Richard B. Frank

Richard B. Frank is a historian and one of the leading authorities on the Asian theater of World War II. His books include Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle, which won the Wallace M. Greene Award from the U.S. Marine Corps; Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire; MacArthur, a short biography of the general; and his latest, Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War, a planned trilogy, the first volume of which came out in 2020.

Originally from Missouri, Frank served for four years in Vietnam as a rifle platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri (1969) and Georgetown University Law Center (1976).

Articles by this Author

Counting All The Dead, August 2023 | Vol. 68, No. 5

When judging the morality of the use of atomic weapons in World War II, observers typically focus on Japanese deaths, while ignoring the far-larger number of non-Japanese casualties.

What Were the Japanese Thinking? , August 2023 | Vol. 68, No. 5

Leaders in Tokyo alone controlled when the war would end, but the regime's political structure was so complex that it crippled rational decision-making.

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