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Barbed-Wire Surgeon
Barbed-Wire Surgeon is the previously best-selling WW2 memoir written by Alfred A. Weinstein, M.D. Originally published in 1948 through 1965, this one-time selection of the popular Book-of-the-Month Club is the heroic true story of Dr. Weinstein’s harrowing survival through forty months in numerous Japanese prison camps.
It is the story of a group of doctors and medics who continued to fight the Japanese after the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor with flattery, infinite patience, and even deadly consequences to keep a spark of life flickering in their fellow prisoners. Against a somber tapestry of chronic hunger, starvation, and disease, a thin golden thread of the love of a man and woman weaves back and forth. In its broader aspects this is a tale of mankind with his veneer of civilization stripped away.
“EXTREMELY POWERFUL…VERY MOVING” New Yorker
“INTENSE, AMAZING, EXPLICIT…CERTAINLY THIS IS A WORK TO BE RANKED AMONG THE GREAT WAR BOOKS OF THIS GENERATION” Hartford Courant
“Boasts characters far more alive and interesting than any fictional characters could be, a plot that could be lifted by Hollywood almost verbatim, a love story as tender and thrilling as the veriest romantic could wish, an interesting and well-described background and a sheer continuity of interest and suspense that keeps you on the edge of your chair until the wee hours…It offers everything the reader could wish for” Frank G. Slaughter, M.D.
It is the story of a group of doctors and medics who continued to fight the Japanese after the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor with flattery, infinite patience, and even deadly consequences to keep a spark of life flickering in their fellow prisoners. Against a somber tapestry of chronic hunger, starvation, and disease, a thin golden thread of the love of a man and woman weaves back and forth. In its broader aspects this is a tale of mankind with his veneer of civilization stripped away.
“EXTREMELY POWERFUL…VERY MOVING” New Yorker
“INTENSE, AMAZING, EXPLICIT…CERTAINLY THIS IS A WORK TO BE RANKED AMONG THE GREAT WAR BOOKS OF THIS GENERATION” Hartford Courant
“Boasts characters far more alive and interesting than any fictional characters could be, a plot that could be lifted by Hollywood almost verbatim, a love story as tender and thrilling as the veriest romantic could wish, an interesting and well-described background and a sheer continuity of interest and suspense that keeps you on the edge of your chair until the wee hours…It offers everything the reader could wish for” Frank G. Slaughter, M.D.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1947
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 6, 2014
The "Barbed-Wire Surgeon" was written soon after the war in 1946 and published in 1947. Dr. Weinstein wrote with an elegant descriptive style that has plenty of details of things long forgotten. He mastered the ability to describe the gritty detail of places that he lived.
Alfred Weinstein is a caring surgeon, a talented writer, and a survivor. The book was in depth on the medical cases he saw while in Manila, Bataan and in captivity. He writes about Camp O’Donnell, Cabanatuan, Shinagawa and Mitsushima. It also explained his involvement in the assassination attempt on Mutsuhiro Watanabe. After the war, he tried to find out what happened to his fellow officers, patients and friends, and this made his story fulfilling to know the truth behind his story.
I recommend this book to anyone that wants to have a different perspective on "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.
Alfred Weinstein is a caring surgeon, a talented writer, and a survivor. The book was in depth on the medical cases he saw while in Manila, Bataan and in captivity. He writes about Camp O’Donnell, Cabanatuan, Shinagawa and Mitsushima. It also explained his involvement in the assassination attempt on Mutsuhiro Watanabe. After the war, he tried to find out what happened to his fellow officers, patients and friends, and this made his story fulfilling to know the truth behind his story.
I recommend this book to anyone that wants to have a different perspective on "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.
January 26, 2021
I just finished this book. The reason I chose to read the book was, because my father was a doctor in the Pacific, serving in the Aleutian Island campaign.
Dr. Weinstein and many other members of the medical department did all they could to try to save the lives of the POW’s. Physically taking the blows by Japanese guards and sometimes Japanese doctors. The examples he relates are harrowing and sickening. There were Japanese guards that did try to help the prisoners, but they were few in number. At the end of the POW incarceration Dr. Weinstein and other doctors wrote notes to the Allies telling them that they had some guards who treated them well and to spare them from harsh treatment. They gave the helpful guards letters to present to the allies. Dr. Weinstein returned many years later to see if the Japanese goals of militarism had changed. They had.
Dr. Weinstein and many other members of the medical department did all they could to try to save the lives of the POW’s. Physically taking the blows by Japanese guards and sometimes Japanese doctors. The examples he relates are harrowing and sickening. There were Japanese guards that did try to help the prisoners, but they were few in number. At the end of the POW incarceration Dr. Weinstein and other doctors wrote notes to the Allies telling them that they had some guards who treated them well and to spare them from harsh treatment. They gave the helpful guards letters to present to the allies. Dr. Weinstein returned many years later to see if the Japanese goals of militarism had changed. They had.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews