima. It was another stop on the bullet train’s long run from Osaka to Fukuoka, so they called out the name as if it […]

As research for Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan I encountered people suffering in ways they had a hard time describing but which they wrestled with God over everyday. They told me they went away to fight with an idea “we’re the good guys, they’re not” that did not always survive the test of […]

With rare exception, the question of whether the atomic bombs were necessary to end World War Two is debated only deep within the safety of academic circles. Could a land invasion have been otherwise avoided? Would more diplomacy have achieved the same ends without the destruction of two cities? Could an atomic test on a […]

Japan absorbed WWII. The collective memory was tidied up. Little is taught about the war in modern Japanese schools, and even less of what is taught is true. There seems no reason to bring up all those bad deeds and rotten memories. For the most part, the Japanese created their own alternate history of the […]

“My guilt will never go away,” former Marine Matthew Hoh explained to me. “There is a significant portion of me that doesn’t believe it should be allowed to go away, that this pain is fair.”   If America accepts the idea of fighting endless wars, it will have to accept something else as well: that […]

Here’s the actual operations order that launched the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, along with a sample of the results: a compilation of how many school children the U.S. killed that day! (click to enlarge) And one lucky survivor! Related Articles: For Veteran’s Day: Understanding Moral Injury in Hooper’s War Morality, Expediency, and Hiroshima Hiroshima and […]

There are basically only two messages in propaganda: our side is good, strong and will win, and their side is evil, weak and will lose. Everything else is just music and narration. So to demonstrate how little propaganda statements towards whomever happens to be America’s enemy of the time change, let’s have a look at […]

Here’s a “book trailer” to go along with my new book, on sale now via Amazon, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan. Related Articles: For Veteran’s Day: Understanding Moral Injury in Hooper’s War Morality, Expediency, and Hiroshima Hiroshima and the Scar of Moral Injury August 6: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima Review: Hooper’s War […]

My latest book, Hooper’s War, is set in WWII Japan, and portrays the horrors of war from the rotating perspectives of an American solider, a Japanese soldier, and a Japanese woman civilian. With that setting in mind, here are my top five favorite World War II movies. 1) Saving Private Ryan Is there anyone’s Top […]

Here’s an excerpt from my new book, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, on sale now at Amazon. This excerpt is told from the perspective of the main character, Lieutenant Nate Hooper. After you’ve heard that thunk, you always know it. Once you know that sound, being mortared is like a sneeze coming on. […]

For those are persist in using the word “unprecedented” in relation to the racism and fear that pervade our society today, directed at Muslims, here’s a propaganda cartoon from WWII showing much of the same, directed at the Japanese. Related Articles: For Veteran’s Day: Understanding Moral Injury in Hooper’s War Morality, Expediency, and Hiroshima Hiroshima […]

Here’s a “book trailer” to go along with my new book, on sale now via Amazon, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan. This video helps define the central concept of my book, moral injury. Have a look.   Related Articles: For Veteran’s Day: Understanding Moral Injury in Hooper’s War Morality, Expediency, and Hiroshima Hiroshima […]

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe once told told parliament he was “stunned” at the content of an American high school history textbook. Japan’s Foreign Ministry complained to the book’s author. A group of 19 Japanese historians, lead by a professor from Ivy League-equivalent Nihon University is sending “corrections” to the publisher. The topic of contention: […]

My new book, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan is available now on Amazon. You can order it here. Here’s how one reviewer described the book (more reviews): In Hooper’s War, a Novel of WWII Japan, an American veteran remembers his time in Japan during a World War II that might have been. In […]

著書「フーパーの戦争」は　第二次世界大戦中、日本を舞台にアメリカ兵役軍人が自分の記憶をたどっていく歴史小説。 著者のピーター　ヴァンビューランは　もしアメリカが広島と長崎に原子爆弾投下をせず、地上侵攻して戦争を終結させていたとしたら、どうなっていただろうかという疑問を本書で模索していく。　主人公のフーパーは　現在と過去を何度もタイムスリップしながらその答えを探る。 ２０１７年、年老いた主人公のネイト　フーパーは　今はハワイで老人ホームに住んでいる。しかし、日本人の元妻との約束を守るため、京都を訪問をする。　遠い過去の１９４５年、フーパーは　まだ18才。戦争の恐ろしい残骸が広がるフィクショナルな京都で　同年代の若い将校たちを率いる陸軍士官だ。　物語は　フーパーが　現代と過去の二つのタイムラインを行き来しながら　戦場を振り返える。そして、何十年も誰にも語れなかった秘密に苦しみながらも向き合っていく。 ヴァンビューランは 本書で「戦場ではどの行為にも正解はなく、しかしながら、決断を回避することも許されない」という葛藤の現実を描いている。戦地での生々しい感情と自己防衛本能をむき出しにする兵士たちのセリフが飛び交う。 フーパーは　人を惹きつける主人公である。そして、純潔な若者だ。しかし、次第に戦争の惨さに心が病んでいく。そして、うぶだった青年は　兵士という任務に　否が応にも辛い成長をさせられる。「フーパーの戦争」は　容易に答えを与えてくれるわけではない。戦場での決断は　正しくも間違ってもいないことに読者は気づかされる。 ピーターヴァンビューランは　文部科学省の国費留学生として兵庫教育大学に学び、のち　外交官になり、大阪のアメリカ領事館と東京のアメリカ大使館に勤務。１０年間、日本に在住した。本書に登場する二人の人物像は　ヴァンビューランが　第二次世界大戦を生き抜いた日本人の老人たちに日本語で直接インタビューをし、その話を基に描かれた。 (Summary of Hooper’s War in Japanese) Related Articles: For Veteran’s Day: Understanding Moral Injury in Hooper’s War Morality, Expediency, and Hiroshima Hiroshima and the Scar of Moral Injury August 6: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima Review: Hooper’s War Shows “Moments of Prized Grace” New Five-Star Review for Hooper’s […]

Here’s the full cover for my new book, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan. It’s available now on Amazon as a pre-order, for sale on May 15. Click for a larger version. Related Articles: Deterrence Failed in Ukraine: Is Strategic Ambiguity Over Taiwan Better than a Treaty? Write Your Own Ukraine Article (MSM Version) […]

My new book, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan is available now for pre-order on Amazon. You can order it here. Here’s how one reviewer described the book (more reviews): In Hooper’s War, a Novel of WWII Japan, an American veteran remembers his time in Japan during a World War II that might have […]

You can win an autographed, advanced reading copy of my next book, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan. Here are the details: Goodreads Book Giveaway Hooper's War by Peter Van Buren Giveaway ends March 26, 2017. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway Related Articles: For Veteran’s Day: Understanding Moral Injury in Hooper’s […]

Luminis Books will publish my next novel, Hooper’s War, in May 2017. Here’s the back cover kind of blurb for the new book: There’s no prosthetic for a soul that’s dying faster than its body. You have to heal it. And to do that, you’re going to have to fight Hooper’s War. In this anti-war […]

My heart goes out to everyone in Japan and in Ecuador affected by the recent series of terrible earthquakes. I was once where you are. My story isn’t meant to trivialize or generalize anyone else’s; it’s just mine. It is the sound I remember as much as the shaking — a train roaring under the […]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and fellow envoys from the G7 visited Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park on the margins of their summit meeting this week. Kerry was the highest ranking American government official to visit the Peace Park, the memorial dedicated to the victims of the world’s first nuclear attack on August 6, 1945. […]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and the governor of Okinawa Takeshi Onaga agreed in early March to take a dispute over the future of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma (seen above) out of the courts and back offline to the negotiating table. Abe “accepted” a freeze on construction work at a contentious new location […]