| startribune.com January 5, 2004 Historian John
Toland dies; was La Crosse native Associated Press DANBURY, Conn. -- John
Toland, who won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for
nonfiction for "The Rising Sun," a historical
narrative of the rise and fall of the Japanese
empire during World War II, has died. He was 91.
Toland died Sunday of pneumonia at Danbury
Hospital, said his daughter, Tamiko Toland
of Ithaca, N.Y. "The Rising Sun" tells the story of
the Japanese empire from 1936 to 1945, from the
Japanese perspective. Toland described the book as
"a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of
the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it
happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful,
frustrating, full of paradox." Although "Rising Sun" won the Pulitzer, Toland
may best be known for "Adolf Hitler: The Definitive
Biography," published in 1976. "Hitler" became a
national best seller that Newsweek called
"the first book that anyone who wants to learn
about Hitler or the war in Europe must read." Tamiko Toland said her father may have generated
the most controversy with his 1982 book "Infamy:
Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath," in which he wrote
about evidence that President Franklin Roosevelt
knew in advance of plans to attack the naval base
but remained silent. "I don't violate history," Toland said in a 1987
Associated Press interview. "I just try to follow
the mainstream of history, viewing it as it
happened rather than showing you something that
happened and start criticizing what people
did." He said he went to Japan filled with dislike of
the Japanese because of their actions during World
War II, then ended up spending six years writing
"The Rising Sun" to show why the Japanese acted as
they did. "You don't have to take sides. All you have to
do is get people's motivations," he said. Toland also wrote "The Dillinger Days" and
"Battle: The Story of the Bulge." Born in La Crosse, Wis., in 1912, Toland served
in the Army Air Corps and later became a freelance
journalist. He is survived by his wife, Toshiko, of Danbury,
three daughters and three grandchildren. (c) Copyright 2004
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