Discussion of Yokohama Burning

Feel free to add your reactions/answers as comments. [This goes for those who'll be there tomorrow and those who couldn't make it.]

Questions/topics for discussion:

1. What is Hammer's thesis and what evidence does he have to support it?
2. As usual, does the popular style of the book (including citation style) undermine it's effectiveness and/or accuracy?
3. How much is this book a product of the post-Hurricane Katrina era?
4. Hammer apparently doesn't read Japanese. Is that necessarily a problem?
5. What do the book's images add?
6. What did you think of the book's three most-discussed characters:Frederick Starr, Lyman Cotten, and Akitsune Imamura?
1. Why didn't more people believe Imamura?
2. What do think Hammer thought of Cotten?
7. How do the various governments come off in their reactions to the disaster, in Hammer's view?
8. How well does Hammer capture the details of life before, during and after the earthquake? What sources does he have to create that detail? How carefully does he stay within the limits of the sources he's got?
   
9. How effectively does Hammer explain the complex geologic issues at the heart of the disaster?
10. Was anyone else struck by the unpredictability of life and death in the earthquake and following fires?
11. What was the most upsetting story in the book?
12. What was the most inspiring?
13. Hammer notes several events/concepts resulting from the earthquake and fires that he claims are precedents. For each, do you agree with him and why?
1. Xenophobic, violent behavior
   
2. Wireless technology & rise of the power of the media
3. International relief efforts
   
4. Japanese-American relationship
14. Did you like the book and why?

Finally, what book should we read for the next meeting?