 | To Dream of Dreams Prior to World War II, State Shinto, which was centered on the worship of the emperor and Yasukuni Shrine's cult of war dead, was established in support of the government and militarism. Since the end of the Occupation, Japanese conservatives have sought to restore State Shinto's institutions even as expanded military budgets have placed Japan among the top five countries in defense spending. This timely book focuses on the struggles against government attempts to revive "the emperor system" and Japan's prewar military presence. David Michael O'Brien was born in Rock Springs, Wyoming on August 30, 1951. He received a bachelor's degree in political science and philosophy, a master's degree in political science, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He taught politics at the University of Puget Sound and served briefly as chairman of its politics department. He joined the faculty of the University of Virginia in 1979 and taught politics there for almost four decades. He wrote, co-wrote, or edited more than a dozen books. His book, Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics, won the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award. He died of lung cancer on December 20, 2018 at the age of 67. (Bowker Author Biography) |
