Even more to his credit, the author, Richard Frank, has continued his research since publishing the book. His most recent piece is in last week's "Weekly Standard," which supports a couple of pieces he'd published even earlier in the "Journal of Military History."

Those pieces, in sum, make it clear that:

1. The Japanese had a very good sense of where Operation Olympic (the landings on Kyushu) would have occurred.
2. The landings would have been incredibly bloody.
3. We were developing the realization that "2" would have been true, in which case, the invasion would have been seriously postponed.

In addition, Frank's additional research (especially highlighted in the Weekly Standard article) indicates that the Japanese were not prepared to surrender, as is often claimed, either by dint of blockade or if only the Emperor were (nominally) preserved.

Instead, Frank indicates that the Japanese were intent on "a peace on terms satisfactory to the dominant militarists. Their minimal goal was not confined to guaranteed retention of the Imperial Institution; they also insisted on preservation of the old militaristic order in Japan, the one in which they ruled."

Needless to say, such an objective was unacceptable.