Minear, Richard H. 1938–

(Richard Hoffman Minear)

PERSONAL:

Surname is pronounced "My-near"; born December 31, 1938, in Evanston, IL; son of Paul S. (a teacher) and Gladys Minear; married Edith Christian, August 18, 1962; children: Robert C., Edward L. Education: Yale University, A.B., 1960; Harvard University, M.A., 1962, Ph.D., 1968.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of History, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003.

CAREER:

Ohio State University, Columbus, assistant professor of history, 1967-70; University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, associate professor, 1970-76, professor of history, 1976—.

WRITINGS:

Japanese Tradition and Western Law: Emperor, State, and Law in the Thought of Hozumi Yatsuka, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1970.

Victors' Justice: The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1971, reprinted, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2001.

(Editor) Through Japanese Eyes, Praeger (New York, NY), 1974, 3rd edition, Center for International Training and Education (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor and translator) Hiroshima: Three Witnesses, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1990.

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel, New Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor and translator) Michio Takeyama, The Scars of War: Toyko during World War II, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Lanham, MD), 2007.

TRANSLATOR AND AUTHOR OF INTRODUCTION

Yoshida Mitsuru, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, University of Washington Press (Seattle, WA), 1985.

(And author of notes) Kurihara Sadako, Black Eggs: Poems, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), 1994.

Kurihara Sadako, When We Say "Hiroshima": Selected Poems, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), 1999.

Saburo Ienaga, Japan's Past, Japan's Future: One Historian's Odyssey, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Lanham, MD), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Richard H. Minear has produced work concerned with World War II, especially the Japanese experience. Reviewing Victors' Justice: The Tokyo War Crimes Trial in Best Sellers, Bernard Williams noted that Minear "challenges the ‘credibility of the Tokyo trial and its verdict.’" Williams continued: "Political and emotional factors at the immediate conclusion of World War II unfortunately played a key role in the holding of the war trials, trials based on a sincere hope that they would prevent the outbreak of any future wars. The verdict reached by the Justices of the Tokyo trial was indeed a ‘victors’ justice.’"

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel offers a look at the war from a different viewpoint. This book is a collection of the cartoons that Geisel drew for the liberal newspaper PM from 1941 to 1943. Minear's commentary accompanies the cartoons, which champion U.S. participation in the war and skewer those who opposed it; they also crudely caricature the Japanese. The drawings, coming years before Geisel's successful children's books, nonetheless bear the stamp of the offbeat humor that would characterize The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and his numerous other works. It has been suggested that the hat on Geisel's version of Uncle Sam is something of a prototype for his cat's hat.

Several reviewers noted that the book offers a peek at a little-known aspect of Geisel's career, with Minear's remarks adding value. "Mr. Minear's text gives solid context to the drawings," observed Phoebe-Lou Adams in the Atlantic Monthly. Village Voice contributor Jim Lewis, however, observed that only "a small fraction" of Minear's commentary "performs this function." Booklist reviewer Mike Tribby deemed Minear's writing "insightful," while Library Journal's Kent Worcester wrote that he did "a fine job" of compiling, arranging, and explaining the cartoons. Entertainment Weekly critic Margot Mifflin found that the combination of Geisel's cartoons and Minear's text "provides a provocative history of wartime politics."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Atlantic Monthly, November, 1999, Phoebe-Lou Adams, review of Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel, p. 105.

Best Sellers, December 15, 1971, Bernard Williams, review of Victors' Justice: The Tokyo War Crimes Trial.

Booklist, November 15, 1999, Mike Tribby, review of Dr. Seuss Goes to War, p. 592.

Columbia Journalism Review, January, 2000, James Boylan, review of Dr. Seuss Goes to War, p. 79

Entertainment Weekly, November 5, 1999, Margot Mifflin, review of Dr. Seuss Goes to War, p. 76.

Library Journal, November 15, 1985, p. 95; October 1, 1999, Ken Worcester, review of Dr. Seuss Goes to War, p. 109.

Mother Jones, November, 1999, Andrea Zeisler, review of Dr. Seuss Goes to War, p. 81.

Village Voice, November 16, 1999, Jim Lewis, review of Dr. Seuss Goes to War, p. 71.