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Rating: 
Summary: Great history book
Review: An absolute must read for students of 20th century or WWII history. While I feel it could have easily been twice the length, the author lays the facts out clearly, exposing a story so awful that it ranks with the final solution as an example of mans' capacity for genocide and horror. Should be required reading in high school history all over the world, but especially in the United States and Japan.
Rating:
Summary: A peak into the past of our inhumanity
Review: During World War 2 over 500,000 people died not from the war itself but biogtry and evil. Barenblatt's well researched book takes a glimpse back to a little known chapter in history;Japan's biological warfare development and experimentation on humans in other countries. What's sad about this heinous crime is that those involved in subjecting innocent men, women and children to these inhuman experiments went on to affluent positions in the pharmaceutical industry in Japan, political power and respect from their peers. They were essentially rewarded for the same horrible behavior that the Nazi's were arrested, tried and convicted for--treating captive humans as lab rats.Barenblatt documents the rise of nationalism in Japan and how the social stratification of its society gave rise to Unit 731 where much of this work was carried out. Many of the participants had a sense of superiority that made them believe other humans were somehow no better than animals. The main mover and shaker behind this horror was a doctor named Ishii who came from a privilaged background, married into power and cultivated social relationships to increase his power and climb the social ladder of Japan. His beliefs made him as dark and evil as Hitler and Gobbels. Under Ishii's direction Unit 731 would routinely spray toxins over parts of China, Taiwan and other captured countries. His men would also contaminate food with bacteria and deadly virues and hand them out to people. The worst part of this story was the treatment of children; they were frequently subjected to "innoculations" that consisted of a deadly cargo of bacteria and disease. War always has casualities. But Ishii's victimization of innocent babies, children, woman and men who were guilty of being inferior in his eyes, puts him in the save league as other monsters throughout history. These innocent victims didn't know what was happening and couldn't stand up for themselves. Until now, their voices were lost in the din of history. Barenblatt's book allows them to finally point out the monsters who did this to them. Why weren't these monsters punished? Some of these people were tried and executed in Russia after the war. What did the United States do? Nothing. When MacArthur liberated Japan, he struck a deal with the doctors of Unit 731 that allowed them to go unpunished and resume their respectful careers in society. This is a sad example of how ego, bigotry and ignorence can be rewarded. MacArthur and the United States participated in this horror by covering it up. Barenblatt should be applauded for giving a voice to those who couldn't cry out for themselves and for finally uncovering the identities of the cowards who committed these acts of evil against innocents.
Rating: 
Summary: Resurrects a despicable and totally false allegation . . . .
Review: For me, this book lost all of its credibility when the author floats as at least possible the totally discredited allegation that the Chinese and North Koreans made that the US and UN used biological weapons during the Korean War. This "big lie" has been debunked again and again, yet keeps on surfacing like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or the blood libel. What makes it almost comical is the way the author characterizes the sources of the allegation. He really seems to think that the North Koreans and the PRC --under Mao at his most ruthless-- are credible reporters. Personally, if the North Koreans and the PRC claimed the sky was blue, I'd look up to make sure it still was. The really killing thing about the book is the fact that the author makes no significant reference to the existence of documentary evidence showing that the Soviets --the Soviets for God's sake!!-- didn't believe these charges. Shame on the author of this book for breathing life into this old canard; shame on his publishers for not adequately fact checking his book; shame on those who endorsed and reviewed it without
seeing if this outrageous claim is true; shame on the bookstores that sell it; and shame on anyone who buys it without at least doing a little research on this very important topic.
Rating:
Summary: 'WHAT THE DEAL BOUGHT"/'A PLAGUE UPON HUMANITY
Review: I recently attended a lecture by Daniel Barenblatt in NYC. The subject was of course Barenblatt's new book A PLAGUE UPON HUMANITY. Whereas the use of human medical experimentation is now a well known aspect of the Nazi extermination program, the fact that
Japan innovated these same techniques, as well as implementing a lethal biological warfare unit, directed by Dr. Ishii Shiro & imposed upon the Chinese population in Manchuria & Occupied China, prior & parallel to the Nazi regime, is less known in the Western World.
Whereas some books on this topic have been published, Mr. Barenblatt, with integrity & the detachment necessary to cover the terrain, has written a contemporary & updated version of the material That he does so fills an important gap in our historical understanding but moreover, underlies the situation in which we now live.
The 25 photographs speak without words. The 10 chapters & for this reader, in particular the last chapter `What The Deal Brought' wherein the implication of this program for our current policy is clear become apparent.. In an era of lethal indifference , poisoned ambients, both intellectual & environmental, a voice such as Barenblatt's must be heeded.
Rating:
Summary: 'WHAT THE DEAL BOUGHT"/'A PLAGUE UPON HUMANITY
Review: I recently attended a lecture by Daniel Barenblatt in NYC. The subject was of course Barenblatt's new book A PLAGUE UPON HUMANITY. Whereas the use of human medical experimentation is now a well known aspect of the Nazi extermination program, the fact that
Japan innovated these same techniques, as well as implementing a lethal biological warfare unit, directed by Dr. Ishii Shiro & imposed upon the Chinese population in Manchuria & Occupied China, prior & parallel to the Nazi regime, is less known in the Western World.
Whereas some books on this topic have been published, Mr. Barenblatt, with integrity & the detachment necessary to cover the terrain, has written a contemporary & updated version of the material That he does so fills an important gap in our historical understanding but moreover, underlies the situation in which we now live.
The 25 photographs speak without words. The 10 chapters & for this reader, in particular the last chapter 'What The Deal Brought' wherein the implication of this program for our current policy is clear become apparent.. In an era of lethal indifference , poisoned ambients, both intellectual & environmental, a voice such as Barenblatt's must be heeded.
Rating:
Summary: Shocking and disturbing
Review: Like many people, I've heard stories over the years about Japanese experiments on unwilling human captives (called 'maruta' or wooden logs, by the Japanese) during WWII. But I had no idea just how widespread and systematic the abuse really was until I read this book. As Barenblatt ably details it, in addition to the infamous "Unit 731", there were many other Biological Warfare units operated by the Japanese throughout Manchuria and other areas occupied by Japanese forces before and during WWII. In addition to illegally conducting experiments on prisoners, POWs, and others inside these units, the Japanese Biological Warfare technicians also conducted "field tests" of bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax, etc. on unwitting civilians using airplanes, specially-made ceramic bombs, and poisoning of wells and food supplies. Barenblatt uses compelling research to detail all of these atrocities and the men who were behind them, most notably Shiro Ishii. He also details how the U.S. government agreed not to persecute these Japanese "doctors" for war crimes after WWII in order to get the details of their experiments. All in all, this book is an eye-opening but very necessary look at how Biological Warfare can wreak destruction upon unwitting civilians when applied by a war-mongering, power-hungry, fascist government. A powerful history lesson for all of us.....
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