John E. Moser is professor of history and chair of the masters program in American History and Government at Ashland University. He did his undergraduate work at Ohio University, and has an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At Ashland he teaches courses on modern European, American and East Asian history, and in 2016 received the university’s Edward and Louaine Taylor Award for Excellence in Teaching. John has published numerous works on subjects ranging from comic books to Japanese foreign policy. He is author of four books, the most recent of which is The Global Great Depression and the Coming of World War II, which was published by Routledge in 2015. He has also published three games for the Reacting to the Past series, including Japan, 1941: Between Pan-Asianism and the West; Europe on the Brink, 1914: The July Crisis; and (with Nicolas W. Proctor) Restoring the World, 1945: Security and Empire at Yalta. He lives in Ashland with his wife Monica, their daughter Stanzi, and their three dogs.

"One of this game's greatest strengths is that it gives the ‘other side’ of one of the most (im)famous moments in American history, and places it in its cultural and historical context. As an exercise, it is one of the most perfect moments to set an RTTP game. It also challenges students with a level of complexity and sets them against each other beyond most other games because the factions are very internally divided as people jockey for power."

"John has written an incredibly well-thought out and coherent game explaining what brought Japanese leaders, in many cases against their better judgement, to attack the United States. The role sheets are thorough and clear, the rules simple and clearly explained, and the documents well chosen. Any student who plays this game will emerge with a radically expanded understanding of the way the Pacific War came to be."

" I am looking forward to playing this game at some point. My specialty is politics and international relations so finding games that speak as much to the political dynamics as the intellectual dynamics is more difficult. Many of the games are extremely interesting but less useful in a political science class. This is a game that serves history, culture, and politics equally well. It is a great strength of the game that it can do so much."