A Boy Called H
The book is about an elementary-school age boy growing up in Japan during World War II. It's the world through the child's eyes, a world that includes secret police, bullying, military training, massive lying by the government and newspapers and trying to survive a firebombing.
The story shows how the entire situation changed for average people during the war and how more and more of their freedoms were destroyed. H's mother is a Christian and we also see how the attitudes towards Christians changed.
Some of the specific things covered include bowing to portraits of the Emperor, the secret police, the loss of luxuries, a national dress, the neighborhood associations and the guidance league. If you're not familiar with how things went from bad to worse for the average civilian then this book will show you how that was done. Even if you're familiar with those things, though, it's still interesting to see the outlook of a young boy and how these things affected him personally.
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