Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan (Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series)

The powerful and riveting new book in the multimillion-selling Killing series by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe but is escalating in the Pacific, where American soldiers face an opponent who will go to any length to avoid defeat. The Japanese army follows the samurai code of Bushido, stipulating that surrender is a form of dishonor. Killing the Rising Sun takes readers to the bloody tropical-island battlefields of Peleliu and Iwo Jima and to the embattled Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur has made a triumphant return and is plotting a full-scale invasion of Japan.

Across the globe in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists are preparing to test the deadliest weapon known to mankind. In Washington, DC, FDR dies in office and Harry Truman ascends to the presidency, only to face the most important political decision in history: whether to use that weapon. And in Tokyo, Emperor Hirohito, who is considered a deity by his subjects, refuses to surrender, despite a massive and mounting death toll. Told in the same page-turning style of Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, and Killing Reagan, this epic saga details the final moments of World War II like never before.

BUY THE BOOK

336 pages

Average rating: 6.89

9 RATINGS

|

Community Reviews

Anonymous
Jan 14, 2025
8/10 stars
The appeal of this series is that the books read like a novel. Killing the Rising Sun is a great overview of the events leading up to the atomic bomb in Japan. The authors state in the introduction that their goal is to explain why it was necessary to use the atomic bomb against the Japanese. It definitely demonstrates how complicated things were in the Pacific and I can understand better the thinking involved. But did they convince me 100%? Not really.
Anonymous
Feb 20, 2024
8/10 stars
I read it because my mother made me do it! Not an Oreilly fan but is was pretty good. It's a quick read. The story about Desmond Doss was my favorite.

See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.