Was Emperor Hirohito to blame for Japan's expansionist military policies - and its attrocities - in World War II? Was he out to make the world his empire? This biography of the emperor challenges portrayals of Hirohito as either an unworldly scientist or a swashbuckling conspirator who tried to conquer the globe with military might. Using sources uncovered as recently as 1991, Hoyt reveals that the emperor was fundamentally a peace-loving man caught in a turbulent period when the Japanese military gained extraordinary power. He became the virtual prisoner of an Imperial system that prevented him from leading his country into an era of peace and prosperity, his boyhood dream. Hoyt's account, backed by a decade of research, details the emperor's repeated attempts to thwart the Imperial Army's headlong drive toward war. Even when defeat was certain, Hoyt maintains, Hirohito had to outmanoevre the army in order to surrender to Allied forces. Only then, in postwar years, did the emperor see his wishes for his country come true.