Target Tokyo: The Story of the Sorge Spy Ring

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1984. First Printing. Mass market paperback. Good. xxi, [5], 676, [2] pages. Major Characters. Map. German Embassy Organization Chart. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes. Chronology, Bibliography. Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. Cover corner creased. Gordon William Prange (July 16, 1910 - May 15, 1980) was the author of several World War II historical manuscripts which were published by his co-workers after his death in 1980. Prange was a Professor of History at the University of Maryland from 1937 to 1980 with a break of nine years (1942-1951) of military service overseas, and in the postwar era of military occupation of Japan, when he was the Chief Historian in General Douglas MacArthur's staff. It was during this time that Prange collected material from and interviewed many Japanese military officers, enlisted men, and civilians, with the information later being used in the writing of his books. Several became New York Times bestsellers, including At Dawn We Slept and Miracle at Midway. Derived from a Kirkus review: The subject is the Soviet spy ring operated by Russo-German Richard Sorge in Tokyo from 1933 to 1941--with the object of learning, foremost, if Japan would attack the USSR. Sorge's feat in insinuating himself into Germany's Tokyo embassy, and then into the confidence of high-placed Japanese, has been regularly described as "remarkable". A key figure is Sorge's Japanese collaborator, respected newsman Ozaki, whose posthumous heroicization as a patriot and freedom-fighter is one of the authors' targets. The achievements of the ring are generally clipped: Sorge's tip-off didn't determine the troop shift westward; the ring was fast disintegrating, from his drunkenness and other derelictions, when the group was uncovered; they certainly weren't working for "democracy" or "world peace," they were Communist apparatchiks--and it all goes to show how far they could go. The detailing, as in the earlier books, makes good reading for intrigue-fanciers and historical-origin buffs.