Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45, and the American Cover-Up [Hardcover]

Sheldon H. Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0415091055 | ISBN-13: 978-0415091053 | Edition: First

Professor Harris's book aims to expand our knowledge of a previously hidden and shameful event of World War II. Through access to documents unavailable to earlier researchers, he details the activities of Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army, a formation dedicated to conducting bacterial warfare research in Manchuria. Under the command of Colonel Ishii Shiro, the unit conducted innumerable experiments in the 1930s and 1940s. Many involved the use of living subjects, tests that often cost these subjects their lives. Harris addresses the question of whether some of these subjects were Caucasian prisoners of war, and concludes that there is no irrefutable evidence that that was the case. Certainly the vast majority of subjects were Chinese nationals. Harris also shows how the United States government provided immunity from investigation for men who thereby avoided war crimes trials, so that the US could acquire the results of Japanese expertise in bacteriological warfare.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Harris, professor emeritus of history at California State University, here presents evidence from Chinese, American and KGB archives that Japanese scientists used human beings, including Allied prisoners of war, in biologial warfare (BW) research during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. The project was carried out in large part by the notorious Army Unit 731 under the direction of Major (later Lieutenant General) Ishii Shiro. Harris, who also maintains that American authorities made a postwar deal whereby Ishii and his staff disclosed their BW data in exchange for immunity from war-crimes prosecution, notes that U.S. intelligence agencies have only selectively released material pertaining to the Japanese BW program. The author inconclusively considers charges made during the 1950-53 Korean War that U.S. forces employed BW agents on the battlefield, possibly with the assistance of Japanese specialists. Scholars will appreciate Harris's assiduous research and analysis, but his dry presentation makes his book of doubtful interest to general readers.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...Will surely be the classic work for many years to come." -- International Herald Tribune

"Comprehensive ... pulling together information from a variety of sources, inluding newly available documents from U.S. and KGB archives ... fills in a number of gaps, putting in one place a wealth of information to enable readers to come away with their own informed opinions." -- The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

"Drawing on a wealth of documentary evidence, Harris deftly follows the American decision making that occurred in the early years of the cold war and the political uses of the biological warfare program for the Soviet and American governments. The book is a valuable contribution to a growing literature on medical science in the service of the state." -- Isis

"This book brings sound scholarship and strong moral conviction, tempered by carefully nuanced argument, to bear on a subject of continuing international concern. It deserves a readership far beyond the circle of Second World War specialists." -- The International History Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 297 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; First edition (December 28, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415091055
• ISBN-13: 978-0415091053
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,410,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for WW2 history buffs., March 30, 2003

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up (Paperback)

Sheldon Harris, Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up (Second Edition) (Routledge, 2002)

During the time of the Great Depression in America, and up through the end of World War II, the Japanese medical corps, operating through the imperialist Kwantung Army, conducted thousands of biological warfare experiments on live human subjects. These subjects were primarily Chinese peasants convicted of petty crimes, but also included, as WW2 wore on, prisoners of war and non-criminal Chinese. For over forty years, these facts were kept an almost complete secret from the general public; glancing references would surface now and again, or a slick TV documentary would pop up for a British of Korean version of the TV magazines that are those countries parallels to something like 20-20 in America. No one treated the subject in depth; no one knew how to get enough proof. Even the Chinese government, when it attempted a full-length film documentary, was unable to come up with enough information (their aborted attempt was made into a fictional film, the notorious Men Behind the Sun).

Then came Williams and Wallace and their book Unit 731. Seven years later, Sheldon Harris expanded greatly on Williams and Wallaces knowledge with the definitive text on Unit 731s war crimes, Factories of Death. Another seven years has gone by since, and Harris and Routledge have released a second edition of Factories of Death that contains the updated information from documents that have been declassified since. As time goes on, the book gets even more horrifying.

Unlike Williams and Wallace or Hal Gold (whose book Unit 731: Testimony is a brilliant, if anecdotal, complement to this work), Harris keeps his feet rooted firmly on the ground, keeping any conjecture to the most logical conclusions to be drawn from the facts at hand. Gold, for example, speculates in Unit 731: Testimony that both MacArthur and Truman were fully aware of the America cover-up of Unit 731s activities; Harris refrains from even hinting at such a thing until all the evidence is completely laid out, and even then, he only glancingly makes reference to then-President Truman at all. Because of this loathness to speculate, when Harris does let the cork out and start ranting (which happens only very briefly, at the end of the penultimate chapter), some of the teeth are taken out of his vituperation; hes just not willing to go where he needs to go. One might cynically think that the stronger language that haunts the last third of the penultimate chapter is there simply because ranting sells and scholarship doesnt. (That said, those reviewers who have noted the books dryness are right, to an extent, but anyone who considers this painfully dry should try reading any other book Routledge has ever released. This is a John Grisham novel in comparison, going by readability. I was surprised, and pleased, at how quickly the book flew by, given its imprint.)

That same failing is Harris greatest sin here; not one of commission, but of omission. Other books on Unit 731 have raised a number of questioning specters that Harris doesnt touch on at all, including a few for which there is smoking-gun evidence (use of American biological warfare in North Korea in the 1950s that has Ishii Shiros stamp on it, the biological munitions plant at Hiroshima that led to Americas bombing of that city in 1945, etc.). It could reasonably be concluded that Harris didnt think the evidence was sufficient to warrant mentioning them in the text, but even the casual Unit 731 scholar is sure to have heard the allegations; better, if youre writing the definitive piece of scholarship, to address them rather than leave them
twisting in the wind.

Still, an excellent piece of work, one that history buffs are well advised to seek out. Schoolchildren (for this material is definitely in need of dissemination) could do with an abridged version; those who seek this out because they loved Men Behind the Sun should probably stick with the film unless theyre used to reading nonfiction. (The notion of Ishii as a two-dimensional villain will be shattered within the first few pages. Prepare yourselves.) ****

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Disturbing, even now., May 3, 2001

By 

david milne (northeast, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45, and the American Cover-up (Paperback)

When I read this book, I was struck by the difference in histories of the German death camps and the Japanese.

What is striking is the apathy toward the Japanese biological and chemical warfare testing by the allies. Is it because the victims were Chinese? Or was it related to an occidental acceptance or oriental suffering? Or was it just money, exhaustion, and the interest by the allies in the field?

In any event, the very dryness of this book makes it more compelling. And the cooperation after the war between the US government and the Japanese authorities is shattering.

What is even more depressing is the see no evil attitude after the war by the Japanese. Almost no information made it to the Japanese people, and they appear to care less.

At least they moved on to making transistors.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the authoritative history of this subject !, July 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45, and the American Cover-up (Paperback)

Author Sheldon Harris has done acredible job in compiling the history of Japan's Biological Warfare Research in World War II. Using a wealth of primary sources, he has pieced together a comprehensive history of the horrors Japanese Army Doctors and Scientific Researchers inflicted upon thousands of people. Using many declassified reports and journals, he has masterfully pieced together the wide-reaching impact Japan's Biological Warfare Research had on Chinese, Russians, Manchurians, and possibly western POWs such as the American, British and Dutch. This is a must-have book for any scholar of World War Two.