The question when one considers the Imperial Japanese Army and how it came to a bad end is whether there was, realistically, another ending. While I was not that impressed by Drea's coverage of the 20th century (possibly a situation of familiarity breeding contempt), perhaps the answer lies in how desperately the founders of the Meiji state were seeking to avoid the fate of late-imperial China. To the point that the Japanese leadership developed such a well-ingrained contempt and bigotry towards China that when the intelligent move would have been realizing that they'd have to take the Chiang and the KMT seriously they couldn't bring themselves to forge a positive relationship. That said I found the portion of the book dealing with the fall of the Shogunate through the Russo-Japanese War fascinating, as the young Satsuma and Choshu hotheads become another calcified elite, to the point that the mistakes of 1904-1905 were covered up as being too embarrassing to admit. Dealing thoughtfully with those mistakes might have averted tragedy down the road but that would have probably required the Meiji Emperor putting his foot down the way Hirohito did in 1945. ( )