A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War Crimes Suspect, and an Unsolved Mystery from World War II

by Eric Jaffe

In the wake of World War II the Allied forces charged twenty-eight Japanese men with crimes against humanity during the Tokyo war crimes trial. At their conclusion, seven were hanged for their war crimes and almost all the others served lengthy prison sentences. Okawa Shumei, a brilliant ideologue, was the only civilian among the indicted "Class-A" suspects. In the years leading up to World War II, Okawa had outlined a divine mission for Japan to lead Asia, prophesized a great clash with the United States, planned coups d'etat with military rebels, and financed the assassination of a Prime Minister. Beyond "all vestiges of doubt," concluded a then-classified American report prepared in 1946, "Okawa moved in the best circles of nationalist intrigue."

On the first day of the trial, Okawa made headlines around the world by slapping star defendant Tojo Hideki on the head. Had Okawa lost his sanity? Or was he faking madness to avoid a grim punishment? A US Army psychiatrist in occupied Japan-the author's own grandfather-was charged with determining whether Okawa was fit to stand trial. He'd seen madness his whole life, from his home in Brooklyn to the battlefields of Europe, and now his seasoned eye faced the ultimate test. A Curious Madness is the suspenseful tale of each man's journey to this climactic historical moment.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Psychology, Japan, Biography, War

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 14, 2014

Reviews

[Stefania Dzhanamova · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Class-A war criminal—Adjudged insane—Suspected insanity was feigned."
- Records of the CIA, July 25, 1958

When Eric Jaffe found this note in the slim folder of declassified records on Okawa Shumei in the National Archives near College Park, Maryland, its claim urged him to continue to investigate a very curious case of madness that achieved worldwide fame during Japan's Nuremberg, the "Tokyo Trial", due to a... slap.

Okawa Shumei seemed out of place on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East not only because he was the only civilian on trial but also because he arrived from Sugamo Prison looking "every bit the madman", dressed in wooden clogs, and a wrinkled blue shirt that looked like a "pajama top." What made him an unforgettable part of the Tokyo Trial's history, however, wasn't the unbuttoned pajamas. It was the moment when he extended his long arm forward and "with a cunning grin", slapped the top of General Tojo Hideki's bald head. Twice.
The next day Okawa Shumei would undergo a psychiatric examination, and Major Daniel S. Jaffe, the author's grandfather, would confirm his insanity. Shumei would be acquitted from trial and transfered to a hospital, which, however, he would leave only a week afterwards for a peaceful home southwest of Tokyo, while five out of the ten accused from the Trial would be executed and four would serve long prison sentences.

This “convenient”, according to many, madness and the subsequent miraculously fast recovery provoked many rumors. Especially popular proved to be a book written by David Bergamini, a Times reporter, who believed that Okawa orchestrated the courtroom outburst to escape trial. While Bergamini’s claim is plausible, Eric Jaffe doesn’t overlook his grandfather’s “Memoirs of a Combat Psychiatrist” where the very brief personal revelations starkly contrast with the forceful medical argument he offers in support of his conclusion about the insanity of Okawa Shumei. Keeping in mind the fact that his grandfather had been an exceptionally taciturn man, who thought that “it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”, Eric Jaffe is impressed by his uncharacteristically strong arguments regarding Shumei, begins to doubt that Okawa has faked his insanity, and sets out to investigate the “curious madness” on his own, tracing, meanwhile, Shumei’s and Daniel Jaffe’s histories.

This short but wonderful book is like nothing I have read before. It’s chapters alternate between Okawa’s and Daniel’s lives, creating two distinct biographies of two men that have virtually nothing in common.
Okawa Shumei, a highly intelligent man who wrote a survey of twenty-six hundred years of Japanese history, was called the “Goebbels of Japan”. When he wasn’t reading or writing, or lecturing, he was organizing radical activist groups, and his speeches and books urged Japan to “unite East Asia and challenge Western global hegemony”. While – as Eric Jaffe later reveals – the genuineness of his feelings toward Asian unity were questionable (when in Hong Kong, Shumei didn’t express any moral outrage at the life in the British colony), he did believe in the deep cultural superiority of Japan and was intensely nationalist.
Major Daniel Jaffe led a very different life. He served as a combat psychiatrist in WWI, and the first lesson he learned from the Great War was that many men “broke” – American armed forces suffered one psychiatric casualty for every four physical wounds. Assigned as the lone combat psychiatrist to 15,000 soldiers, Jaffe worked hard, fascinated with the ways the human brain functions and malfunctions. As Eric Jaffe reveals, Daniel’s mother, the pretty Esther Zuckerman, suffered from schizophrenia, and threw her baby son out of the window, after which she was hospitalized, attempted suicide, and recovered only after Daniel’s suggestion for glucose treatment.

Aside from presenting biographies of the two main characters in his story, Eric Jaffe recounts his personal quest for the truth, which gives another, more emotional side to the book, and provides additional curious details. In the village of Sakata, Shumei’s birthplace, for example, Okawa Kenmei, Shumei’s great-nephew, showed Eric the Okawa Shumei Shrine and assured him that an ideologist like Shumei would have never faked insanity to escape trial.
Shumei’s wife and former geisha, Kaneko, gives further evidence by telling that unlike in 1931 when she thought that only alcohol is making him a crazy person, now looking back with some distance and perspective, she had begun to think that “maybe something else had been wrong with his mind”.

At the end of his work Eric Jaffe remains convinced that his grandfather’s entire life – from looking after his mentally-ill mother to serving as a combat psychiatrist – prepared him for his analysis of Okawa Shumei. To further prove his argument, however, Eric consults Dr. Albert Stunkard who had examined Okawa Shumei on multiple occasions during his short stay at the hospital. Stunkard confirms Jaffe’s thoughts by saying that Shumei wouldn’t have had an idea how to fake classical general paresis, which he was diagnosed with. While the real reason why Daniel Jaffe considered Shumei insane remains obscure, Eric Jaffe speculates that maybe he had thought of his mother’s own acquittal of murder on the grounds of being mad, "and recognized that his very existence was a testament to the belief that insanity was not the same thing as iniquity, and concluded that the sick mind must be treated instead of punished, whatever discomfort that might cause to our ideas of justice."
Jaffe also draws an interesting parallel between Okawa Shumei’s insanity and the madness of Second World War as a whole – in his opinion, Shumei’s curious madness represented so much of the war’s most pitiful and inexplicable. “The strict scientist convinced of Okawa’s insanity saw the triumph of rational observation. The devoted ideological followers saw no need to hide from a belief that wasn’t wrong. The deflated patriot saw an embarrassing cover-up to save American face. The inquisitive intellectual saw a limit to how long genius can withstand its own greatness. The skeptic of the West saw a political point made in front of a global audience. The average Japanese saw incredulous timing, just as they doubted their whole country could lose its mind at once. The intelligence agent saw the deceptive nature of the evil enemy. We all saw whatever helped us carry the tragic weight of the world we’d wrought.”

Jaffe’s book is a unique biographical, as well as historical, work. Aside from shining new light on Okawa Shumei’s case, it is also an interesting glimpse into the personality of one of Japan’s most eminent nationalistic ideologists and a concise history of the rise and fall of Japanese militarism. Jaffe’s style is fluid, remarkably readable, and tinged with entertaining humor. I loved A Curious Madness.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the wake of the conclusion of World War II the Allied forces charged twenty-eight Japanese men with crimes against humanity during the Tokyo war crimes trial. At their conclusion, seven were hanged for their war crimes and almost all the others served lengthy prison sentences. Okawa Shumei, a brilliant ideologue, was the only civilian among the indicted "Class-A" suspects. In the years leading up to World War II, Okawa had outlined a divine mission for Japan to lead Asia, prophesized a great clash with the United States, planned coups d'etat with military rebels, and financed the assassination of a Prime Minister. Beyond "all vestiges of doubt," concluded a then-classified American report prepared in 1946, "Okawa moved in the best circles of nationalist intrigue."

On the first day of the trial, Okawa made headlines around the world by slapping star defendant Tojo Hideki on the head. Had Okawa lost his sanity? Or was he faking madness to avoid a grim punishment? In this book, A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War Crimes Suspect, and an Unsolved Mystery from World War II by Eric Jaffe, a US Army psychiatrist in occupied Japan-the author's own grandfather-was charged with determining whether Okawa was fit to stand trial. He'd seen madness his whole life, from his home in Brooklyn to the battlefields of Europe, and now his seasoned eye faced the ultimate test. A Curious Madness is the suspenseful tale of each man's journey to this climactic historical moment.

[AdiTurbo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was based on a less-known story related to WWII. In the aftermath of the war, Japanese heads of state were put on trial in an international tribunal for crimes against humanity, just like in Nurenberg. One of these was a Japanese political and spiritual leader who, during the trial, became or feigned insanity, and so escaped real punishment. The writer's grandfather was the American army psychiatrist who confirmed this man's mental illness. Jaffe tried to follow the course of life of both these men in this book, and find out whether his grandfather did the right thing. The first part of the story is quite interesting, and I learned a lot from the parts that discuss the development of the understanding of combat trauma or shell shock. But as I read more and more, it became obvious that Jaffe did not have enough material or witnesses to work with. He began describing irrelevant events and bringing in people who had no real idea about the matter, and the book became more and more boring and full of details I found myself really struggling to follow. A nice idea, but not very well worked out in the end.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

For people interested in World II, Imperial Japan, and combat psychology, I highly recommend this book. The book has much fascinating information about the rise of the imperialist Japan and combat psychiatry. In addition the book is very easy to read.

After World War II, there were a series of trials that were similar to the Nuremberg trials that were held in Germany. The book is about the author's grandfather, Daniel S. Jaffe, who declared a major Japanese defendant, Okawa Shumei, in the Japanese war crimes incapable of standing trial because of the defendant was insane. After the war trials were over, Okawa appeared to regain his sanity and lived a fairly comfortable life while his codefendants were either hanged or spent life in prison. The question had risen whether Okawa was able to fake his insanity to get out of being tried by the United States for war crimes.

However, what makes the book compelling is not the unsolved mystery on whether Okawa was really insane. What makes the book so highly informative are the biographies of Dr. Jaffe and Okawa before these two people meet.

The book describes Dr. Jaffe's early years and his training in psychiatry and about the practices of psychiatry in the 1930s and 1940s. What I found most interesting was the history of combat psychiatry the role combat psychiatry plays in wars(it stills seems to be an issue of how to manage soldiers in the military so they don't become totally psychology scarred from war). I had no idea that there were treatments that started in World War I, that could take what then was called a "shell shocked" solider, treat at the front and send them back to battle with a high rate of success. The book also describes how low the morale in the armed services could be during WWII.

The book also describes the rise of imperil Japan and Okama Shumei’s role this process. Until I read this book, I had no idea that rise of military Japan was so similar to the rise of Nazism and Fascism. Like its counterparts in the West, the rise of Japanese militarism involved a popular movement combined with staged events, coups and assignations.

The mystery of whether Okama really was insane is a little bit anti-climatic. It involved using the conventional psychiatry of the times; I thought there might have been a lot of cross cultural issues.

The one criticism of the book that I have is that it made Okawa Shumei seem more sympathetic then he deserved. Eric Jaffe writes about how Okawa wanted to lead a Pan Asian nationalist movement against the West with Japan being its leader. However, Japan was brutal to the Asian countries it invaded. I doubt many Asians from the countries that Japan invaded saw Japan as a kindly country fighting Western expansion. Jaffe does acknowledge that the results of Okawa’s philosophy were violent but not strongly enough. Okawa did play a key role in starting brutal wars.

My mother was a German Jew who lived through the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines so my mother lived through some of this "Pan Asian" theory. She said the Japanese lost any sympathy of the Filipinos very early in the war. She said the Japanese made the Filipinos bow down to them and if they did not would slap them. The Filipinos hated this treatment and they did not use corporal punishment among themselves.

When I was reading the book, I was furious with Okawa and I believe sane or insane he had a lot of blood on his hands.

Received ARC from Netgalley. Review also appeared on www.womenshappiness.com and www.menspychology.com

[Beth Strand · Rating 5 out of 5]

”A Curious Madness” Highlights a Fascinating Incident in the Wake of WWII
In the aftermath of World War II, Japanese war criminals were tried in a much publicized trial similar to the Nuremberg trials commonly known as the “Tokyo Trials.” In a famous incident caught in the press, Okawa stood up and slapped star defendant Tojo Hideki. Okawa, the only civilian on trial, was believed by many to be the ideological father of Japanese aggression. Many believed that his behavior was a ploy, pretending insanity to gain his freedom but others believed he was genuinely unhinged. The American Military brought in a psychiatrist, Major Daniel S. Jaffe to review the case and Okawa was found unfit to stand trial.
Author Eric Jaffe , discovered his grandfather’s connection to the famous case only very late in his very reticent grandfather ‘s life. By that time, aspersions had been cast on his grandfather’s conclusion. One work about the era intimated that his grandfather, an extremely shrewd man familiar with mental illness, may have been duped by Okawa. Jaffe’s in-depth research into the lives of both men is a fascinating look at two lives from different cultures and the events that would lead to their meeting at a crossroads of history.
Jaffe has a clear flair for storytelling and “A Curious Madness” is a delightful read that will be a favorite with history buffs. “A Curious Madness” from Simon & Schuster is currently scheduled for release in January, 2014. This book was provided to me by the publisher for this review. The opinions, however, are entirely my own!

[Ellis Amdur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two books intertwined - the enigmatic Okawa Shumei for one - one of the ideological architects of Showa Japan, a brilliant intellectual, and leading light of the "Strike South" faction that won political power. Jaffe, who did a psychiatric evaluation was an equally fascinating man - taciturn, the child of a woman who suffered from either melancholia or bipolar disorder. In some ways, his story was even more interesting, because of his work in early American psychiatry and neurology--we learn about the horrible treatment of lobotomy, which was originally considered a miraculous cure, and also psychiatry during WWII. PTSD, then called battle fatigue was endemic during sustained combat and the American military had 50 some psychiatrists to cover the entire army. How battle fatigue was then treated is fascinating - particularly as the primary goal was to get the soldier back on the line fighting again. An eccentric, very valuable book.

[Stacia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the blurb above and found it utterly intriguing. Now, having read the book, I realize I overlooked the importance of the final sentence: it’s the story of these two men before the slap, which is much less intriguing, at least for me.

The book describes both men’s lives, Okawa’s and Jaffe’s, by alternating between the two biographies. While I found Okawa’s story to be interesting, Jaffe’s was less so, in large part because the story is being told by his grandson, and the family history isn’t all that relevant to what is posited as the central question of the book: Okawa’s sanity (or lack of it). There’s a lot of discussion of the mental illness of Jaffe’s mother and its effect on the family, but because Jaffe was apparently a very private and taciturn man, the author is unable to shed light on Jaffe’s thoughts and reactions, so he remains a distant figure, and I didn’t feel as though I gained any real insight into him at all. The author also gives some consideration to the history of combat psychiatry, which I did find interesting, but again, because combat was not ever posited as or considered to be the basis of Okawa’s sanity, it wasn’t necessarily relevant to the book’s central question.

Okawa’s history, on the other hand, is relevant, because his actions and his philosophy were what resulted in his being on trial in Tokyo. Understanding exactly what role he played in the decades leading up to World War II helped me understand how he could be the only civilian at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal to be charged with crimes against humanity. I did feel as though I learned a lot about Okawa and his beliefs about the role Japan should play in Asia, although I felt the author glossed over the sheer brutality of the Japanese in China and Korea in his discussion of Japan’s role in the pan-Asian movement (which no doubt were a major consideration in Okawa being charged).

Because of the author’s focus on the two men’s lives before the slapping incident, which was the only thing they had in common, and the lack of any discussion about the two interacting, I never really got a sense of cohesiveness while reading the book. I felt the author’s family history took too great a role, and the title doesn’t really reflect the actual content. The question of Okawa’s sanity is almost an afterthought, and while I agreed with the author’s conclusions, I didn’t feel that it was nearly as much of a mystery as I did before I read the book.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 3 stars

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric Jaffe's A Curious Madness (2014) is one of those books that is really several books in one. It is a historical mystery which focuses on the question of whether or not nationalist intellectual Shumei Okawa was faking insanity during the Tokyo tribunals, it is also a personal foray into the life of Jaffe's laconic grandfather Daniel Jaffe, the roots of Japanese nationalism, the development of combat psychiatry during World War II, and postwar justice. The chapters are as follows: 1. "The Slap Heard Round the World" 2. "A Young Philosopher-Patriot 3. "The House on Lyme Avenue" 4. "Heavenly Mission" 5. "Loose Ends" 6. "Showa Restoration" 7. "The Making of a Combat Psychiatrist" 8. "A War for Asian Liberation" 9. "Breakdown" 10. "Unconsciously Conscious" 11. "Judgement" 12. ""The Ghosts of East and West." Jaffe brought to light many interesting observations about both men, the rise of Asian nationalism in Japan, and psychiatry in general. It was interesting to see that Patton's public slapping of two combat fatigued soldier brought the idea of combat psychiatry to the attention of the powers that be. I was also interested to hear that his grandfather's unit, the 97th infantry was one of the most traveled in the war-covering 35,000 miles chasing the Germans toward Czechoslovakia and then raced across Europe to the U.S. to take part in the U.S. occupation of Japan. It is a well-researched and fascinating book for anyone who is interested in WWII.

[Daniel Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

In doing some basic research on my own next book, I cam across this and I'm glad I stuck with it. For various reasons, I thought it started a bit slow and I almost gave it up. The last half of the book is quite interesting. I think I know more Japanese history than most Americans, but I had no clue about Okawa and his role in the militarization of Japan. I also liked that here we have a portrait of yet another unsung hero American in Dr. Jaffe. Often times, history is written about the men with money, guns, or political rank, when in actuality it is the common man in the thick of it who should be highlighted. This seemed a labor of love for the author, and it is another good historical account of major events of WWII.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seemed like Jaffe wanted to write a book about his grandfather, thought WWII was the theater to evoke, and hung the premise on a millisecond of time. It was interesting to read about Okawa and the pan-Asian movement; the story about psychiatrists in WWII was interesting, but I thought the elder Jaffe was not the right vehicle to tell the story. In a way the story was about Jaffe, but not significantly.

[JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great snap-shot of the Second World War which I have not encountered in my years which amply addresses and with a perfection on timining - mental health and mental health in the military.

During my read of this book I found myself referencing points which are presented to other history enthusiasts and World War II students.

This is a thorough accounting - from a perspective - of mental health from the Armed forces and how they dealt with it as the USA evolved in their involvement in the Second World War.

The book is arranged in a historical biography of two opposing forces connecting for a brief and yet life-altering encounter wherein the chapters go back-and-forth in their recounting the lives of these very disparate individuals until the very encounter that shaped both men.

I found this book intriguing and am truly glad that I picked it up based on the title and subtitle on the cover.

The only detractor of this is the length. At times the length and subject is too short, and in some places the author meanders to get to the end of a chapter.

Overall- I will be recommending this book to fans of history, mental health, and the military.

[Richard Waugaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just learned the following letter to the editor will be published in the next issue of the Times Literary Supplement--

The Tokyo trial
A fascinating part of the story of the Tokyo tribunal (“Verdicts of history”, April 19, and Letters, May 3) was the role of the US army psychiatrist Daniel S. Jaffe, who served as an expert witness. The chief judge asked him to conduct a psychiatric and neurological evaluation of the Japanese defendant Shūmei Ōkawa, whose behaviour during the trial raised questions of psychosis or malingering. Jaffe testified that he had “Argyll Robertson” pupils, indicating a diagnosis of neurosyphilis. The story is told in the book A Curious Madness (2014) by Jaffe’s grandson, Eric Jaffe. (It was all the more intriguing to me personally because Daniel Jaffe had been my training psychoanalyst.)
Richard M. Waugaman
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University, Washington DC

[Penecks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps more enjoyable than I originally anticipated, this book straddles a place between traditional history and investigative journalism. Jaffe attempts to tells the story of his own grandfather the psychiatrist, and Okawa Shumei, one of the original minds behind the Asian co-prosperity sphere. The original question is whether Okawa faked his insanity; which the book doesn't actually answer all that well, however, how it manages to tie in various tidbits of pre-war Japan as well as American war time psychiatry into a coherent narrative is somewhat impressive. The author himself going on Vice-style interviews that make it seem like he is in danger of being whisked away by the Yakuza is somewhat cheesy, but I think given the somewhat unusual subject matter it gets a pass. Not a hardcore WWII history or anything but it does stir the brain batter a bit.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was concerned that the slow early pace of the book foreshadowed one of those no-conclusion endings. Like, "Gee, I guess we'll really never know one way or another." Without spoiling anything, these is a pretty firm conclusion.

The book was actually two biographies in one. The first was the Japanese philosopher, Okawa Shumei. The second was the author's grandfather who ended up crossing paths when he was asked to judge Okawa's mental competency. Okawa ended up being the only Japanese citizen tried for war crimes who escaped a lengthy sentence or the gallows. The only lingering question was if he faked his insanity a la Vincent Gigante.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

這本書作者祖父是日本戰敗後為日本甲級戰俘作心理分析
大川周明這一位在戰前瘋狂鼓吹日本應該要帶頭反抗西方強權…也就是大東亞共榮主義
他其實很像我們的台獨份子一樣…每天搞意識形態…搞真的入侵中國東北…但自己後來沒想到日本軍隊非常殘暴…
他是少數在東京審判未被處分死刑⋯⋯因為他被判斷瘋了⋯好書！

目錄
推薦序 美日關係史的透視：大川周明的瘋狂人生與大國的狂飆　何思慎
第一章 震驚全球的巴掌
第二章 年輕的哲學家---愛國者
第三章 蘭姆大道上的屋子
第四章 上天賦與的使命
第五章 尚未收尾的階段
第六章 昭和維新
第七章 一個戰場精神病醫師的誕生
第八章 亞洲人的解放戰爭
第九章 崩潰
第十章 無意識的自覺
第十一章 大川周明精神狀況的判別及法庭的判決
第十二章 東方和西方的魅影
致謝
譯者後記 翻譯不是件容易但卻是很值得的事　梁東屏

[Sam Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is the grandson of Daniel Jaffe, who, as an Army psychiatrist, examined Shumei Okawa before the famous Tokyo Trials. Perhaps the highest praise I can give is, this book made me want to run out and read more about both Okawa, Jaffe, and the Tokyo Trial. Engaging while still intellectual, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting facts about Japan & its situation and history before it joined the war but far too much about the grandfather. Had the grandfather been quirky or ostentatious, loathsome or just plain different in some way, it might have made the story more interesting.

[Brian Carrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good book about the mind

[Seth Hendershot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Backcover description is very misleading.

[SHR · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's father was a mental health specialist during WWII. When the biggest trial against leading Japanese members began he was stationed in Japan. One of the people prosecuted with the rest of those held most responsible for criminal behavior during the war was a civilian, Okawa Shumei. Okawa believed that war between the eastern and western races was inevitable and that Japan, as the superior Asian race, should be bringing other nations under their control and then defeat the western powers. He lectured and taught towards this end for years and it appears took part in at least one attempted coup and was complicit in the Manchurian incident that started the fighting between Japan and China. He was put on trial for his part in created the war even though he was not a person of military rank, but rather a person of influence who pushed his countrymen to believe their part in conquering Asian neighbors and fighting the west was righteous and for nobles ends.

As the indictment was being read Okawa reached over and slapped the top of Tojo's bald head. He acted like he thought it was really funny and he was removed from the courtroom. Subsequent mental health examination (by the author's father) found Okawa was not mentally competent to stand trial. He was removed from the proceedings but in such a way charges could be brought forward again in the future. Okawa was treated and then released. The other defendants in the trial Okawa was originally joined to either received long prison sentences or death. Charges were never re-initiated against Okawa. A lingering question has been whether Okawa was really insane or faking it as it seemed clear in later years he was in his right mind.

To answer this question the author tells the story of his father's life, education, and the status and development of mental health treatment during WWII. It's a fascinating look at a subject that doesn't get a lot written about in the memoirs of many WWII survivors.

A few interesting things I noted in the book, American immigrants were significantly more likely to become insane than others. In New York in 1906, immigrants made up nearly a quarter of the population but half of the hospitalized insane patients. No one knew why.

The author's father saw action in WWII in Europe. As part of his experience he helped free a concentration camp and help the survivors. He did not speak of his experience to his family or anyone else aside from one comment. This comment came after an incident his brother said was the only time he ever saw his brother physically attack anyone. It was decades after the war when the family attended a high holiday ceremony at a local Jewish temple to find there were anti-Semitic people protesting. When he saw one of them dressed up as a Nazi storm trooper he attacked him and had to be dragged away by police while other WWII vets were shouting that they had fought to get rid of "you bastards". His comment later about the people in the camps was that "If you are a sane person living in a insane society, you cannot maintain your own sanity."

Review of the average fighting man and mental breakdown revealed that the average fighting man could go about 90 days of combat before a breakdown. Separate analysis showed that one in five broke down in the first 90 days of combat duty. Two factors above all moderated a soldiers ability to withstand the stress of combat. The first being leadership. Ineffectual line officers made their men vulnerable to mental breakdown. In one infantry regiment a third of all psychiatric cases came from one company whose commanding officer ducked whenever the firing began. During the Sicilian campaign one battalion had more than twice the mental health breakdown as the two others in the same regiment going through the same experiences. 40 percent of the soldier from this unit went later polled said their officers were not worth following. Conversely, losing a good trusted leader could also lead to people cracking up once that leader is gone, in one instance eight people cracked up the same day their officer was wounded, one had served in 114 consecutive days of combat with no problems up to that point.

The second key factor was conviction to fight. Half of American medical discharges were related to mental health issues but on 17 percent of Russian and close to 30 of British discharges were impacted by these issues. One theory postulated that Russians and British troops felt the need to avenger their losses at home while Americans "fights because he has to". In part, this is why the Why We Fight documentaries were produced.

Doctors studying this subject decided war neuroses did not come from cowardice. They emerged when some unpredictable event on the battlefield upset the precarious balance of severe stress, social support, and individual personality.

The author does bring the book around to review his father's diagnosis of Okawa and evaluates whether the evidence shows he was really insane or just faking it.

[Naoto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beginning: A little slow. But admittedly it takes a while to set the stage for an international war tribunal.

Middle: Okay now I’m engaged. We’re discussing Jaffe’s family history, immigrants and mental health, low key eugenics in 1920s America, a brief overview of Japan’s history, weird Japanese nationalism, and family loyalty/curses.

End: okay nice! I really enjoyed this. The ending is nice and Japanese (read: ambiguous).

This book is for: people who are into any combination of - complicated Japanese men, ultra reserved men of the American Greatest generation, Japanese nationalist history, war time psychiatry, psychiatry in general, immigrants/nativists, unlikely connections.

This book is not for: Hardcore history buffs, people who think this book solely focuses on the Tokyo trial.

There’s a healthy dose of narrative from the author’s interviews and research as well as personal family history mixed in with historical recitation. This is what sets this apart from other WWII books I’ve read as of late and it’s what I enjoyed most about this read.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Jaffe's new book A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War Crimes Suspect, and Unsolved Mystery from World War II was a fascinating read! If you find the summary on this website intriguing, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I have two insights into why I found the book so compelling, which may further help you to calibrate your level of interest in this work:

(1) One of the primary figures in the historical episode upon which the entire work focuses is the American psychiatrist who diagnosed a Japanese war criminal as insane for purposes of trial. He was Eric Jaffe's grandfather. This drove the author's "obsessive" interest (I saw a talk by the author during which he described it thusly) in this case, and his curiosity was contagious. That is, IMHO it infused his prose with a certain level of excitement. Moreover, the intensity of the author's interest bears fruit in the form of the particular depth of the investigation that forms the basis of the text produced for the readers' passive consumption.

(2) There are no clear answers presented by Jaffe. This work stimulates the reader's interest and forces her to wrestle with the ambiguities of human psychology and based on her own reflections draw whatever conclusions she can about this historical incident. This stimulating case study does not oversimplify its subject matter, let alone the human beings involved, at all.

Please be advised I received access to an electronic copy of this book through gracious permission of the publisher on NetGalley.

[Murat Yas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since Shumei was first person who translated Quran into Japanese language, I had some interest to know his motivation behind and what kind of person he was. After watching his slap to Tojo in WW2 trial and learning about his role in Asianism in addition to his emphasis on preserving Japanese Spirit as reaction against complete westernization of Japan in Meiji Period, my curiousity pushed me more to read his life story and this was first book in english I found about him.

In context of independence of Asia and dream of justice in World, Ottoman Empire had also similar motivations which made Japan and Ottoman Empire different than Western Colonialists. And I believe today World would become a better place.

I sincerely want to thank Jaffe for his struggle to understand the change in Japan between WW1 and WW2 that book gives you nice summary of important books and movements in books in Japan during the period, as well as his special efforts to meet and ask opinions from relatives, friends, students of Shumei and expert about his life which gives a better insight to learn what kind of person Shumei was.

Jaffe's personal ideas about Shumei might be biased due to his father's job in army, being American and lack of specilization in Japanese history and culture, yet as I mentioned, his efforts to collect different opinions about various aspects of Shumei's life made book really valuable for me.

[Lynne Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book at a used bookstore. It was an advanced uncorrected proofs copy, so I felt very fortunate to find it before it had been published.

The book had several interesting ties to other information that I had been reading; the Menningers, lobotomies, and the man who helped perform lobotomies after World War II for the VA.

Written about Okawa Shumei, the only civilian tried for Japanese war crimes at the end of World War II, the book examines the findings of the psychiatrist who examined him. That psychiatrist was the grandfather of the author.

At times I was confused, and had to reread sections to follow the trail. However, I attribute that to not knowing much information about the war trials in Japan. The book provided a great amount of background information to supplement the story.

[Nanako Water · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected - focused on the Japanese War Crimes Suspect - but I did get a lot of interesting insight into what was happening in Japan before and during the war. As it sometimes happens, Eric Jaffe, not a Japan expert was able to tell us more about Japan and Okawa Shumei than any insider could. I really appreciated Mr. Jaffe's honesty and sense of humor with respect to his grandfather and his research in Japan. I was also surprised to learn that my family (who were in Tokyo during and before the War) almost crossed paths with Mr. Okawa. This is a small world...

[Grazyna Nawrocka · Rating 4 out of 5]

The very thorough portraits of Okawa Shumei and Major Daniel Jaffe were supported by exhaustive description of the historic/family background. I found parts of this book too detailed and at times boring, maybe even repetitive. It was fascinating to read about shell shock (we probably would call it PTSD), and effective treatments. From the perspective of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, having psychiatric help available on the battlefields during II World War seems almost unbelievable.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! It's a wonderful approach to the history of combat psychiatry with the roots to what (and why) we do the things we do. It's a great comparison to the challenges of a mental health provider who hears the desire for a psychiatric discharge while wishing to go home oneself. It also shows the development of Sanity board evaluations and the difficulty of the "truth" in those. Great book!!!

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a somewhat random selection for me and I felt very rewarded having read it. There is a lot of history of minute details explaining the development of Japan I'd not come across previously. I may not remember it for the exam... I liked the background bios, although I had to skim some before getting bogged down.

The traumas upon the psyche of those in war situations was nicely built upon from each war and the methods for treatment. All in all, a great read.

[Levin001 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but was disappointed at the end. I am a doctor and with little doubt, Dr. Jaffe is right about the insanity diagnosis. I think there is too much doubt in the conclusion. I wish that he talked to some more modern psychiatrists to comment. These guys from WW 2 were really masterful with resources that they had. Now with penicillin, we never see untreated syphilis like this but this is a good read about the natural history of this disease