MARC Record from harvard_bibliographic_metadata

LEADER: 04839cam a2200565 i 4500
001 013906323-4
005 20140117143306.0
008 131028s2014 nyuabf b 001 0ceng
010 $a 2013040208
020 $a9781451612059 (hbk.)
020 $a1451612052 (hbk.)
020 $a9781451612110
020 $a1451612117
020 $z9781451612127 (ebk.)
035 0 $aocn861788992
040 $aDLC$erda$beng$cDLC$dIG#$dYDXCP$dBDX$dMLY
043 $aa-ja---$an-us---
050 00 $aDS885.5.O44$bJ34 2014
082 00 $a952.04092$aB$223
084 $aHIS027100$aHIS021000$aPSY015000$2bisacsh
100 1 $aJaffe, Eric.
245 12 $aA curious madness :$ban American combat psychiatrist, a Japanese war crimes suspect, and an unsolved mystery from World War II /$cEric Jaffe.
250 $aFirst Scribner hardcover edition.
264 1 $aNew York :$bScribner,$c2014.
300 $aix, 304 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates :$billustrations, map ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
520 2 $a"From an 'illuminating and entertaining' (The New York Times) historian comes the World War II story of two men whose remarkable lives improbably converged at the Tokyo war crimes trials of 1946. 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.
520 2 $aBeyond '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.
520 2 $aBut if Jaffe found Okawa insane, the philosopher patriot might escape justice for his role in promoting Japan's wartime aggression. Meticulously researched, A Curious Madness is both expansive in scope and vivid in detail. As the story pushes both Jaffe and Okawa toward their postwar confrontation, it explores such diverse topics as the roots of belligerent Japanese nationalism, the development of combat psychiatry during World War II, and the complex nature of postwar justice. Eric Jaffe is at his best in this suspenseful and engrossing historical narrative of the fateful intertwining of two men on different sides of the war and the world and the question of insanity"--$cProvided by publisher.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 0 $aThe Slap Heard Round the World -- A Young Philosopher-Patriot -- The House on Lyme Avenue -- Heavenly Mission -- Loose Ends -- Showa Restoration -- The Making of a Combat Psychiatrist -- A War for Asian Liberation -- Breakdown -- Unconsciously Conscious -- Judgment -- The Ghosts of East and West.
600 10 $aŌkawa, Shūmei,$d1886-1957.
600 10 $aJaffe, Daniel S.,$d1914-2007.
600 10 $aŌkawa, Shūmei,$d1886-1957$vTrials, litigation, etc.
650 0 $aPoliticians$zJapan$vBiography.
650 0 $aNationalists$zJapan$vBiography.
650 0 $aPsychiatrists$zUnited States$vBiography.
650 0 $aInsanity defense$zJapan$zTokyo$xHistory$y20th century.
650 0 $aWar crime trials$zJapan$zTokyo$xHistory$y20th century.
650 0 $aWorld War, 1939-1945$vBiography.
651 0 $aJapan$xHistory$yAllied occupation, 1945-1952$vBiography.
650 7 $aHISTORY / Military / World War II.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aHISTORY / Asia / Japan.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aPSYCHOLOGY / History.$2bisacsh
899 $a415_434308
988 $a20140117
049 $aHLSS
906 $0DLC