Last Mission to Tokyo provides a thorough analysis of the 1946 Doolittle Trial, which has largely been lost with time. Like many others, I am fascinated by the Doolittle Raid and the psychological effects the raid had on the Pacific Theater. The setting of the book takes place in many of the famed locales of past and present Asia, namely Shanghai and Tokyo. I can picture myself alongside the prisoners, the soldiers, and the lawyers as they move through these areas, as I have spent time in both cities. The back half of the book is thoroughly engrossing, fleshing out the details of the trial argument by argument and reading like a well-written courtroom drama or movie. The primary shortcoming is the slow pace at the beginning of the book, which the author uses to provide characterizations of most of the parties to the trial., perhaps in too much detail. This criticism is partly a consequence of how well the actual trial is written, and much of the implied characterization in the courtroom was more than enough to understand many of the people involved. The author deserves commendation for his thorough research and ability to make many of the legal concepts approachable for the lay person. I recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II nonfiction.

Last Mission to Tokyo: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raiders and Their Final Fight for Justice is a fascinating and a must read. I highly recommend it. Five stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Mission starts with a detailed look at the Doolittle bombing mission over Tokyo in the early stages of World War II. I had hoped that this was to be the meat of the book but it wasn't. It then went into a little detail about the travails of the airmen who were captured. This also was not the meat of the book. The majority was a detailed desctription of the war crimes trials concerning the jailers of the downed airmen and subsequent torture and murders of them. Interesting details were brought out but it tended to get rambling at times.

Slightly Misleading Title, Solid History. If you're looking for a history of the actual Doolittle Raid... this isn't it. Instead, this focuses on the 1946 war crimes trial of the Japanese officials implicated in murdering four of the Raiders after their capture in China following the raid in 1942 and subsequent conviction in a kangaroo court. But for what it is, this is truly a remarkable story that brings to life a part of history I personally had never so much as heard about. Paradis notes in the afterword that upon researching what was originally supposed to be a more straightforward legal analysis, he realized that he needed to change the focus to be a historical narrative fit for a wider audience, and in that new goal this reader can confirm that he did particularly well. Yes, Paradis is a miliary lawyer historian by trade, and this particular background comes through quite blatantly in the text, but it is never so full of jargon from any of those parts of his background as to be incomprehensible to the wider audience only cursorily aware of those subjects. Very much recommended.

The title to this book would lead you to believe that this is a sort of epilogue to the story of the Doolittle raiders. It's not. They are at best bit players walking on and off the stage for their brief moment in the spotlight. Their bravery is verified but their all too human faults are revealed as well.

This book, rather, is a compelling story of a set of complex characters wrestling with their conscience and with the role that the rule of law plays in warfare. Robert E Dwyer, a Harvard trained lawyer, must fly over much of Asia to gather facts and put together a legal theory that will ensure that those who caused the death of some of the Raiders are themselves punished with death. His seat at the prosecution table is not at all assured due to his fiery nature and his addiction to alcohol. His biggest problem may well be determining who of the Japanese may be legally culpable and bringing them in for trial.

Edmund Bodine is a man who never seems satisfied with what he is at present doing. Prior to the war he drifted from job to job. He spends some time in Fordham Law School, leaving before graduation to become an army pilot of light planes. At the end of the war he finds himself in Shanghai, a polyglot, multi-cultural city where the Doolittle trial is to take place. The trial is at best in his peripheral vision as he courts and falls in love with Elizaveta, a beautiful Russian and strives to stay in Shanghai to be with her. When he is offered the job of representing the Japanese soldiers accused of the murders of the Raiders, he takes it as an opportunity to stay on a bit longer in Shanghai. In the course of doing his job he reveals much he did not know about himself and much more about how war is rarely a choice between pure good and pure evil.

This is a satisfying and provocative story for those who are not necessarily history buffs or legal scholars but who do love a good story about human nature and the search for truth.