Prisoners of war Books

Book SynopsisThrough the words of the Medical Officers themselves, some of the detail of what really happened on the Death Railway, for good or ill, is revealed here.

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Book SynopsisGuantánamo Voices is a graphic novel anthology of illustrated narratives about the prison and the lives it changed forever.Introduction by Omar El Akkad In January 2002, the United States sent a group of Muslim men they suspected of terrorism to a prison in Guantánamo Bay. They were the first of roughly 780 prisoners who would be held there—and 40 inmates still remain. More than 20 years later, very few of them have been ever charged with a crime. In Guantánamo Voices, journalist Sarah Mirk and her team of diverse, talented graphic novel artists tell the stories of 10 people whose lives have been shaped and affected by the prison, including former prisoners, lawyers, social workers, and service members. This collection of illustrated interviews explores the history of Guantánamo and the world post-9/11, presenting this complicated partisan issue through a new lens.&ldTrade Review“Moving details emerge, as when one detainee narrates his relationship with an iguana, along with profound frustration; in the words of one attorney, “The law is a joke.” The island colors and collection of styles make for a surprisingly artful book.” * The New York Times Book Review *“…the warm color palette designed by Kazimir Lee unifies the collection while helping the heavy subject matter stay measurably more approachable. This anthology disturbs and illuminates in equal measure.” * Publishers Weekly *“An eye-opening, damning indictment of one of America’s worst trespasses that continues to this day.” * Kirkus Reviews *“…exposes the surreal inhumanity and documents the humane attempts at justice-seeking for the so-called “detainees” in the “detention facility” known as Guantánamo.” * Booklist *“…The prison is often a forgotten topic of recent American history; Guantanamo Voices’illustrated format does the difficult work of making these facts accessible to a broad audience, dispelling falsehoods in the process…” * KQED *“The influences of Chris Ware, the Hernandez brothers and Moebius can be seen in Guantánamo Voices, a narrative report on the complex legal maneuvering, bureaucratic banality and patriotic equivocation that helped to justify a wartime prison that still exists today.” * Shelf Awareness *

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Book SynopsisA remarkable collection of accounts of intrepid American aircrew shot down over enemy lines during World War II and how they got away. To be an airman in the Eighth Air Force flying over the war-torn skies of Europe required skill, tenacity, and luck. Those who were shot down and evaded capture needed all of that and more if they were to make it back to friendly lines. These are their stories. Each is compiled from the original intelligence debrief written by the pilots or aircrew themselves. Bill Yenne details how a spider web of escape routes sprang up, created by the local Résistance. Downed airmen were clothed, given false papers, and hidden so they could be smuggled back to England. These efforts were then supplemented by Allied intelligence agents. But the risks remained the same. Capture could mean death. Their accounts are sometimes funny, often heartbreaking. P-47 pilot Joel McPherson feigned appendicitis and was able to escape from the locaTrade ReviewIn The Ones Who Got Away, Bill Yenne deftly weaves the individual stories of American airmen into an epic adventure tale of downed aviators on the run and the French, Belgian, and Dutch civilians who risked everything to help them dodge the Gestapo and escape occupied Europe. * Steve K. Bailey, author of 'Target Hong Kong' *Table of ContentsList of Plate Section Illustrations Maps Introduction Part One: Strangers in a Strange Land 1. The Lay of This Treacherous Land 2. Herding Wildcats 3. Many Paths to Freedom Part Two: Riding the Tail of a Comet 4. Hounded Houndsmen 5. Christmas in Limbo 6. Undocumented Fools At Large 7. A Menacing New Year 8. Unexpected Detours 9. In Hostile Hands 10. Long and Winding Roads Part Three: The Man on the Bicycle 11. May Day Over Saint-Nazaire 12. Lines on the Map 13. Bombard Our House With Chocolate 14. Perils of the Pyrenees 15. New Lives, Later Lives Part Four: Black Tuesday Boys 16. Inside the Third Reich 17. Desperate Fugitives 18. Shipwrecked Brothers 19. Not an Easy Road 20. Riding the Comet 21. False Starts, and Meeting the Fox Hunter 22. Homeward Bound Part Five: Long Roads from Regensburg 23. A Rough Start to a Long Day 24. Tales of a Shillelagh and a Double Agent 25. A Milk Run Turns Sour 26. To Brussels and Beyond 27. Unexpected Threats 28. The Belgian Waiting Game 29. This is Your Life Part Six: Bandits of the Dordogne 30. A Journey Formidable 31. Hollywood Maquisards 32. We Thought He Was a Madman 33. Over the Wall 34. A Bandit’s Life for Me 35. Danger All Around 36. Waiting for the Right Moment 37. D-Days 38. Unsettled Lives Part Seven: Reflections of Silver Screens 39. Leading from the Front 40. Suspicious Characters 41. Moving in Circles 42. Hollywood on the Seine 43. Operation Overlord 44. Hollywood Calling Part Eight: Lightning Struck Twice 45. Aces Among the Wolves 46. Aces Down 47. Back into Combat 48. Déjà Vu, Again and Again 49. A Haunted Life Part Nine: Betrayal and Triumph 50. Dobie’s Boys 51. A Valuable Asset 52. Jake and Marty 53. Running Through the Woods 54. Into a World of Intrigue 55. A Safe House Most Unsafe 56. A Dungeon Most Medieval 57. Sleight of Hand 58. Improbable Twists of Fate 59. Mornings After 60. Years After Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisWith expert scholars and great sensitivity, Out of Line, Out of Place illuminates and analyzes how the proliferation of internment camps emerged as a biopolitical tool of governance. Although the internment camp developed as a technology of containment, control, and punishment in the latter part of the nineteenth century mainly in colonial settings, it became universal and global during the Great War.Mass internment has long been recognized as a defining experience of World War II, but it was a fundamental experience of World War I as well. More than eight million soldiers became prisoners of war, more than a million civilians became internees, and several millions more were displaced from their homes, with many placed in securitized refugee camps. For the first time, Out of Line, Out of Place brings these different camps together in conversation. Rotem Kowner and Iris Rachamimov emphasize that although there were differences among camps andTrade ReviewThis book has great merit. It compares various case studies in Europe and beyond and, thus, offers a broad picture of internment operations. Such a wide-ranging approach presents the multiple categories of individuals interned, including combatants, enemy aliens, and political prisoners; widespread camp locations; and connections among state practices. The reflections that chapters propose on the global character of this wartime phenomena also helps foster an understanding of the First World War beyond the battlefield and beyond the period of 1914–18. * H-Net *For all these reasons, this book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the history of internment and war captivity. * H-net *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Military, Civilian, and Political Internments: Examining Great War Internments Together, by Iris Rachamimov and Rotem Kowner Part I: Internments in Europe 1. (Dis)entangling the Local, the National, and the International: Civilian Internment in Germany and in German-Occupied France and Belgium in Global Context, by Matthew Stibbe 2. The Captives of the Kaiser: Schutzhaft and Political Prisoners in Germany, by André Keil 3. Securitized Protection: Health Work in Wartime Austria-Hungary and the Making of Refugee Camps, by Doina Anca Cretu 4. Alexandra Palace: A Concentration Camp in the Heart of London, by Assaf Mond 5. Prisoner-of-War Civilian Experience: The Role of Profession among POWs, by Lena Radauer 6. The Face and Race of the Enemy: German POW Photographs as a Weapon of War, by Nancy Fitch Part II: Internments Beyond Europe 7. "Enemies of Our Country": Internment in Canada's Rocky Mountains National Park, 1915–1917, by Bohdan S. Kordan 8. Globalizing Captivity: "Little Germany in China", by Naoko Shimazu 9. German Propaganda and the African and Asian Theaters of the War, by Mahon Murphy Part III: Interwar Repurcussions and Beyond 10. Internment after the War's End: "Humanitarian Camps" in the POW Repatriation Process, 1918–1923, by Hazuki Tate 11. POWs, Civilians, and the Postwar Development of International Humanitarian Law, by Neville Wylie and Sarina Landefeld Conclusion: World War I and Its Internments: Final Remarks, by Iris Rachamimov and Rotem Kowner

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Book SynopsisAs the author, a young Army bandsman lies wounded at the Battle of Corinth, he is shot between the eyes at point blank range. Miraculously he survives but is blinded. In a makeshift hospital a young Greek volunteer saves his life with slices of boiled egg. Captured Allied medics later restore the sight in one eye. In this moving and entertaining memoir Bernard describes daily life in POW camps in Greece and Germany. He established a theatrical group and an orchestra who perform to fellow POWs and their German guards. A superb raconteur, as well as a gifted musician, the author's anecdotes are memorably amusing. Bernard was repatriated via Sweden in late 1943. While blinded in one eye and seriously wounded, the author was told by his New Zealand doctor, fellow POW and musician John Borrie, 'When nothing else will do, music will always lift one up'. Barbed Wire Blues' inspirational, ever optimistic tone will surely have the same effect on its readers.

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Book Synopsis“Enjoy your homes. Enjoy your food. There is nothing that can take their place.” Half a world away from her home in Manitoulin Island, Ethel Mulvany is starving in Singapore’s infamous Changi Prison, along with hundreds of other women jailed there as POWs during the Second World War. They beat back pangs of hunger by playing decadent games of make-believe and writing down recipes filled with cream, raisins, chocolate, butter, cinnamon, ripe fruit—the unattainable ingredients of peacetime, of home, of memory. In this novelistic, immersive biography, Suzanne Evans presents a truly individual account of WWII through the eyes of Ethel—mercurial, enterprising, combative, stubborn, and wholly herself. The Taste of Longing follows Ethel through the fall of Singapore in 1942, the years of her internment, and beyond. As a prisoner, she devours dog biscuits and book spines, befriends spiders and smugglers, and endures torture and solitary confinement. As a free woman back in Canada, she fights to build a life for herself in the midst of trauma and burgeoning mental illness. Woven with vintage recipes and transcribed tape recordings, the story of Ethel and her fantastical POW Cookbook is a testament to the often-overlooked strength of women in wartime. It’s a story of the unbreakable power of imagination, generosity, and pure heart.Table of ContentsTable of Contents Prologue: Setting the Table I. Meeting the Emperor 1. What’s a Manitoulin Girl Doing in Singapore? 2. The Tiger Woman 3. Bon Voyage Photos 4. Stepping Out in Singapore 5. Guns, Bicycles and Spies 6. Loaded to the Hilt on Benzedrine 7. Silence of the Guns II. Getting to Hunger 8. The Road to Jail 9. On the Inside 10. Shopping for Food and Answers 11. Shop for Some Pumpkins in Stall 38 12. The Logic of a Dream 13. Recipes of Longing III. Dreaming it Up 14. Stitching Stories 15. The Red Cross Silence Hut 16. The Games People Play 17. Double Tenth 18. Descending Mania 19. Solitary Confinement IV. Breaking Out 20. Shameful Hunger 21. First Feasts 22. The Horrors of Health Care 23. Is this Home? 24. Never Enough 25. The Gift of Food V. Putting it all Together 26. Not Fit Company for Herself 27. Treasure Van 28. What’s in the Bottom Drawer? 29. A Forgiving Spirit Draws Two Worlds Together Notes Index

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Book Synopsis‘Beguiling.’ The Times ‘Compelling.’ Wall Street Journal ‘A vivid portrait.’ Daily Mail Buried in the history of our most famous jail, a unique story of captivity, violence and race. It's 1812 – Britain and America are at war. British redcoats torch the White House and six thousand American sailors languish in the world’s largest prisoner-of-war camp, Dartmoor. A myriad of races and backgrounds, some are as young as thirteen. Known as the ‘hated cage’, Dartmoor was designed to break its inmates, body and spirit. Yet, somehow, life continued to flourish behind its tall granite walls. Prisoners taught each other foreign languages and science, put on plays and staged boxing matches. In daring efforts to escape they lived every prison-break cliché – how to hide the tunnel entrances, what to do with the earth, which disguises might pass… Drawing on meticulous research, The Hated Cage documents the extraordinary communities these men built within the prison – and the terrible massacre that destroyed these worlds. ‘This is history as it ought to be – gripping, dynamic, vividly written.’ Marcus RedikerTrade Review‘Beguiling.’ -- The Times‘Meticulously researched… a vivid portrait.’ -- Daily Mail‘Easily the most comprehensive study to date (and probably for quite a long while)… a vivid reconstruction of the experiences of the men who endured Dartmoor, as well as the hundreds who did not survive… a compelling story of human indifference, cruelty and endurance.’ -- TLS‘The Dartmoor Massacre provides the dramatic climax of Nicholas Guyatt’s The Hated Cage, a compelling and compassionate study of the largest overseas contingent of American POWs before World War II… a vivid and convincing reconstruction.’ -- Wall Street Journal‘This is history as it ought to be – gripping, dynamic, vividly written, and altogether brilliant in its interpretation. Nicholas Guyatt has liberated a motley crew of American sailors from the double darkness of Dartmoor Prison and our own poor historical memory.’ -- Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave Ship: A Human History‘A beautifully narrated tale that starts with a forgotten massacre in an English prison and opens out on to a truly epic global canvas. This book illuminates how profoundly Black history underpins the national stories of Britain and the United States – and of the world beyond.’ -- Priyamvada Gopal, author of Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent‘Captivating, heartbreaking and uplifting, The Hated Cage takes us on a journey to human creativity and resilience even when violence is lurking on the surface. It shows us the power of togetherness in the midst of suffocating conditions.’ -- Olivette Otele, author of African Europeans‘In this brilliant book, Nick Guyatt tells the fascinating story of a long-forgotten massacre of American sailors in a British prison. While that tale on its own is gripping, The Hated Cage uses this prison drama to unlock a range of insights about life and death across the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. A must-read work.’ -- Kevin M. Kruse, professor of history, Princeton University‘In Britain, American military cemeteries dot the landscape, none more forgotten or haunting than the one at Dartmoor, with 271 American sailors from the War of 1812. Guyatt has written a stunning, revealing history of one of the darkest and most inhumane outposts of the British empire, hidden in plain sight and historical memory in southwest England. The book is a withering tale of race and the suffering fate of seamen in the age of sail. It is also a brilliant reminder of why we do research and why we remember.’ -- David W. Blight, Sterling Professor at Yale, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom‘In Guyatt’s truly extraordinary recovery of Americans imprisoned long ago, he has excavated a most disturbing racial as well as carceral past, one that will feel disturbingly familiar, and one that underscores on every page the imperative of finally reckoning with white supremacy if there is to be a different future.’ -- Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water‘Nicholas Guyatt’s absorbing story of the early nineteenth-century Dartmoor prison “massacre” asks who was an American and could Black men, detained as British as prisoners of war, be citizens? Told by way of archival sleuthing and exacting analysis, The Hated Cage is a fascinating study of how ideas about racism and the state became fused to one another in the early American republic. It is a must-read for anyone concerned with the origins of the anti-Black thought of our own time.’ -- Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard‘Mostly set in a prisoner-of-war camp located on an otherworldly English moor, Nicholas Guyatt’s The Hated Cage is history at its most beguiling. Guyatt expertly synthesizes critical maritime and prison scholarship to give us a unique window into war, repression, racial violence, and incarceration in early modern American history. Anyone interested in exploring the meaning of the American Revolution would do well to lay off its founding fathers and read Guyatt’s account of long-ignored, tellingly so, events in Dartmoor’s “Black Prison”.’ -- Greg Grandin, Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History, Yale University‘A gripping book that tells the forgotten account of the events that occurred in Dartmoor prison in 1815. In The Hated Cage, Guyatt masterfully centres attention on an intriguing cast of characters to document in clear detail the histories of race, violence and the struggles for survival that sit at the heart of the entangled connections between Britain and the US.’ -- Imaobong Umoren, associate professor of international history, London School of Economics and Political Science‘[A] colorful account… Expertly weaving digressions on the history of incarceration and the racial dynamics of America’s shipping industry into the narrative, Guyatt delivers an engrossing look at an intriguing historical footnote.’ * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisThe time was 7.40 p.m., the date 15 February 1942. The light was fading fast, the Allied forces were encircled, and the bombardment was relentless, as Singapore fell to the Japanese. Discarding their weapons, the Lancashire Loyals quietly withdrew to their quarters, where they ‘composed themselves as best they could for the silent ordeal of the night, numbed and galled by the bitterness of enforced surrender’. So began three and half years of incarceration at Keijo POW camp in Korea. This is the previously untold story of the brave Lancastrians who endured, told by Chris Given-Wilson, whose father was one of those captured. It is a story of brutality, starvation and disease, but also one of survival, determination and creativity. Among the many ways the prisoners sought to keep their spirits up were the staging of surprisingly sophisticated shows, complete with Gloria d’Earie, the resident female impersonator; the growing of fresh vegetables to improve their health; and the regular publication of Nor Iron Bars (co-edited by the author’s father), with its satirical portrayals of camp life. Copies of this banned journal were successfully concealed from the guards to be smuggled home, and can be seen at the Lancashire Infantry Museum. Chris Given-Wilson writes with warmth and humour, to reveal both the best and the worst of human nature. This book should be read by everyone, but perhaps especially all proud Lancastrians.Table of ContentsPreface vii Principal sources xi Abbreviations and illustrations xii Chapter 1: Lion City 1 Prisoner stories: ‘James’ 15 Chapter 2: Fukai Maru 17 Prisoner stories: Gunner Starkey 31 Chapter 3: Endurance 35 Prisoner stories: Bombardier Butler 55 Chapter 4: Insincerity 59 Prisoner stories: Dr Mizuguchi 71 Chapter 5: Rank 75 Prisoner stories: Artists 91 Chapter 6: Mainichi 97 Prisoner stories: ‘Their Nibs’ 113 Chapter 7: ‘Not necessarily to Japan’s advantage’ 119 Prisoner stories: ‘My first uncensored letter for three and a half years!’ 126 Retrospect: ‘The hinge of fate’ 129 Bibliography 138 Endnotes 140

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Book SynopsisAs Nelson Mandela said, ‘a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.’ Shadowland tells the sometimes inspiring, often painful stories of Germany’s prisoners, and thereby shines new light on Germany itself. The story begins at the end of the Second World War, in a defeated country on the edge of collapse, in which orphaned and lost children are forced to live rough, scavenging and stealing to stay alive, often laying the foundations of a ‘criminal career’. While East Germany developed detention facilities for its secret police, West Germany passed prison reform laws, which erected, in the words of a prisoner, ‘little asbestos walls in Hell’. Shadowland is Germany as seen through the lives, experiences, triumphs and tragedies of its lowest citizens.

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Book SynopsisIn Dangerous Guests, Ken Miller reveals how wartime pressures nurtured a budding patriotism in the ethnically diverse revolutionary community of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. During the War for Independence, American revolutionaries held more than thirteen thousand prisonersboth British regulars and their so-called Hessian auxiliariesin makeshift detention camps far from the fighting. As the Americans' principal site for incarcerating enemy prisoners of war, Lancaster stood at the nexus of two vastly different revolutionary worlds: one national, the other intensely local. Captives came under the control of local officials loosely supervised by state and national authorities. Concentrating the prisoners in the heart of their communities brought the revolutionaries' enemies to their doorstep, with residents now facing a daily war at home. Many prisoners openly defied their hosts, fleeing, plotting, and rebelling, often with the clandestine support of local loyalists. By earlyTrade ReviewKen Miller makes and original and important contribution to our understanding of the American Revolution.... Dangerous Guests is an original, engaging work that stands as an important community study as well as an examination of the rebel treatment of prisoners of war during the War of Independence. It deserves a wide readership. * Journal of Early American History *Dangerous Guests successfully navigates its way through a complex terrain of captors and captives, often fluid cultural identities, and the demands placed on both sides by the American Revolution.... Historians interested in the recent scholarly emphasis on the mid-Atlantic colonies in the colonial and revolutionary periods will find it a worthy addition to earlier titles on the same region. Military scholars will be intrigued by Miller's behind-the-scenes look at the logistical challenges posed by American victories during the Revolution. General readers will appreciate Miller’s narrative style, while history teachers will find the book an endless source of stories to be used in classes addressing identity politics during the American Revolution. * H-Net Reviews *In short, the author makes the point that language and identity counted for most of the triumphs and disasters in this central POW depot during the revolution. The research sparkles with primary sources and the writing flows extremely well, with only a few repetitions here and there, making this book an outstanding contribution to both POW and revolutionary war studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. * Choice *Ken Miller's case study of interaction between prisoners and their reluctant Lancaster hosts is set within a thoroughly researched social history of the community and of the changes outside events—from the French and Indian War through the Revolution—brought to Lancaster.... In marshaling his extensive research to make a coherent argument about the impact of prisoners on their host communities, Miller has added an important chapter to the Pennsylvania story. * Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography *Ken Miller's very well-written and researched account focuses on one revolutionary American "community at war"—Lancaster, Pennsylvania—and its treatment of thousands of British and German prisoners of war between 1776 and 1783.... Miller's Dangerous Guests is one of the best recent studies on the treatment of prisoners of war during the American War of Independence. The book demonstrates that prisoners of war could be decisive agents of change in society. * The Journal of Military History *Miller's book is a well-researched and beautifully written community study that highlights the often-ignored logistical challenges of the war as well as the roiling but permeable communities that toughed it out for seven long years. * American Historical Review *Often overlooked in favor of the epic stories told by the likes of David Ramsay and Mercy Otis Warren, these local histories better represented the vantage point from which most early Americans experienced the conflict. When modern historians have paused to view the War for Independence from the same vantage point they have usually yielded important insights into the complicated process of mobilization, conflict, and revolution. Ken Miller's fine work on enemy captives in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, is no exception. Drawing on many of those early local histories along with a plethora of archival and printed sources, Miller paints a richly textured portrait of a community at war. * Journal of American History *There is no evidence of bias or agenda in the resulting story that includes an array of perspectives; the motives, faults and foibles of the various interacting individuals and organizations are given equal weight and merit. We see the complexities of a community composed of diverse groups, all trying to maintain their own identities while coexisting with each other; the onset of war and the sudden infusion of prisoners of war, themselves a diverse and multi-faceted community, put extraordinary pressures on this already challenged society. The way that Lancaster's community was redefined during this critical era is a fascinating story, exemplary of the American Revolution itself. Dangerous Guests is among the best treatments of this complex topic to come out in a long time, and deserves a place on the shelf of every serious scholar of America's transition from colonies to nation. * Journal of the American Revolution *Utilizing local archives, military and political records, and engaging with a growing historiography in frontier Pennsylvania and prisoners of war during the War for American Independence, Miller contributes to our understanding of the conflict in the American interior and in the everyday lives of the revolutionaries.... Dangerous Guests provides insight into the diverse communities in the interior of perhaps the most diverse state during the War for American Independence. It offers another lens through which to view the formation of an American identity, working through a topic that may appear more specialized but is garnering increased attention: prisoners of war. * Pennsylvania History *Miller skillfully reconstructs the contrasting American experiences with British and Hessian prisoners of war from a wide range of public sources, including records of the Continental Congress, Pennsylvania's revolutionary governments, Lancaster’s Committee of Correspondence and Observation, and Peter Force’s American Archives. * William and Mary Quarterly *Table of ContentsPrologue: A Community at War1. "A Colony of Aliens": Diversity, Politics, and War in Prerevolutionary Lancaster2. "Divided We Must Inevitably Fall": War Comes to Lancaster3. "A Dangerous Set of People": British Captives and the Sundering of Empire4. " 'Tis Britain Alone That Is Our Enemy": German Captives and the Promise of America5. "Enemies of Our Peace": Captives, the Disaffected, and the Refinement of American Patriotism6. "The Country Is Full of Prisoners of War": Nationalism, Resistance, and AssimilationEpilogue: The Empty BarracksNotes Index

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Book SynopsisStalin''s Gulag at War places the Gulag within the story of the regional wartime mobilization of Western Siberia during the Second World War. Far from Moscow, Western Siberia was a key area for evacuated factories and for production in support of the war effort. Wilson T. Bell explores a diverse array of issues, including mass death, informal practices such as black markets, and the responses of prisoners and personnel to the war. The region''s camps were never prioritized, and faced a constant struggle to mobilize for the war. Prisoners in these camps, however, engaged in such activities as sewing Red Army uniforms, manufacturing artillery shells, and constructing and working in major defense factories. The myriad responses of prisoners and personnel to the war reveal the Gulag as a complex system, but one that was closely tied to the local, regional, and national war effort, to the point where prisoners and non-prisoners frequently interacted. At non-priority campTrade Review"...an excellently researched and thought-provoking study which will no doubt influence the direction of future research." -- Mark Vincent * History *"Although Bell touches on and evaluates various theories and arguments, his book is a close, source-based archival study of what happened in practice, on the ground. [This] is a good example of careful empirical research. He went where his sources took him and lets readers make up their own minds rather than prosecuting an a priori theoretical case." -- J. Arch Getty * Slavic Review *"As a careful empirical researcher, Bell eschews a single overarching argument, pointing repeatedly to paradoxes and contradictions in administrative intention and ground-level reality. While he insists on the primacy of economic motivations in running individual Gulag outposts, he reveals Gulag labor as costly and inefficient compared to alternative approaches to economic output. While he highlights the contribution that Gulag labor made to Soviet victory, he reminds us that those contributions were a tiny part of the total mobilization of the Soviet workforce outside the Gulag during the war." -- Steven A. Barnes, George Mason University * Russian Review *"Suffice it to say that our understanding of Gulag operations during World War II is significantly deeper thanks to Bell’s scrupulous attention to the intricacies of parsing documents from the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, coupled with a close reading of memoir literature and supported by previous Gulag scholarship. Scholars, students, and World War II buffs will benefit from this engaging volume." -- Cynthia A. Ruder, University of Kentucky * University of Toronto Quarterly: Letters in Canada 2018 *"Wilson Bell’s excellent book, Stalin’s Gulag at War, is a detailed and dispassionate contribution to this growing body of research. Drawing on in-depth archival research and focused on camp operations and everyday camp life in Western Siberia during World War II, Bell reveals the extent to which the imperatives of Stalinist wartime mobilization molded the camps in these crucial years." -- Peter Whitewood, York St. John University * Europe-Asia Studies *"Bell has synthesized a huge amount of material to create a lasting contribution to the field, but this is a book that should also be read by historians beyond the Soviet field: environmental historians, historians of penal systems, or those of colonization too can find much to learn from Stalin’s Gulag at War." -- Victor Petrov, University of Tennessee Knoxville * H-Nationalism *Table of Contents1. Ready for Total War? 2. Total War, Total Mobilization 3. Patriotic Prisoners 4. Patriotic Personnel 5. The Gulag’s Victory

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Book SynopsisDutch photographer Jan Banning has interviewed and photographed 24 of the survivors of the Burma and Sumatra railways. The haunting images in this book show them as they worked, naked from the waist up. The words elicit, with a matter-of-fact disinterest, the misery of their constant understanding of death.

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Book SynopsisThe book tells the story of a little known artillery regiment, the 155th (Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA which saw constant action during the ill-fated Malayan Campaign of 1941/42 and whose members later experienced the worst kind of hell as POWs of a cruel and bestial enemy. Following the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the Regiment fought a brave and resolute rearguard action all the way down the Malayan Peninsular and onto the so called impregnable fortress of Singapore. Held in the highest respect by comrades and foe alike, this former territorial cavalry regiment fully deserved its Royal Artillery moto - Ubigue - 'everywhere'. In the years that followed, the Gunners slaved, suffered an d died on the infamous Burma Railway, in copper mines of Formosa and camps throughout the Far East. More men of the Regiment died as POWs than fell in action. They should not be forgotten. Included is a full nominal roll which allows the reader to identify the camp/s where each individual Gunner was held. A Roll of Honour provides the date, place and cause of death and place of burial/commemoration of the Regiment's casualties.Trade ReviewIncluded is a full nominal roll which allows the reader to identify the camp/s where each individual Gunner was held. - Britain at War Death Was Our Bedmate is an inspiring read and an overdue tribute to the fallers and survivors during the regiment's horrific ordeal. COFEPOW

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Book SynopsisIncludes many incredible, never previously published escape stories by Allied airmen.

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Book SynopsisAfter the U.S. Supreme Court held that U.S. courts have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2241 to hear legal challenges on behalf of persons detained at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in connection with the war against terrorism (Rasul v. Bush), the Pentagon established administrative hearings, called "Combatant Status Review Tribunals" (CSRTs), to allow the detainees to contest their status as enemy combatants, and informed them of their right to pursue relief in federal court by seeking a writ of habeas corpus. Lawyers subsequently filed dozens of petitions on behalf of the detainees in the District Court for the District of Columbia, where district court judges reached inconsistent conclusions as to whether the detainees have any enforceable rights to challenge their treatment and detention. In December 2005, Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA) to divest the courts of jurisdiction to hear some detainees'' challenges by eliminating the federal courts'' statutory jurisdiction over habeas claims by aliens detained at Guantanamo Bay (as well as other causes of action based on their treatment or living conditions). The DTA provides instead for limited appeals of CSRT determinations or final decisions of military commissions. After the Supreme Court rejected the view that the DTA left it without jurisdiction to review a habeas challenge to the validity of military commissions in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the 109th Congress enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) (P.L. 109-366) to authorize the President to convene military commissions and to amend the DTA to further reduce access to federal courts by "alien enemy combatants," wherever held, by eliminating pending and future causes of action other than the limited review of military proceedings permitted under the DTA. In June 2008, the Supreme Court held in the case of Boumediene v. Bush that aliens designated as enemy combatants and detained at Guantanamo Bay have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus. The Court also found that MCA 7, which limited judicial review of executive determinations of the petitioners'' enemy combatant status, did not provide an adequate habeas substitute and therefore acted as an unconstitutional suspension of the writ of habeas. The immediate impact of the Boumediene decision is that detainees at Guantanamo may petition a federal district court for habeas review of the legality and possibly the circumstances of their detention, perhaps including challenges to the jurisdiction of military commissions.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides an overview of major legal issues likely to arise as a result of executive and legislative action to close the Guantanamo detention facility. It discusses legal issues related to the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees (either to a foreign country or into the U.S.), the continued detention of such persons in the U.S., and the possible removal of persons brought to the U.S. This book also discusses selected constitutional issues that may arise in the criminal prosecution of detainees, emphasising the procedural and substantive protections that are utilised in different adjudicatory forums. Other issues discussed include detainees'' right to a speedy trial, the prohibition against prosecution under ex post facto laws, and limitations upon the admissibility of hearsay and secret evidence in criminal cases. This book consists of public domain documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

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Book SynopsisLittle has been written about the Acadians who served in Canada's armed forces during the Second World War. In fact, the prevailing notion suggested that Acadians refused to support the war effort. Bombs and Barbed Wire provides an alternative point of view, revealing the commitment and bravery displayed by the approximately 24,000 Acadians who voluntarily joined the war effort. Battling both language barriers and a culture of exclusion, they overcame frustrations and prejudice to fight for the freedom of the country they loved. Based on extensive, in-depth interviews Cormier conducted in 1990 with eleven surviving Acadian veterans, Bombs & Barbed Wire brings to life the experience of Acadian soldiers for English-language readers for the first time. Bombs and Barbed Wire is volume 29 of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.

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Book SynopsisWhen Green Beret Lieutenant James N. Rowe was captured in 1963 in Vietnam, his life became more than a matter of staying alive.In a Vietcong POW camp, Rowe endured beri-beri, dysentery, and tropical fungus diseases. He suffered grueling psychological and physical torment. He experienced the loneliness and frustration of watching his friends die. And he struggled every day to maintain faith in himself as a soldier and in his country as it appeared to be turning against him.His survival is testimony to the disciplined human spirit.His story is gripping.

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Book SynopsisIn this revisionist history of the United States government relocation of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, Roger W. Lotchin challenges the prevailing notion that racism was the cause of the creation of these centers. After unpacking the origins and meanings of American attitudes toward the Japanese-Americans, Lotchin then shows that Japanese relocation was a consequence of nationalism rather than racism. Lotchin also explores the conditions in the relocation centers and the experiences of those who lived there, with discussions on health, religion, recreation, economics, consumerism, and theater. He honors those affected by uncovering the complexity of how and why their relocation happened, and makes it clear that most Japanese-Americans never went to a relocation center. Written by a specialist in US home front studies, this book will be required reading for scholars and students of the American home front during World War II, Japanese relocation, and the history of JapTrade Review'Deeply engaging, original throughout, based on prodigious research in archival records and existing scholarship, Roger W. Lotchin's book is a path-breaking reexamination of the complex multiple causes and the actual human consequences of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. His reconsideration of the role of racism in the World War II era is especially impressive, insightful, and timely.' William Issel, San Francisco State University'A bold, nuanced, and engaging study of Japanese-American relocation and WWII. This well-researched and passionately argued book deserves to be read by every scholar studying the war and home front. A reconsideration will be debated for decades.' Gary R. Mormino, University of South Florida, St Petersburg'Lotchin uses patience, solid evidence, and an open mind to challenge our racist interpretation of Japanese American 'internment' centers during WWII. His fine book won't end the debate but should force us to confront our well-practiced and comfortable answers to who these people were and how many Americans really viewed them. The greatest testimony to the American identity of the men, women, and children who lived in these centers were the reproduction of the very communities from which they'd been taken and the unremarkable acceptance of these efforts by their captors. The lessons for us today couldn't be clearer or more poignant.' Daniel J. Monti, Saint Louis University, Missouri'This study examines the Japanese American internment experience during WWII from a tenuous historical position: that it was done because of war and nationalism, not racism. Lotchin defines the different groups in this interned community: Issei, who immigrated at the turn of the 20th century, were denied citizenship by law, and often favored Japanese culture; Nisei, the sons and daughters of the Issei, who were American citizens by birth; and Kibei, Nisei who spent time in Japan, learned proper Japanese, and often favored the Japanese cause. In 1942, fearing a fifth column that would welcome Japanese invaders, the army and California believed that removal was the only answer. … The author labels as ideologues modern historians who define internment only as an act of racism. This is an edgy study, and the author sits on a difficult side of history. Summing Up: Recommended.' R. C. Doyle, ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction: relocation, a racial obsession; Part I. The Reach of American Racism?: 1. Racism and anti-racism; 2. The ballad of Frankie Seto: winning despite the odds; 3. Chinese and European origins of the West Coast alien dilemma; 4. Impact of World War II: a multicausal brief; 5. The lagging backlash; 6. The looming Roberts Report; 7. Races and racism; Part II. Concentration Camps or Relocation Centers? Definitions versus Historical Realities: 8. Definition versus historical reality: concentration camps in Cuba, South Africa, and the Philippines; 9. Resistance or cooperation?; 10. Bowling in Twin Falls – an open-door leave policy; 11. Daily life: food, labor, sickness, and health; 12. Wartime attitudes toward relocation; 13. Family life, personal freedom, and combat fatigue; 14. Economics and the dust of Nikkei memory; 15. Consumerism: shopping at Sears; 16. The leisure revolution: Mary Kagoyama, the sweetheart of Manzanar; 17. Of horse stalls and modern 'memory' – housing and living conditions; 18. Politics; 19. Culture: of Judo and the Jive bombers; 20. Freedom of religion; 21. Education, the passion of Dillon Myer; 22. The right to know, information and the free flow of ideas; 23. Administrators and administration; Part III. The Demise of Relocation: 24. Politics of equilibrium – friends and enemies on the outside; 25. Endgame: termination of the centers; 26. Conclusion: the place of race; 27. Appendix: Historians and the Racism and Concentration Camp Puzzles by Zane l. Miller.

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Book SynopsisBooks on World War II abound, yet there are remarkably few publications on South Africas role in this war, which had such an influence on how we live today. There is even less written about those who participated on the margins of the war, especially those who were physically removed from the battlefields through capture by enemy forces. South Africas prisoners of war during World War II, their experiences and recollections, are largely forgotten. That is until now. Historian Karen Horn painstakingly tracked down a number of former POWs. Together with written memoirs and archival documents, their interviews reveal rich narratives of hardship, endurance, humour, longing and self-discovery. Instead of fighting, these men adapted to another war, one which was fought on the inside of many prison camps. It was a war against hunger and deprivation, at times against ever-encroaching despondency and low morale amongst their companions in captivity. In their interviews, all the POWs expressed surprise at being asked to share their experiences. The author found it astonishing that almost all of them claimed not to be heroes of any kind. This is not surprising when one considers that they returned to a country which soon tried its utmost to promote national amnesia with regard to the countrys participation in the war. With great insight and empathy, Karen Horn shines a light on a neglected corner of South African history.

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary revelations in Traitors detail the ugly side of war and power and the many betrayals of our ANZACs.In October 1943 Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Josef Stalin signed a solemn pact that once their enemies were defeated the Allied powers would ''pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth and will deliver them to their accusers in order that justice may be done''. Nowhere did they say that justice would be selective. But it would prove to be.Traitors outlines the treachery of the British, American and Australian governments, who turned a blind eye to those who experimented on Australian prisoners of war. Journalist and bestselling author Frank Walker details how Nazis hired by ASIO were encouraged to settle in Australia and how the Catholic Church, CIA and MI6 helped the worst Nazi war criminals escape justice. While our soldiers were asked to risk their lives for King and country, Allied corporations traded withTrade ReviewTo come * Revielle (RSL magazine) *To come * The Weekend Australian *To come * Mother & Baby *To come * YOURS *To come * Sky Radio *

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Book SynopsisThe riveting story of the missing piece of Australia''s World War II history, told by bestselling historian Mat McLachlan (Walking with the Anzacs, Gallipoli: The Battlefield Guide).During World War II, in the town of Cowra in central New South Wales, Japanese prisoners of war were held in a POW camp. By August 1944, over a thousand were interned and on the icy night of August 5th they staged one of the largest prison breakouts in history, launching the only land battle of World War II to be fought on Australian soil. Five Australian soldiers and more than 230 Japanese POWs would die during what became known as The Cowra Breakout.This compelling and fascinating book, written by one of Australia''s leading battlefield historians, vividly traces the full story of the Breakout. It is a tale of proud warriors and misfit Australian soldiers. Of negligence and complacency, and of authorities too slow to recognise danger before it occurred - and too quick to c

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Book SynopsisWhat was life really like as an 'enemy' POW? This intriguing look at prison camp life sheds new light.

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Book SynopsisJuly 1918. A band of Allied Royal Flying Corps airmen are determined to escape Germany's harshest POW camp. Their plan will become the most ambitious mass breakout attempt of the Great War.Trade ReviewEntertaining . . . very little is known about the escape artists of World War I, but Bascomb's suspenseful and well-researched book could change that * Daily Mail *Fascinating * Daily Express *Terrific . . . [a] stirring story * Mail on Sunday *A remarkable piece of hidden history, told perfectly . . . brims with adventure, suspense, daring, and heroism * David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon *It's riveting reading, but more than that, it's inspiring * Candice Millard, author of Hero of the Empire *Absorbing * Choice Magazine *A remarkable piece of hidden history, told perfectly...brims with adventure, suspense, daring, and heroism * David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon *

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Book SynopsisIn the early years of the second world war, Japan had the upper hand in the Pacific theatre. Thousands of Allied servicemen were captured and endured brutal treatment – many died, and most of the survivors were held until war’s end in August 1945.This book tells the story of the men who were incarcerated at the Mukden POW camp in northeast China, which was designated for prisoners with special technical skills and high-ranking officers. They included troops from British and Dutch territories and Australia, but the majority were Americans who had been captured in the Philippines and taken part in the infamous Bataan Death March.Based on extensive field research and interviews with former POWs, Yang Jing’s harrowing account of life in the Mukden camp provides detailed evidence of the crimes perpetrated by the Japanese during the second world war, as well as a Chinese perspective on a fascinating period of history.

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Book SynopsisThis analysis of the general subject of WWI prisoners of war focuses on the role of a non-governmental association in confronting the increasingly chaotic conditions of East Europe.Trade ReviewExtremely interesting and impressively researched. -- Arnold Krammer Journal of American Hsitory

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Book SynopsisHomecomings tells the story of late-returning Japanese soldiers and their struggle to adapt to a newly peaceful and prosperous society.Trade ReviewA bracing, riveting, and lucid retelling of postwar Japanese culture, Homecomings is the best kind of cultural history, capturing the mesh of experience, memory, history, and representation. The book reveals the psychic and ethical complexities of the lives of soldiers who returned to a defeated nation. It shows how postwar Japanese culture was created out of those experiences and how they were narrated and represented across culture in writing, photography, and film. -- Alan Tansman, director, Townsend Center of the Humanities, University of California, Berkeley Homecomings tells the stories of six repatriated Japanese soldiers. Yoshikuni Igarashi shows how Japan's mass media represented these men and how they grappled with their media images. By focusing on returnees from the immediate postwar years as well as those from the 1970s, Igarashi tells a rich story of the decades-long struggle of the Japanese people to come to terms with the awful experience of the war. -- Andrew Gordon, Harvard University As masterfully recounted by Yoshikuni Igarashi, these stories of Japanese soldiers who returned home years (and sometimes decades) after 1945 are revealing, sometimes heartbreaking and often confounding, and thoroughly fascinating. Homecomings details how servicemen belatedly repatriated from Soviet labor camps and Southeast Asian and Pacific Island jungles could become both painful reminders and powerful icons in a postwar Japan eager to distance itself from and mythologize a deeply troubled past. -- Bill Tsutsui, president and professor of history, Hendrix College Homecomings is a brilliant cultural history of mass-mediated negotiations of Japan's 'postwar' from the 1940s through the 1970s and beyond. Yoshikuni Igarashi brings close and sympathetic attention to the ironies, hypocrisies, and inconsistencies that colored the landscape of reintegration after Japan's disastrous empire and war. -- Franziska Seraphim, Boston College A remarkable, detailed study of life in Japan and all countries in Asia involved in WW II and its aftermath... Recommended. Choice The author deftly examines the conflict between the need for returnees to verbalize their experiences and the government's attempt to smother the past, burying the legacies of war and colonialism under a newer, brighter postwar narrative. Japan TimesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on Personal Names and Names of War Introduction 1. Life After the War: Former Servicemen in Postwar Japanese Film 2. The Story of a Man Who Was Not Allowed to Come Home: Gomikawa Junpei and The Human Condition (Ningen no joken) 3. Longing for Home: Japanese POWs in Soviet Captivity and Their Repatriation 4. "No Denunciation": Ishihara Yoshiro's Soviet Internment Experiences 5. Lost and Found in the South Pacific: Postwar Japan's Mania Over Yokoi Shoichi's Return 6. Rescued from the Past: Onoda Hiro'o's Endless War 7. The Homecoming of the "Last Japanese Soldier": Nakamura Teruo/Shiniyuwu/Li Guanghui's Postwar Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisHomecomings tells the story of late-returning Japanese soldiers and their struggle to adapt to a newly peaceful and prosperous society. Yoshikuni Igarashi explores what Japanese society accepted and rejected, complicating the definition of a postwar consensus and prolonging the experience of war for both Japanese soldiers and the nation.Trade ReviewA bracing, riveting, and lucid retelling of postwar Japanese culture, Homecomings is the best kind of cultural history, capturing the mesh of experience, memory, history, and representation. The book reveals the psychic and ethical complexities of the lives of soldiers who returned to a defeated nation. It shows how postwar Japanese culture was created out of those experiences and how they were narrated and represented across culture in writing, photography, and film. -- Alan Tansman, director, Townsend Center of the Humanities, University of California, BerkeleyHomecomings tells the stories of six repatriated Japanese soldiers. Yoshikuni Igarashi shows how Japan's mass media represented these men and how they grappled with their media images. By focusing on returnees from the immediate postwar years as well as those from the 1970s, Igarashi tells a rich story of the decades-long struggle of the Japanese people to come to terms with the awful experience of the war. -- Andrew Gordon, Harvard UniversityAs masterfully recounted by Yoshikuni Igarashi, these stories of Japanese soldiers who returned home years (and sometimes decades) after 1945 are revealing, sometimes heartbreaking and often confounding, and thoroughly fascinating. Homecomings details how servicemen belatedly repatriated from Soviet labor camps and Southeast Asian and Pacific Island jungles could become both painful reminders and powerful icons in a postwar Japan eager to distance itself from and mythologize a deeply troubled past. -- Bill Tsutsui, president and professor of history, Hendrix CollegeHomecomings is a brilliant cultural history of mass-mediated negotiations of Japan's 'postwar' from the 1940s through the 1970s and beyond. Yoshikuni Igarashi brings close and sympathetic attention to the ironies, hypocrisies, and inconsistencies that colored the landscape of reintegration after Japan's disastrous empire and war. -- Franziska Seraphim, Boston CollegeThe author deftly examines the conflict between the need for returnees to verbalize their experiences and the government's attempt to smother the past, burying the legacies of war and colonialism under a newer, brighter postwar narrative. * Japan Times *This eloquent volume will no doubt become a work to which diverse audiences— scholars, students, and general readers with an interest in the complex events of the past—will turn repeatedly to draw lessons about modern Japan’s pained relationship with the vestiges of its failed empire. * Pacific Affairs *Homecomings adds rich substance to history. * Asian Affairs *A remarkable, detailed study of life in Japan and all countries in Asia involved in WWII and its aftermath. . . . Recommended. * Choice *The great strength of Homecomings is its discerning analysis of how antiwar memories have been mediated in the postwar period. It is best suited for advanced undergraduates and graduate students with some grounding in the historiography of imperial Japan and postcolonial topics like repatriation. -- Kristine Dennehy, California State University–Fullerton * Michigan War Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on Personal Names and Names of WarIntroduction1. Life After the War: Former Servicemen in Postwar Japanese Film2. The Story of a Man Who Was Not Allowed to Come Home: Gomikawa Junpei and The Human Condition (Ningen no joken)3. Longing for Home: Japanese POWs in Soviet Captivity and Their Repatriation4. "No Denunciation": Ishihara Yoshiro's Soviet Internment Experiences5. Lost and Found in the South Pacific: Postwar Japan's Mania Over Yokoi Shoichi's Return6. Rescued from the Past: Onoda Hiro'o's Endless War7. The Homecoming of the "Last Japanese Soldier": Nakamura Teruo/Shiniyuwu/Li Guanghui's PostwarEpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisMoving seamlessly between family and communal history, Setsuko's Secret offers a clear window into a ""camp life"" that was rarely revealed to the children of the incarcerated. This volume powerfully insists that we reckon with the pain in our collective American past.Trade ReviewA rich and original story. Shirley Higuchi captures the sweeping narrative of incarceration through the lens of a single camp and ties it to our present reality. Her resolve as a daughter of the camps is Setsuko's real legacy." - Frank Abe, director of Conscience and the Constitution"Shirley Higuchi takes us on a journey, the more she searches for pieces of the puzzle, the deeper readers will be drawn in and search with her." - Noriko Sanefuji, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

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Book SynopsisMany Allied POWs in the Pacific theater of World War II suffered terribly. But abuse wasn’t a matter of Japanese policy, as is commonly assumed. Sarah Kovner shows poorly trained guards and rogue commanders inflicted the most horrific damage. Camps close to centers of imperial power tended to be less violent, and many POWs died from friendly fire.Trade ReviewPrisoners of the Empire forces readers to rethink the morality-tale version of cruel Japanese treatment of Allied POWs. Kovner is unflinching in presenting harsh treatment by Japanese prison commanders or guards and unsparing in her attention to racism on all sides. Above all, she is clear-eyed in explaining how confusion and ignorance, more than consistent policy, shaped this tragic episode in the fog of war. -- Andrew Gordon, author of A Modern History of JapanThis innovative study of Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camps in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Singapore during World War II explores how they were administered and what the prisoners experienced…Kovner’s vivid, detailed inquiry throws light on a host of subjects, including the racial and gender attitudes of the many cultures that encountered one another in wartime Asia. -- Andrew J. Nathan * Foreign Affairs *A rigorous and wide-ranging study of Japan’s treatment of POWs during WWII…This revisionist history adds essential nuance and depth to an emotionally charged subject. * Publishers Weekly *[An] excellent and unemotional account…She is not unsympathetic to the former POWs but provides a nuanced and dispassionate interpretation of what happened to those who became Japanese prisoners between 1942 and 1945. -- J. E. Hoare * Asian Affairs *The main thesis of this book holds true across Asia: simplistic notions of culturally determined cruelty do not fully explain the maltreatment of POWs, even though the conduct of the Pacific war was clearly infused with racism on both sides. The chaos of war, and the plea of ‘military necessity’—alas, so often the trump card during warfare—played a major role in this woeful erosion of humanity. -- Joan Beaumont * Australian Book Review *A ground-breaking survey of selected Japanese POW camps during the Asia–Pacific War that will be the starting point for all future studies of this topic. -- Samuel H. Yamashita * Journal of Japanese Studies *A much-needed corrective to our understanding of Japanese treatment of Allied prisoners. The book is well researched, and the author’s ability to work with Japanese-language sources makes this an extremely valuable contribution to the field of POW scholarship. Kovner’s careful consideration of the source material, her clear and fluid prose, and her critical eye provide a nuanced analysis that is long overdue. -- Derek R. Mallett * Journal of Military History *This is a significant contribution to the history of the Pacific War and the continuing discourse on prisoners of war more generally…Kovner successfully blends military, social, administrative, and diplomatic history into a highly readable study. -- Michael Sturma * Pacific Affairs *Kovner argues that there was nothing inherent in the Japanese character or culture that led to the inhumane treatment of POWs by Japan during the Pacific War…Makes an important contribution to our understanding of internment practices throughout the twentieth century. -- Mahon Murphy * Monumenta Nipponica *Standing on impressive transnational research in government and nongovernmental archives, Kovner complicates the popular consensus that Japan’s treatment of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) during World War II was singularly cruel and a systematic effort. By meticulously tracing the steps and missteps of Japan’s management of POW camps across its vast wartime empire, Kovner adjudicates from official records that there is no evidence of any top-down directive or an inherent quality of Japanese culture that explains why prisoners suffered. Instead, Kovner cogently argues that maltreatment resulted from the absence of planning and indifference among senior Japanese officials. -- Sandra H. Park * Journal of Asian Studies *Kovner reformats the complex ‘morality play’ depicted in Western history of prisoner of war suffering during World War II. Looking at the entirety of the Japanese empire at war, and focusing on the camps as locales within a cascade of battles for power, she challenges preconceptions that abuse stemmed solely from bushido ideals gone wrong or specific policies of cruelty. By comparatively investigating a vast range of experiences and geographic sites, Kovner overturns our stereotyped perceptions and challenges our understanding of POW history. -- Barak Kushner, author of Men to Devils, Devils to Men: Japanese War Crimes and Chinese JusticeIn a major work of original scholarship, Kovner reveals that who lived and who died often resulted not from policy but incompetence—poor training, lack of planning, disregard for anything but military priorities. With impressive daring, she situates camp lives within the larger context of occupation policies, diplomacy, and international law, and describes the multiethnic world of hundreds of thousands of POWs, civilian internees including women and children, and guards in the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, and Korea. Prisoners of the Empire is a signal critical accomplishment. -- Sabine Frühstück, author of Playing War: Children and the Paradoxes of Modern Militarism in JapanIn this ambitious study, Kovner moves beyond threadbare tropes of bushido and surrender-as-shameful to persuasively argue that Japanese treatment of POWs during World War II varied greatly across time and space—and cannot be fully understood without the broader context of Japanese diplomacy with the West, propaganda and strategic considerations, and the breakdown of discipline and logistics as Japan’s empire collapsed. Elegantly written and compulsively readable, this accessible narrative history will be of great interest to scholars and general readers alike. -- Nick Kapur, author of Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo

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Book SynopsisDrawing on oral history of female Palestinian political detainees, this book analyses their anti-colonial struggles in this overlooked subject.Trade Review'Reveals just how much of the history of anti-imperialist struggles is absent when women - especially Palestinian women freedom fighters - are overlooked' -- Angela Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz'By interviewing Palestinian women political detainees and by situating their experiences both historically and globally, Abdo fills an important gap in both feminist and non-feminist scholarship on gender and resistance' -- Simona Sharoni, Ph.D, Professor, Gender & Women’s Studies, State University of New York, Plattsburgh'Nahla Abdo's groundbreaking, highly personal anti-imperialist analysis of Palestinian women political detainees makes a vital contribution to feminist studies of struggle and resistance, moving the reader from rage to hope' -- Ronit Lentin, Associate professor of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin'A landmark contribution. Avoiding the simplicity of merely adding the narratives of women to existing accounts of prison struggles, Abdo indicts the colonial violence, gynophobia, orientalism and cultural erasure that define the carceral regimes which Palestinian women encounter, and resist' -- Dr Mary Corcoran, Keele University, UK.'A powerful and informative book, whose historical, cultural and political framing distinguishes it within an expanding literature on women political prisoners in the Middle East' -- Rosemary Sayigh, Journal of Holy Land and Palestine StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Forgotten History, Lost Voices and Silent Souls: Women Political Detainees 2. Anti-Colonial Resistance in Context 3. Colonialism, Imperialism and the Culture of Resistance 4. Political Detainees and the Israeli Prison System 5. Prison as a Site of Resistance Conclusion Afterword Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe second instalment of the iconic memoirs of one of the first female fighters of the PKKTrade Review'This memoir advances our knowledge of human endurance and allows the reader a closer look into the world of state violence. This is a compelling story of fear, hope, tensions, despair, joy, but mostly a dream of liberation' -- Shahrzad Mojab, co-author of 'Revolutionary Learning: Marxism, Feminism and Knowledge''Diyarbakir Military Prison was the main site of Kurdish resistance during the early 1980s and as a senior member of the PKK, Sakine Cansiz played a leading role in it. This book is an excellent resource for understanding this historic period in Kurdish politics' -- Cengiz Gunes, author of 'The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance' (Routledge, 2012).'This second volume of memoirs covers the 11 years Sakine Cansiz spent in Turkish prisons from 1979 until 1990. With tremendous lucidity and power Cansiz tells a story of struggle against dehumanisation and an unshakeable belief in freedom. This is a deeply moving documentation of the origins of the Kurdish women's movement. A most important book - beautifully written and urgent' -- Estella Schmid, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign'Sakine shows not only Kurdish women, but all women that the most beautiful way to live is to embrace life with more strength. Sakine never gave up her love for freedom, despite the heavy sacrifices she had to bear. In a country where it is forbidden to live in freedom as human beings, she knew that the only way to survive was to fight. Every woman who longs for freedom will find a voice in Sakine's struggle' -- Gönül Tepe, Kurdish Women's Liberation MovementTable of ContentsTranslator-editor's Preface Sara Notes List of People List of Political Names and Acronyms Timeline Index

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Book SynopsisWhy are prisoners horribly abused in some wars but humanely cared for in others? In Life and Death in Captivity, Geoffrey P. R. Wallace explores the profound differences in the ways captives are treated during armed conflict. Wallace focuses on the dual role played by regime type and the nature of the conflict in determining whether captor states opt for brutality or mercy. Integrating original data on prisoner treatment during the last century of interstate warfare with in-depth historical cases, Wallace demonstrates how domestic constraints and external incentives shape the fate of captured enemy combatants. Both Russia and Japan, for example, treated prisoners very differently in the Russo-Japanese War of 19045 and in World War II; the behavior of any given country is liable to vary from conflict to conflict and even within the same war.Democracies may be more likely to treat their captives humanely, yet this benevolence is rooted less in liberal norms of nonviolencTrade ReviewGeoffrey Wallace suggests a new theoretical framework to examine wartime conduct and political violence in armed conflicts. * Canadian Military History *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Repertoires of Violence against Prisoners2. The Captor's Dilemma3. Prisoners by the Numbers4. World War II, Democracies, and the (Mis)Treatment of Prisoners5. Territorial Conquest and the Katyn Massacre in PerspectiveConclusion: Explaining the Treatment of Prisoners during WarAppendix Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Jones has succeeded brilliantly in redefining how we understand the role of prisoners of war and their treatment in determining the course of the American War of Independence. In so doing, he offers unique insights into the founders and the founding of the country . . . Jones has provided a new outlook on the American War of Independence through a unique and innovative lens . . . Captives of Liberty is an insightful and magnificent achievement, providing a major contribution to the literature on the period." * History: Reviews of New Books *"[A] very comprehensive yet relatively concise treatise on the largely overlooked area of prisoner treatment during the Revolution. It is highly readable and engaging and deserves a place on the shelf of any student of this period in history. Jones's work provides a fresh take on the conflict's character and the central role prisoners held in shaping it that shifts perceptions of both the conflict itself as well as our national historical memory of it." * Journal of the American Revolution *"An ambitious and impressive book, Captives of Liberty offers a fresh interpretation of the American Revolution that will be required reading for scholars of the era." * Journal of the Early Republic *"As T. Cole Jones reminds us in his timely and compelling monograph, the violence of the American Revolution was not only profound, but also profoundly important in shaping the nature of the contest. Jones focuses on the prisoners of war who were at the epicentre of suffering in the Revolution . . . Jones is to be commended for this invaluable contribution to our understanding of the ways in which a War for Independence became a destructive Revolutionary War that had far-reaching political effects." * Social History *"Jones’s work is pathbreaking in examining an aspect of the Revolutionary War that has received little attention from modern historians: much has been written about British treatment of American prisoners, but relatively little about the reverse… Jones has presented a well-written and engaging account of violence against prisoners, and he truly does illuminate a little studied aspect of the Revolutionary War. Captives of Liberty is well worth reading, and it will be of interest to both military historians and those who consider civil-military relations." * Journal of British Studies *"Captives of Liberty shines brilliant new light on the question of just how brutal the American Revolutionary War really was. Based on extensive archival research, T. Cole Jones presents overwhelming evidence that prisoners of war regularly endured retaliatory privation, horrible suffering, and death. Along the way, Jones helps shatter longstanding images of a restrained, almost civilized military conflict. Beautifully written, Captives of Liberty is a magisterial work." * James Kirby Martin, author of Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered *"An impressive treatment of the subject of prisoners of war in the American Revolution and an antidote to nostalgia, Captives of Liberty reminds us that the American Revolution was a brutal conflict in which the atrocities were not exclusive to the southern theater nor to any one side. It is a significant contribution to the historiography of the Revolution." * Andrew O'Shaughnessy, author of The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire *"In Captives of Liberty, T. Cole Jones deftly challenges perceptions of a 'civilized' and restrained American Revolution by illuminating how the management of prisoners, whether inadvertently dire due to provisioning problems or deliberately grim as a political weapon, tracks a course of escalation from proportional retaliation to bloody revenge in the conflict. This superb and engrossing study presents a war not only for but also between hearts and minds when the treatment of captives put popular sentiments, political decisions, and military custom at odds in a struggle to reconcile emotions and vengeance with law, order, and honor." * Holly Mayer, author of Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution *

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Book SynopsisIn Dangerous Guests, Ken Miller reveals how wartime pressures nurtured a budding patriotism in the ethnically diverse revolutionary community of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. During the War for Independence, American revolutionaries held more than thirteen thousand prisonersboth British regulars and their so-called Hessian auxiliariesin makeshift detention camps far from the fighting. As the Americans' principal site for incarcerating enemy prisoners of war, Lancaster stood at the nexus of two vastly different revolutionary worlds: one national, the other intensely local. Captives came under the control of local officials loosely supervised by state and national authorities. Concentrating the prisoners in the heart of their communities brought the revolutionaries' enemies to their doorstep, with residents now facing a daily war at home. Many prisoners openly defied their hosts, fleeing, plotting, and rebelling, often with the clandestine support of local loyalists. By earlyTrade ReviewKen Miller makes and original and important contribution to our understanding of the American Revolution.... Dangerous Guests is an original, engaging work that stands as an important community study as well as an examination of the rebel treatment of prisoners of war during the War of Independence. It deserves a wide readership. * Journal of Early American History *Dangerous Guests successfully navigates its way through a complex terrain of captors and captives, often fluid cultural identities, and the demands placed on both sides by the American Revolution.... Historians interested in the recent scholarly emphasis on the mid-Atlantic colonies in the colonial and revolutionary periods will find it a worthy addition to earlier titles on the same region. Military scholars will be intrigued by Miller's behind-the-scenes look at the logistical challenges posed by American victories during the Revolution. General readers will appreciate Miller’s narrative style, while history teachers will find the book an endless source of stories to be used in classes addressing identity politics during the American Revolution. * H-Net Reviews *In short, the author makes the point that language and identity counted for most of the triumphs and disasters in this central POW depot during the revolution. The research sparkles with primary sources and the writing flows extremely well, with only a few repetitions here and there, making this book an outstanding contribution to both POW and revolutionary war studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. * Choice *Ken Miller's case study of interaction between prisoners and their reluctant Lancaster hosts is set within a thoroughly researched social history of the community and of the changes outside events—from the French and Indian War through the Revolution—brought to Lancaster.... In marshaling his extensive research to make a coherent argument about the impact of prisoners on their host communities, Miller has added an important chapter to the Pennsylvania story. * Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography *Ken Miller's very well-written and researched account focuses on one revolutionary American "community at war"—Lancaster, Pennsylvania—and its treatment of thousands of British and German prisoners of war between 1776 and 1783.... Miller's Dangerous Guests is one of the best recent studies on the treatment of prisoners of war during the American War of Independence. The book demonstrates that prisoners of war could be decisive agents of change in society. * The Journal of Military History *Miller's book is a well-researched and beautifully written community study that highlights the often-ignored logistical challenges of the war as well as the roiling but permeable communities that toughed it out for seven long years. * American Historical Review *Often overlooked in favor of the epic stories told by the likes of David Ramsay and Mercy Otis Warren, these local histories better represented the vantage point from which most early Americans experienced the conflict. When modern historians have paused to view the War for Independence from the same vantage point they have usually yielded important insights into the complicated process of mobilization, conflict, and revolution. Ken Miller's fine work on enemy captives in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, is no exception. Drawing on many of those early local histories along with a plethora of archival and printed sources, Miller paints a richly textured portrait of a community at war. * Journal of American History *There is no evidence of bias or agenda in the resulting story that includes an array of perspectives; the motives, faults and foibles of the various interacting individuals and organizations are given equal weight and merit. We see the complexities of a community composed of diverse groups, all trying to maintain their own identities while coexisting with each other; the onset of war and the sudden infusion of prisoners of war, themselves a diverse and multi-faceted community, put extraordinary pressures on this already challenged society. The way that Lancaster's community was redefined during this critical era is a fascinating story, exemplary of the American Revolution itself. Dangerous Guests is among the best treatments of this complex topic to come out in a long time, and deserves a place on the shelf of every serious scholar of America's transition from colonies to nation. * Journal of the American Revolution *Utilizing local archives, military and political records, and engaging with a growing historiography in frontier Pennsylvania and prisoners of war during the War for American Independence, Miller contributes to our understanding of the conflict in the American interior and in the everyday lives of the revolutionaries.... Dangerous Guests provides insight into the diverse communities in the interior of perhaps the most diverse state during the War for American Independence. It offers another lens through which to view the formation of an American identity, working through a topic that may appear more specialized but is garnering increased attention: prisoners of war. * Pennsylvania History *Miller skillfully reconstructs the contrasting American experiences with British and Hessian prisoners of war from a wide range of public sources, including records of the Continental Congress, Pennsylvania's revolutionary governments, Lancaster’s Committee of Correspondence and Observation, and Peter Force’s American Archives. * William and Mary Quarterly *Table of ContentsPrologue: A Community at War1. "A Colony of Aliens": Diversity, Politics, and War in Prerevolutionary Lancaster2. "Divided We Must Inevitably Fall": War Comes to Lancaster3. "A Dangerous Set of People": British Captives and the Sundering of Empire4. " 'Tis Britain Alone That Is Our Enemy": German Captives and the Promise of America5. "Enemies of Our Peace": Captives, the Disaffected, and the Refinement of American Patriotism6. "The Country Is Full of Prisoners of War": Nationalism, Resistance, and AssimilationEpilogue: The Empty BarracksNotes Index

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Book SynopsisThe Korean War lasted for three years, one month, and two days, but armistice talks occupied more than two of those years, as more than 14,000 Chinese prisoners of war refused to return to Communist China and demanded to go to Nationalist Taiwan, effectively hijacking the negotiations and thwarting the designs of world leaders at a pivotal moment in Cold War history. In The Hijacked War, David Cheng Chang vividly portrays the experiences of Chinese prisoners in the dark, cold, and damp tents of Koje and Cheju Islands in Korea and how their decisions derailed the high politics being conducted in the corridors of power in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing. Chang demonstrates how the Truman-Acheson administration's policies of voluntary repatriation and prisoner reindoctrination for psychological warfare purposes—the first overt and the second covert—had unintended consequences. The "success" of the reindoctrination program backfired when anti-Communist Chinese prisoners persuaded and coerced fellow POWs to renounce their homeland. Drawing on newly declassified archival materials from China, Taiwan, and the United States, and interviews with more than 80 surviving Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war, Chang depicts the struggle over prisoner repatriation that dominated the second half of the Korean War, from early 1952 to July 1953, in the prisoners' own words.Trade Review"This book represents a giant step forward in our understanding of the prisoner-of-war issue in the Korean War. The research on the Chinese prisoners is extraordinary, the stories of individuals compelling, and the analysis of the context in which they made choices balanced and persuasive." -- William Stueck * author of The Korean War: An International History *"David Cheng Chang's superlative research reveals the use of Chinese POWs as pawns in the larger Cold War standoff between the US and China during the Korean War. His cogent analysis encourages us to think about the aftermath of the war and the lives of those who made the 'voluntary choice' to join or who faced 'forced conformity.'" -- Barak Kushner * author of Men to Devils, Devils to Men: Japanese War Crimes and Chinese Justice *"The Hijacked War provides a most provocative look at the political and ethical consequences of the Korean War. Through the untold story of Chinese POWs' deportation, David Cheng Chang describes how, against the backdrop of the battle between democracy and communism, the Korean War's stakes implicated power games, historical contingencies, and human rights. His meticulous study brings to light a poignant lesson of the war—that freedom may generate violence, and democracy may beget betrayal. The book offers the long-missing piece to the jigsaw of the Cold War narrative on the East Asian front. And importantly, it compels us to ponder the price we pay for the war and peace of our own time." -- David Der-wei Wang * author ofThe Monster That Is History: History, Violence, and Fictional Writing in Twentieth-Century China *"Chang's exceptionally vivid prisoner's-eye account, based on camp archives and interviews with ex-POWS, leads him to condemn the key U.S. policymakers, including President Harry Truman and Secretary of State Dean Acheson, for their 'arrogance, ignorance, and negligence.'" -- Andrew J. Nathan * Foreign Affairs *"David Cheng Chang fills a void in the literature on the Korean War with this important book describing the experiences of Chinese prisoners of war (POWs) during the conflict and assessing the impact of their incarceration and release... Chang delivers on his pledge to answer the questions of who these POWs were, why they chose to return home or not, and whether their choice was voluntary." -- James I. Matray * Journal of Cold War Studies *"The winner of the Korean War, ironically, turns out to be Chiang Kai-shek...The Hijacked War tells the violent and tragic story of Chiang's unacknowledged victory in Korea." -- John Delury * Global Asia *"The Hijacked War is a welcome and important intervention into Korean War historiography. Chang's focus on the lived experiences of those involved in POW discussions and camps suggests the ways that local stories can reorient our understanding of events, particularly a conflict that is often told in terms of high politics and military strategy." -- Gretchen Heefner * The Journal of Asian Studies *"Besides being thus far the most in-depth exploration of Chinese POWs, The Hijacked War will be valuable to scholars studying the Korean War frontline and infiltration campaigns....Based on solid scholarship, Chang's POW biographies offer unique perspectives." -- Liu Zhaokun * Journal of American-East Asian Relations *"An ambitious China-centric work that nonetheless wonderfully captures the ambiguity and confusion associated with the breakup of the Japanese Empire and the related uncertainty of the two Koreas, The Hijacked War holds interest for a range of fields, reaching out to scholars of Northeast Asia, along with more nation-oriented subdisciplines of East Asian studies." -- John P. DiMoia * Cross-Currents *"David Cheng Chang offers an intriguing alternative explanation for the skewed anti-repatriation decision on the part of Chinese POWs and its impact on the Korean War....Hijacked War is no doubt an excellent contribution to Korean War POW studies. Those interested in the Korean War and POWs will find it very inspiring and worth reading." -- Son Daekwon * Pacific Affairs *"This well-written book poses some tough questions regarding the Chinese prisoner repatriation issue in the Korean War, a topic deserving of further scholarly examination." -- Esther T. Hu * Journal of Chinese Military History *"By moving beyond diplomatic history, Chang closes a major gap in the historiography on Chinese intervention in Korea by painstakingly unpacking the complex psyches of the Chinese POWs."With Chang's historical account, we can finally understand the myriad factors that led to Chinese POWs defecting from China to Taiwan at a two-to-one ratio (a stunning ratio compared to 7,826 non-repatriates and 75,823 repatriates among the North Korean POWs). In this twinned flipping of the script, Chang recasts Chinese POWs as the central actors of the Korean War to argue that 'the brightest minds of the mightiest power on earth [United States] were taken captive by the [Chinese] captives' (12)." -- Sandra H. Park * Journal of Korean Studies *"In telling the stories of Chinese POWs, Chang's stress on social history points to other topics in Chinese military history, such as recruitment, indoctrination, political control, awards and punishments, and other aspects of prisoner policy. Personal stories bring fresh insights into Communist POWs' motivations and perceptions. In their own words, they provide compelling firsthand accounts of their war experiences in Korea as well as their family lives before and after the war. Their stories deepen our understanding of the war." -- Xiaobing Li * Michigan War Studies Review *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThe Introduction establishes the centrality of the Chinese prisoners in the second half of the war and suggests a new periodization highlighting the war over prisoners. The Korean War was in fact two wars: the first was fought over territory from June 1950 to June 1951; the second was fought over prisoners from late 1951 to July 1953. While the first war restored the territorial status quo ante bellum, the second war's only visible outcome was the "defection" of some fourteen thousand Chinese prisoners to Taiwan and seven thousand North Korean prisoners to South Korea—nearly doubling the length of the war and inflicting numerous casualties on all sides, including 12,300 American deaths in the last two years. The war was hijacked by misguided US policies and a core of Chinese anti-Communist prisoners. This chapter suggests that this surprise outcome was one reason the war became America's "forgotten war." 1Fleeing or Embracing the Communists in the Chinese Civil War chapter abstractThis chapter traces the divergent Civil War experiences of several future POWs: a Nationalist paratrooper, a Nationalist-turned-Communist doctor, three Taiwanese teenagers who joined the Nationalist army and fought on the mainland, a Tsinghua University student-turned-Communist underground agent, two Whampoa Military Academy cadets fleeing Manchuria, a forcibly conscripted Sichuanese turned a proud PLA soldier, and several idealistic students. While the Communists' ruthless persecution of the rich horrified some young people, their vastly superior discipline, vigor, and purposefulness—in contrast to the Nationalists—held powerful political and emotional appeal, especially for young people who had been neglected or oppressed under the Nationalist regime. 2Reforming Former Nationalists chapter abstractThis chapter examines the thought reform experiences of Nationalist officers, Whampoa cadets, and enlisted men in the Communist army in 1950, some of whom later became defectors and anti-Communist prisoner leaders and activists in Korea. Meticulously planned, thoroughly implemented, and backed by the threat of violence, Communist thought reform combined intense indoctrination with mandatory participation and performance. By the end of 1950, after a year-long indoctrination, or "thought reform," ex-Nationalist personnel—"liberated soldiers"—seemed to have completely surrendered to their captors, physically, emotionally, and sometimes intellectually as well. While the Communist ideology and methods won some converts, others remained unconvinced. To survive, however, these dissenters had to hide their resentment under the guise of complete submission. Thanks to their extensive and painful experiences under the Communists, ex-Nationalists acquired the essential Communist techniques: relentless indoctrination with mandatory participation and performance and iron discipline reinforced by mutual surveillance. 3Desperados and Volunteers chapter abstractThe Chinese People's Volunteer Army (CPV) was a misnomer artfully chosen to camouflage China's strategic intentions and lure the Americans into underestimating China's commitment and strength in Korea. It was made up of PLA units with the same designation; more than 60 to 70 percent of its troops consisted of former Nationalists. New recruits were also added. While some were drafted by local government using hoaxes, others volunteered for the army in a desperate move to escape local persecution during the "Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries"—the "bloody honeymoon" in the first year of the People's Republic. Going to war in Korea gave those disaffected young men their final opportunity to escape Communist China. 4Chiang, MacArthur, Truman, and NSC-81/1 chapter abstractThis chapter first shifts the focus to Taiwan, where Chiang Kai-shek fled and made his final stand, fearing an imminent Communist invasion in spring 1950. With the outbreak of the Korean War, Washington reversed its hands-off policy and committed to deny Taiwan to the Communists. General MacArthur's visit to Taiwan from July 31 to August 1, 1950, gave Chiang's regime a morale boost and opened the door to future intelligence collaboration. President Truman and General MacArthur met on Wake Island on October 15. Crossing the 38th parallel had been a foregone conclusion, as Truman had signed NSC-81/1 four days before the Inchon landing, authorizing a rollback in North Korea. Contrary to the popular belief that they focused on China's possible intervention, their main discussion item was the postwar rehabilitation of the entire Korean peninsula, including the reorientation or reindoctrination of POWs—another mandate of NSC-81/1. 5Defectors and Prisoners in the First Three Chinese Offensives chapter abstractThis chapter covers the first three Chinese offensives from late October 1950 to early January 1951, during which the CPV achieved near complete surprise and decisively defeated the UN Command (UNC) troops in a series of epic battles, including the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. Despite the UNC's utter defeat and hasty retreat, 1,245 Chinese prisoners were captured by the end of December 1950. This chapter sketches the experiences of several defectors, who risked their lives to cross the lines to surrender and provided valuable intelligence that might have saved American lives. Some of them later became anti-Communist prisoner leaders in POW camps. 6Ridgway's Turnaround, MacArthur's Exit, and Taiwan's Entry chapter abstractThis chapter studies the critical period from January to April 1951, when General Matthew Ridgway, the new Eighth Army commander, successfully turned around the war in Korea. The UNC repelled the Chinese Fourth Offensive and launched a counteroffensive. During the intense fighting, more Chinese prisoners were captured. Taking great risks, defectors escaped and surrendered to the UNC, including some of the future anti-Communist POW leaders. Even though MacArthur was dismissed by President Truman in April, he left a little-known but highly consequential legacy: the hiring of more than seventy interpreters from Taiwan, some of whom would play an instrumental role in the rise of anti-Communist POWs. In addition, Washington authorized the expansion of the prisoner indoctrination program to include Chinese POWs. 7The Fifth Offensive Debacle chapter abstractThis chapter dissects the Chinese Fifth Offensive (Spring Offensive) debacle, especially the destruction of the CPV 180th Division—one of the most humiliating defeats in Chinese Communist military history. Over three months, 15,510 CPV soldiers were captured—more than 70 percent of the 21,074 Chinese prisoners captured in the entire war. Drawing on both Chinese and American military sources, this chapter reconstructs the Chinese offensive and UNC counteroffensive and siege. It shows Chinese military leadership at all levels—from General Peng Dehuai's general headquarters, to the III Army Group, and to the 60th Army and the 180th Division—was arbitrary, careless, and disorderly. In the final stage of its siege, the 180th Division's commanders made the decision to "disperse and escape"—a code word for abandoning their troops. Using oral history and prisoner interrogation reports, this chapter also traces CPV soldiers' battle experiences and defectors' escapes in intimate detail. 8Civil War in the POW Camps chapter abstractThis chapter investigates the rise of Chinese anti-Communist prisoners in UNC prison camps in Pusan and on Koje Island, where more than 150,000 Chinese and North Korean POWs were held. Unlike the North Korean prisoners, whose military organization remained largely intact, the Chinese Communist officers sought to hide their identities to avoid interrogation by G-2 and persecution by the US Army. Chinese defectors served as trusties, cooperating with G-2 to identify Communist officers for interrogation and helping prison authorities arrest Communist "troublemakers." As mandated by Washington, the Civil Information and Education program began its reindoctrination project in August 1952, relying on educated anti-Communist prisoners as instructors. Chinese anti-Communist POWs combined Communist methods of thought control and mandatory participation with Nationalist methods of physical punishment. They established control over the two largest Chinese compounds, 72 and 86, with a combined population of more than sixteen thousand. 9The Debate over Prisoner Repatriation in Washington, Panmunjom, and Taipei chapter abstractChapter 9 delineates the origin and evolution of Washington's policy on prisoner repatriation, which unexpectedly became the main stumbling block in armistice negotiations in Panmunjom. While Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai took the negotiations extremely seriously and assembled China's first team of negotiators, President Truman and Secretary of State Acheson paid scant attention, leaving the talks in the hands of military officers without assistance from diplomats and China experts. Voluntary repatriation was first introduced as a bargaining position; but once it was publicized, the United States found it impossible to retreat from this moralistic position. As top officials withheld unsavory facts and vexing complexities, Truman made the final decision to uphold voluntary repatriation. "The Chinese have influenced the course of events in Koje-do and at Panmunjom," lamented the US ambassador. 10Screening: "Voluntary Repatriation" Turns Violent chapter abstractIn early April 1952, Communist negotiators acquiesced to the UNC's proposal to screen prisoners in order to determine a "round number" of prisoners wishing to return. While the screening process itself was free, horrific violence had occurred on the eve of the screening. This chapter documents the widespread torture and several cases of murder of pro-Communist prisoners by anti-Communist trusties, who succeeded in intimating fellow prisoners from choosing repatriation. In anti-Communist-controlled Compounds 72 and 86, more than 85 percent of the sixteen thousand prisoners refused repatriation. Just as the armistice line of 1953 changed little from the battle line of summer 1951, it is no exaggeration to say that the final breakdown of repatriation choices had been determined in the months leading up to April 1952. 11General Dodd's Kidnapping and General Boatner's Crackdown chapter abstractThis chapter narrates Koje prison commandant General Francis Dodd's kidnapping by North Korean prisoners and his successor Haydon Boatner's crackdown on North Korean and Chinese Communist prisoners, who had been separated from the anti-Communists. With methodical planning and a firm hand, "Old China Hand" Boatner tamed the newly formed Chinese Communist Compound 602. He also broke up North Korean Compound 76, whose prisoners had kidnapped Dodd, and restored order on Koje Island. But his success was short-lived, as he was soon promoted and headed stateside. 12China Hands on Koje and Cheju chapter abstractThis chapter examines the roles played by several low-ranking "Old China Hands" on Koje and Cheju island. Philip Manhard, a junior Foreign Service officer who began learning Chinese in 1948, was posted on Koje per Acheson's instructions. He authored several reports highly critical of the UNC prison authorities and anti-Communist trusties. The openly anti-Communist Catholic Chaplain Thomas O'Sullivan also served as an interpreter and became involved in the death of a Communist prisoner. MP Captain Joseph Brooks, who claimed that his Chinese wife and child had been killed by the Communists, became increasingly hostile toward Chinese Communist prisoners. Trouble was brewing on Cheju Island. 13October 1 Massacre on Cheju chapter abstractChapter 13 investigates the deadly incident on October 1, 1952, that resulted in the deaths of fifty-six Chinese pro-Communist prisoners. US internal investigation reports and interviews with several Chinese witnesses and an American soldier who fired into the crowd debunk the US official claim of a mass prison break. In the lead-up to the incident, there had been a period of high-octane confrontation and mutual insults. The prison authorities had ordered guards to "shoot to kill" prisoners for any and all aggressive actions. The military police unit was led by the openly hostile Captain Brooks; Communist prisoners were commanded by equally bellicose leaders, who secretly ordered the assassination of Brooks. A clash was all but inevitable. 14Exchanges and "Explanation" chapter abstractChapter 14 examines the repatriation of pro-Communist prisoners in August and September 1953 and the subsequent 90-day "Explanation" for the anti-Communists and their eventual release to Taiwan in January 1954. This chapter also turns to the story of the twelve Chinese and seventy-six Korean prisoners who chose neutral nations and went to India. It highlights the roles played by the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC) and the Custodial Forces of India, which administered the anti-Communist prisoners at Panmunjom. The prisoners' experiences are told through oral histories, including those of China- and Taiwan-bound prisoners, and two neutral-nation-bound prisoners, a Chinese and a North Korean, who chose neutral nations and are now living in Argentina. 15Prisoner-Agents of Unit 8240 chapter abstractChapter 15 uncovers the hitherto unknown history of prisoner-turned-agents. Between late 1951 and early 1954, several hundred Chinese prisoners disappeared from prison camps and were declared to have "escaped." They were drafted by a US military intelligence unit—the Far East Command Liaison Detachment (Korea), the 8240th Army Unit. After some crude training, they infiltrated into North Korea by air, by sea, or by land, and had to return to the UNC side on foot. More than half of these prisoner-agents—probably more than two hundred—were killed or captured during missions, and some of the captured were executed by the PRC. The program practically destroyed the best educated and most committed Chinese anti-Communist prisoners. This chapter draws on interviews with several of the seventy survivors who went to Taiwan, detailing their narrow escape from death and the loss of their comrades. 16Aftermath chapter abstractThis chapter sketches prisoners' postwar lives in Taiwan, the PRC, and India, and subsequently Latin America. None of the 7,110 POWs who were repatriated to China between April 1953 and January 1954 went home directly, as they were subjected to a yearlong investigation that resulted in the expulsion of 91.8 percent of the 2,900 Communist members from the CCP, dishonorable discharge of 4,600 repatriates from the PLA counting from the date of their capture, the expulsion of some 700 men from the PLA, and the arrest of a small number of traitors and spy suspects. No one was allowed to rejoin the PLA. What followed was lifetime stigma and persecution. In contrast, few of the 14,000 Taiwan-bound prisoners were allowed to quit the military, where they were closely monitored. While some prisoners became victims of the White Terror, others found opportunities in Taiwan's increasingly free and prosperous society. Conclusion chapter abstractVoluntary repatriation and prisoner reindoctrination, the twin US policies in the second half of the Korean War—the war over the prisoners—were major failures, as they achieved none of their original objectives and denied the rights of the majority of prisoners while protecting only a minority. No one had anticipated the price for paying lip service to fighting the Chinese Communists—with propaganda and psychological warfare—could be so dear. The United States had paid a punishing price for its arrogance toward the Chinese and its ignorance about the Chinese Communists in the Korean War, but few understand why the war was fought for three years instead of one. It is a lesson that remains to be learned.

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Book SynopsisU.S. Marine George Burlage was part of the largest surrender in American history at Bataan and Corregidor in the spring of 1942, where the Japanese captured more than 85,000 troops. More than forty per cent would not survive World War II. His prisoner-of-war ordeal began at Cabanatuan near Manila, where the death rate in the early months of World War II was fifty men a day. Sensing that Cabanatuan was a death trap, he managed to get transferred to the isolated island of Palawan to help build an airfield for his captors.Malaria and other tropical diseases caused him to be sent to Manila for treatment in 1943 (a year later, 139 of his fellow POWs were massacred on Palawan). After another year of building airfields, Burlage survived a 38-day voyage in the hull of a Japanese hell ship and ended the war as a miner for Mitsubishi in northern Japan. By sheer luck, strength, and a bit of sabotage, he survived and was freed in September 1945 after the Japanese surrendered. He had endured starvation and torture and lost half of his prewar weight, but no one had killed him.After the war Burlage became a journalist and wrote about his POW experiences. His daughter Georgianne discovered his writings after George passed away in 2008, and edited them with additional historical material to provide context for his World War II experiences in the Pacific.

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Book SynopsisCamp Huntsville was one of the first and largest POW camps constructed in America during World War II. Located roughly eight miles east of Huntsville, Texas, in Walker County, the camp was built in 1942 and opened for prisoners the following year. The camp served as a model site for POW installations across the country and set a high standard for the treatment of prisoners.Between 1943 and 1945, the camp housed roughly 4,700 German POWs and experienced tense relations between incarcerated Nazi and anti-Nazi factions. Then, during the last months of the war, the American military selected Camp Huntsville as the home of its top-secret re-education program for Japanese POWs.The irony of teaching Japanese prisoners about democracy and voting rights was not lost on African Americans in East Texas who faced disenfranchisement and racial segregation. Nevertheless, the camp did inspire some Japanese prisoners to support democratization of their home country when they returned to Japan after the war. Meanwhile, in this country, the US government sold Camp Huntsville to Sam Houston State Teachers College in 1946, and the site served as the school's Country Campus through the mid-1950s.Trade Review“This long-overdue project is one I started working on decades ago but didn't finish. It is gratifying to see the book come to fruition through the efforts of these two history professors. And what a job they've done!” - Paul Ruffin, Director, TRP

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