Audiobook9 hours
A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War Crimes Suspect, and an Unsolved Mystery from World War II
Written by Eric Jaffe
Narrated by Robertson Dean
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
About this audiobook
In the wake of World War II, the Allied forces charged twenty-eight Japanese men with crimes against humanity. Correspondents at the Tokyo trial thought the evidence fell most heavily on ten of the accused. In December 1948, five of these defendants were hanged, while four received sentences of life in prison. The tenth was a brilliant philosopher-patriot named Okawa Shumei. His story proved strangest of all.
Among all the political and military leaders on trial, Okawa was the lone civilian. In the years leading up to World War II, he had outlined a divine mission for Japan to lead Asia against the West, prophesized a great clash with the United States, planned coups d'etat with military rebels, and financed the assassination of Japan's prime minister. Beyond "all vestiges of doubt," concluded a classified American intelligence report, "Okawa moved in the best circles of nationalist intrigue."
Okawa's guilt as a conspirator appeared straightforward. But on the first day of the Tokyo trial, he made headlines around the world by slapping star defendant and wartime prime minister Tojo Hideki on the head. Had Okawa lost his sanity? Or was he faking madness to avoid a grim punishment? A U.S. Army psychiatrist stationed in occupied Japan, Major Daniel Jaffe-the author's grandfather-was assigned to determine Okawa's ability to stand trial, and thus his fate.
Jaffe was no stranger to madness. He had seen it his whole life: in his mother, as a boy in Brooklyn; in soldiers, on the battlefields of Europe. Now his seasoned eye faced the ultimate test. If Jaffe deemed Okawa sane, the war crimes suspect might be hanged. But if Jaffe found Okawa insane, the philosopher patriot might escape justice for his role in promoting Japan's wartime aggression.
Meticulously researched, A Curious Madness is both expansive in scope and vivid in detail. As the story pushes both Jaffe and Okawa toward their postwar confrontation, it explores such diverse topics as the roots of belligerent Japanese nationalism, the development of combat psychiatry during World War II, and the complex nature of postwar justice. Eric Jaffe is at his best in this suspenseful and engrossing historical narrative of the fateful intertwining of two men on different sides of the war and the world and the question of insanity.
Among all the political and military leaders on trial, Okawa was the lone civilian. In the years leading up to World War II, he had outlined a divine mission for Japan to lead Asia against the West, prophesized a great clash with the United States, planned coups d'etat with military rebels, and financed the assassination of Japan's prime minister. Beyond "all vestiges of doubt," concluded a classified American intelligence report, "Okawa moved in the best circles of nationalist intrigue."
Okawa's guilt as a conspirator appeared straightforward. But on the first day of the Tokyo trial, he made headlines around the world by slapping star defendant and wartime prime minister Tojo Hideki on the head. Had Okawa lost his sanity? Or was he faking madness to avoid a grim punishment? A U.S. Army psychiatrist stationed in occupied Japan, Major Daniel Jaffe-the author's grandfather-was assigned to determine Okawa's ability to stand trial, and thus his fate.
Jaffe was no stranger to madness. He had seen it his whole life: in his mother, as a boy in Brooklyn; in soldiers, on the battlefields of Europe. Now his seasoned eye faced the ultimate test. If Jaffe deemed Okawa sane, the war crimes suspect might be hanged. But if Jaffe found Okawa insane, the philosopher patriot might escape justice for his role in promoting Japan's wartime aggression.
Meticulously researched, A Curious Madness is both expansive in scope and vivid in detail. As the story pushes both Jaffe and Okawa toward their postwar confrontation, it explores such diverse topics as the roots of belligerent Japanese nationalism, the development of combat psychiatry during World War II, and the complex nature of postwar justice. Eric Jaffe is at his best in this suspenseful and engrossing historical narrative of the fateful intertwining of two men on different sides of the war and the world and the question of insanity.
Author
Eric Jaffe
Eric Jaffe is the author of The King’s Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route That Made America, which won the U.S. Postal Service’s 2012 Moroney Award for Scholarship in Postal History. He’s a former web editor of Smithsonian magazine and now writes for The Atlantic Cities, a site devoted to urban life run by The Atlantic magazine.
Related to A Curious Madness
Related audiobooks
The Tormented Alliance: American Servicemen and the Occupation of China, 1941-1949 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe End of World War II: The History of the Battles that Ended the Fighting in Europe and the Pacific Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBohemian San Francisco Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Alternative History of Britain: The Hundred Years War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMussolini in Myth and Memory: The First Totalitarian Dictator Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Dream with Open Eyes: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Never Did Like Politics: How Fiorello La Guardia Became America's Mayor, and Why He Still Matters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrank and Al: FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Time and Chance: An Autobiography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtomic Tunes: The Cold War in American and British Popular Music Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lees of Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hustling Hitler: The Jewish Vaudevillian Who Fooled the Führer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The French Revolution: The History and Legacy of the World’s Most Famous Social Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Blest Genius: The Jubilee That Made Shakespeare 2nd Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemembrance Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe People and the Ballot: A History of American Party Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReminiscences of a Southern Hospital, by Its Matron Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVietnam: A War Lost and Won Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Inconvenient Journalist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe little-known story of the Republican Party’s 1st presidential nominee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrisoners of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stormy Passage: Mexico from Colony to Republic, 1750–1850 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWoodrow Wilson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5UnStuck: Rebirth of an American Icon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Psychology For You
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You’re Not the Only One F*cking Up: Breaking the Endless Cycle of Dating Mistakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Self-Compassion: A Practical Road Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spritual Growth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed For You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Banish Your Inner Critic: Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt to Unleash Your Creativity and Do Your Best Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Seduction: An Indispensible Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Curious Madness
Rating: 2.818181890909091 out of 5 stars
3/5
11 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eric Jaffe's new book A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War Crimes Suspect, and Unsolved Mystery from World War II was a fascinating read! If you find the summary on this website intriguing, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I have two insights into why I found the book so compelling, which may further help you to calibrate your level of interest in this work:(1) One of the primary figures in the historical episode upon which the entire work focuses is the American psychiatrist who diagnosed a Japanese war criminal as insane for purposes of trial. He was Eric Jaffe's grandfather. This drove the author's "obsessive" interest (I saw a talk by the author during which he described it thusly) in this case, and his curiosity was contagious. That is, IMHO it infused his prose with a certain level of excitement. Moreover, the intensity of the author's interest bears fruit in the form of the particular depth of the investigation that forms the basis of the text produced for the readers' passive consumption. (2) There are no clear answers presented by Jaffe. This work stimulates the reader's interest and forces her to wrestle with the ambiguities of human psychology and based on her own reflections draw whatever conclusions she can about this historical incident. This stimulating case study does not oversimplify its subject matter, let alone the human beings involved, at all.Please be advised I received access to an electronic copy of this book through gracious permission of the publisher on NetGalley.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This is not a review, per se. Just a not on why I DNF'd this book. I was unable to finish this book. I made it to page 114/257 but had to put the book down as DNF at this time. I'm very interested in the Asian Holocaust of WWII and the history of psychiatryal so was well looking forward to this. The chapters alternated between being about the American psychiatrist and the Japanese war criminal. I found the Psychiatrist's chapters fascinating and flew through them, however the chapter's devoted to life of the war criminal were painfully dull, full of politics and military details that I have no interest. I had to force myself to pick up the book when reading these chapters. So I ended my delemna by DNFing. Sorry not for me.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The title of the book leads you to believe this would be interesting. It is not. The information presented is boring and trivial. I read half of the book and quit.