A difficult but must read topic. Well written. I highly recommend this for History buffs. The horrible things that happened.

Hidden Atrocities is a very engaging, if academic narrative describing the before, during, and after stages of the Tokyo Trials. Jeanne Guillemin attempts to make the case that American military officials engaged in a campaign to obstruct justice and shield top Japanese officials from prosecution for the chemical weapons program that they used against China during the decade plus war the Japanese fought on mainland China because the Cold War dictated that a democratic Japan was more important than truth and justice.

Obstruction of justice is a hard barrier to climb over and I just don’t ultimately think that Guillemin makes a strong enough case. There is some evidence certainly, but I mean you could just as easily blame the Japanese for destroying records so that the investigators could not find it or one could argue potential errors in prosecution or the rules in which the trial was conducted, which run far deeper than any American civilian or military leadership pressure. Not saying it isn’t possible, just saying this book didn’t prove convincing.

Hidden Atrocities' strengths shine when it pulls back to show the significance of the post-WW2 Japanese war crimes trials in their contextual significance. The majority of the book tends to focus in detail on minutia to the detriment of the overall story. I finished it not really feeling like I had learned terribly much about the subject at hand. Sadly, the majority of the significance was found in the epilogue. As a part of a larger body of works on war crimes, this book contributes context, but on its on it struggles to stand alone.

Copy courtesy of Columbia University Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is extremely informative and eye-opening. I learned a great deal of information that was not covered in history classes.,

Well written and interesting--I highly recommend the book to any history buff.