9780471142850-0471142859-Taken Captive: A Japanese POW's Story

Taken Captive: A Japanese POW's Story

ISBN-13: 9780471142850
ISBN-10: 0471142859
Edition: 1
Author: Ooka Shohei
Publication date: 1996
Publisher: Wiley
Format: Hardcover 352 pages
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Book details

ISBN-13: 9780471142850
ISBN-10: 0471142859
Edition: 1
Author: Ooka Shohei
Publication date: 1996
Publisher: Wiley
Format: Hardcover 352 pages

Summary

Taken Captive: A Japanese POW's Story (ISBN-13: 9780471142850 and ISBN-10: 0471142859), written by authors Ooka Shohei, was published by Wiley in 1996. With an overall rating of 3.7 stars, it's a notable title among other Historical (World War II, Military History, Social Sciences) books. You can easily purchase or rent Taken Captive: A Japanese POW's Story (Hardcover) from BooksRun, along with many other new and used Historical books and textbooks. And, if you're looking to sell your copy, our current buyback offer is $0.3.

Description

"I do not know whether I dozed off or passed out, but the nextthing I remember is gradually becoming aware of a blunt objectstriking my body over and over. Just as I realized it was a bootkicking me in the side, I felt my arm being grabbed roughly, and Ireturned to full consciousness.

"One GI had hold of my right arm, and another had his rifle pointedat me, nearly touching me.

"'Don't move. We're taking you prisoner,' the one with the riflesaid."

On January 25, 1945, Private Ooka Shohei of the Japanese ImperialArmy was captured by American forces in the Philippines. Near deathfrom starvation and acute malaria, he was nursed back to health byhis captors and shipped off to a POW camp. Taken Captive is hispowerful and poignant account of life as a prisoner of war. Longregarded as a literary classic in Japan, this extraordinary memoiris appearing in English for the first time.

There are no epic battles or grand scale heroics. This is anintimate, gripping, and ultimately enlightening true story of asophisticated, middle-aged scholar thrown into a primitive strugglefor survival. It is filled with moments of sublimeordinariness--prisoners passing time by playing "20 Questions"--andheartstopping encounters--a lone soldier decides whether or not toshoot an unsuspecting enemy soldier.

The harsh conditions, the daily routines that occupy a prisoner'stime, and above all, the psychological struggles and behavioralquirks of captives forced to live in close confinement are conveyedwith devastating simplicity and candor. Throughout, the authorconstantly probes his own conscience, questioning motivations anddecisions. What emerges is a multileveled portrait of an individualdetermined to retain his humanity in an uncivilizedenvironment.

In Taken Captive, Ooka Shohei provides much more than anunprecedented look at the POW experience from a Japanese point ofview. His stirring account offers a penetrating exploration ofJapanese society, and its values, as embodied by the microcosm ofhis fellow POWs. Recalling his wartime experiences, Ooka Shohei hascreated a brilliant work of rare honesty, insight, and emotionalsubtlety.

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