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Peter Harmsen

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.chinaww2.com

Member Since

February 2013

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Peter Harmsen's Blog

The Hidden Shift: Why Japan’s Wartime Generation Didn’t Look Exactly Like Today

If you picture the Japanese soldiers who fought in China and across the beaches of the Pacific, it is easy to imagine them as physically identical to modern Japanese people. In broad terms that is true. But recent research suggests the story is a little more nuanced and a lot more interesting.

A 2026 study using 3D CT scans and geometric morphometrics compared skulls from individuals born in th

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Peter Harmsen’s books

Average rating: 4.11 · 2,104 ratings · 190 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze 3.95 avg rating — 844 ratings — published 2013 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931–41 (War in the Far East, #1) 4.33 avg rating — 530 ratings — published 2018 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Japan Runs Wild, 1942–1943 (War in the Far East Book, #2) 4.26 avg rating — 300 ratings — published 2019 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City 4.10 avg rating — 143 ratings — published 2015 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Asian Armageddon, 1944–45 (War in the Far East Book, #3) 4.40 avg rating — 133 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Greenland at War: The United States, Germany and the Struggle for the Arctic, 1939–45 4.02 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2024 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Darkest Christmas: December 1942 and a World at War 3.53 avg rating — 49 ratings — published 2022 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sindberg: den danske Schindler og Nanjing-massakren 1937-38 3.52 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2019 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	War in the Pacific: Storm Approaching 1931 - 1941 really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Laurits Andersen - Kinafarer, entreprenør og mæcen 3.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2020 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Peter Harmsen

War in the Far East (3 books)
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Peter Harmsen (Goodreads Author)

4.32 avg rating — 963 ratings

War in the Pacific (2 books)
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Peter Harmsen (Goodreads Author)

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 9 ratings

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Peter’s Recent Updates

Peter Harmsen wrote a new blog post The Hidden Shift: Why Japan’s Wartime Generation Didn’t Look Exactly Like Today If you picture the Japanese soldiers who fought in China and across the beaches of the Pacific, it is easy to imagine them as physically identical to Read more of this blog post »
May 04, 2026 01:52AM · like

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Quotes by Peter Harmsen (?)

“We too are battling to destroy individualism,” Deputy Fuehrer Rudolf Hess said, comparing Nazi thinking with Japanese collectivism. “We”
― Peter Harmsen, Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931–41

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“August 17, an unregistered Portuguese man was beaten to death by a mob because he was thought to look Japanese.”
― Peter Harmsen, Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze

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“Even though most of the Germans were in China on short-term contracts and could have left once the shooting started, they felt an obligation to stay at a key moment when their host nation’s survival was at stake. “We all agreed that as private citizens in Chinese employment there could be no question of our leaving our Chinese friends to their fate,” Alexander von Falkenhausen, the top advisor, wrote later.”
― Peter Harmsen, Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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THE WORLD WAR TWO...: 2015 - December - Theme Read - Warfare in the Asia-Pacific Region	79	69	Dec 29, 2015 12:53PM
The History Book ...: MATTHEW BARLOW'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2015	111	113	Jan 01, 2016 10:44AM
VEB Readers: WOOOOOOOOOO	287	58	Mar 07, 2019 01:40PM
VEB Readers: Look what i bought today	178	63	Jan 02, 2020 02:26PM
Crazy Challenge C...: Kate's Challenges	15	25	Nov 28, 2022 02:56PM

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Peter’s Quotes

“If war is politics by other means, world war is globalization by other, violent means.”
― Peter Harmsen, The Darkest Christmas: December 1942 and a World at War

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Peter Harmsen

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