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Japan's Infamous Unit 731

Firsthand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program

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Japan's Infamous Unit 731

Written by: Hal Gold, Yuma Totani - foreword
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
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This is a riveting and disturbing account of the medical atrocities performed in China during WWII.

Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of China. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments in the name of science and Japan's wartime chemical and biological warfare research.

Author Hal Gold draws upon a wealth of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities. The book presents the words of former unit members themselves, taken from remarks they made at a traveling Unit 731 exhibition held in Japan in 1994-95. They recount vivid first-hand memories of what it was like to take part in horrific experiments on men, women, and children, their motivations and reasons why they chose to speak about their actions all these years later.

By showing how the ethics of normal men and women, and even an entire profession, can be warped by the fire of war, this important book offers a window on a time of human madness and the hope that history will not be repeated.

©2019 Hal Gold (P)2020 Tantor Asia Ideologies & Doctrines Military Politics & Government War & Crisis Wars & Conflicts China War Imperial Japan Japanese War Crimes
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This is required reading for every Westerner, especially those who have once asked why we Chinese, Koreans, Russians, etc. hate Japan so much.

There is some overlap of content between parts one and two and between different testimonies in part two, but beyond some vague sense of déjà vu it does not affect the reading experience.

Joe Barrett’s narration took some getting used to, but upon the completion of the foreword I had already become fine with it.

Must-read for all Westerners

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A well documented and researched account of one of Humanity's worst atrocities. There isn't really any other way to describe Unit 731 than what it was - horrifying.

Horrifying

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he sounds like he has a bunch of flem stuck in his throat, very painful to listen to, but that's my opinion.

the narrator sounds like

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Historical relevance without too much of underlying context. I would think that Japanese social conditions and role of big companies in war as well as support of Japanese government of those companies and their subsequent mistreatment of native Japanese population would add tremendously to understand how events might have acured as they did.

Reads like documentary

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The narrator sounds like an old army drill Sargent which makes the book more realistic to the time of the book release my opinion on the book is pretty good

Best book about unit 731 in my opinion

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