Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila is the latest work from James Scott focusing on the titular battle of Manila in the closing months of the Second World War and highlights the wanton destruction and atrocities that accompanied the operation, notably making it one of the first monographs to shed light on this chapter of history. Despite the violence that broke out during the “Rape of Manila,” the topic has remained overshadowed in historiography by Nanking in the East or the entire Nazi-Soviet front in the West, remaining as short quips related to the larger campaign. Most of the historiography that does exist focuses primarily on the question of who to blame, and whether the execution of the overall commanding general (name) Yamashita was just. Scott is no exception in this case, but he does retell many of the horrific stories presented by Filipino survivors during the war crimes trials to build the sheer magnitude of the slaughter mirroring the bombardment of first person stories in Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin.

But unlike Snyder, Scott never seems to be interested in making any connections to broader questions or reflection. Motivations of Japanese soldiers is non-existent, instead we simply have a nameless, sword wielding Japanese soldier tirelessly hacking off heads with no indication of motive beyond they were ordered to do so, and occasionally hinted that they enjoyed the work. For instance, Chapter 3 invites the reader to relive Philippines occupation under the Japanese as conditions worsened, yet one is left wondering how this was a reflection of Japan’s own deteriorating war position as supply lines collapsed.

In its place, the reader is offered the long-standing nationalist perspective of the Japanese as barbarians and the Americans as liberators. Little is mentioned of Filipino collaborators, and only a passing mention with no reflection of America’s own war crimes during its colonial and imperial occupation of the Philippines is disappointing. That is not to say that the Japanese war crimes are a falsification or exaggeration, but the broken English dialogue often evokes the specter of the buck-tooth, round glasses caricature of the Japanese soldier that does little except reinforce the demonized, racist vision with little reflection on what motivations drove these conscripted soldiers to commit such atrocities.

This backdrop of the evil Japanese is only heightened when examining the American battle accounts, which are largely taken from medal citations. It only reinforces nationalist historiography of the heroic American soldiers mowing down the hoard of Asiatics before dropping right back into Japanese war crimes to continually reinforce the good versus evil stereotypes. The lack of Japanese sources further hampers the overall military account of the battle, as little effort was done to understand both the Allied and Japanese force capabilities. At times this becomes laughable when the author suggests that the Noguchi Detachment should have counter-attacked the 8th Cavalry near Santo Tomas. For a leisurely read by non-academic historians, the book might be passable. But any serious scholar should think of looking elsewhere. There is no doubt that a proper academic work on the destruction of Manila in 1945 is needed, but this is not it.