What if the bomb was not an option?
The Flowers of Edo
By Michael Dana Kennedy
Fiction/War
Hardcover, 544 pages, 5.5 x 8.25 inches
978-1-934287-80-4
U.S.$26.95 / CAN$33.00
In the climactic closing months of World War II, Allied Intelligence officers are summoned to the Malcañan
Palace in Manila to be briefed by General MacArthur’s Intelligence Staff on the optimal conclusion to
the conflict in the Pacific Theater. Intelligence collected at the time concluded that the Americans had only
three options to effectively force the Imperial Japanese Military into surrender: encirclement, blockade, and
bombardment; isolating Japan from its forces in China, Korea, and Formosa; or engagin Japan through a full-scale
amphibious invasion.
In the debut novel by Michael Dana Kennedy, Japanese-American Lt. Ken Kobayashi must straddle a delicate line between
duty to country and honor to his family as he is assigned by General MacArthur to infiltrate the Imperial Japanese
Army in the lead-up to an invasion of the Japanese archipelago. From the deck of the U.S.S. Yorktown
to the halls of the Imperial Ministry of War in Ichigaya in Tokyo, The Flowers of Edo
reveals the intricacies of the military machine and the human and cultural price that was paid in the bombings on
Japan through a perspective never before seen in fiction. Meticulously researched and endorsed by military insiders
and historians from both sides of the Pacific, Lt. Kobayashi’s tale of espionage and romance will shed new
light on what might have happened.
Michael Dana Kennedy is a Boston native. He graduated from Harvard University with a
dual major in history and political science then attended Tufts University School of Medicine for two years.
He spent the majority of his career in clinical research. In the late '80s he entered M.I.T., studying computer
science. Kennedy founded two companies, both of which he sold. He then turned his attention to his life-long interest
in history and began researching and writing his debut novel, The Flowers of Edo.
“The Flowers of Edo is a gripping combination of military action and cultural analysis, which
offers a unique and provocative perspective on the history that was…and might have been…between Japan and the United
States. This is a valuable addistion to the literature of understanding how the two nations faced their opposite prospects at the
end of a brutal war.”
—James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly
“The struggle of a soldier’s courage and loyalty to country is at the core of Michael Dana Kennedy’s debut
novel. The Flowers of Edo embraces not only the significant historical context but the rich cultural
intricacies like few historical novels.”
—James Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of Flags of our Fathers
“An excellent book! The Flowers of Edo is a gripping historical novel focused on the final months
of WWII, with an authentic Japanese setting and an intriguing plot. Both entertaining and educational…a delightful adventure
and experience!”
—Admiral James R. Hogg, U.S. Navy (retired) Commander Seventh Fleet (1983-85)
“The Flowers of Edo is enormously impressive and engrossing in its sweep, moving from the deck of
Admiral ‘Bull’ Halsey’s battleship, to the cockpit of a Japanese fighter plane, to Japan and Hiroshima. By turns a
spy’s dramatic story of survival, a love story, and a soldier’s struggle to find his place in two worlds, this novel is
history brought to intimate life. Michael Dana Kennedy has written a work of enormous research and imagination.”
—Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way
and Horse Soldiers
“The Flowers of Edo, painstakingly accurate, captures the political, military and cultural dynamics
of the closing days of World War II so well that it rings true in a way that most novels do not. What’s more, it is a gripping story,
full of intrigue, adventure, and romance. I can highly recommend it to military history aficionados and everyone who enjoys a well crafted,
captivating tale.”
—Forrest E. Morgan, Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force (retired) and Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation
“The Flowers of Edo is historical fiction at its best…rich in authentic detail, intelligence,
and respect for the complexities of history. Michael Dana Kennedy is a skilled and empathetic author whose grasp of his material is truly
impressive. He has succeeded in writing an old-fashioned page-turner.”
—Charles Kenney, author of John F. Kennedy: The Presidential Portfolio
“Michael Dana Kennedy’s fidelity to the little known historiography of both sides’ plans for the invasion of
Japan…codenamed Downfall by the Americans and Ketsu-Go by the Japanese…provides readers with a
glimpse of the immense human costs of what was faced in 1945 and 1946. His deep understanding of Japan’s history and culture also
serves readers well, and a particular delight is that Kennedy’s Japanese are not at all the cardboard cutouts that one regularly
finds in novels and film.”
—D.M. Giangreco, author of Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan
