Inside the Bataan Death March: Defeat, Travail and MemoryFor two weeks during the spring of 1942, the Bataan Death March--one of the most widely condemned atrocities of World War II--unfolded. The prevailing interpretation of this event is simple: American prisoners of war suffered cruel treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors while Filipinos, sympathetic to the Americans, looked on. Most survivors of the march wrote about their experiences decades after the war and a number of factors distorted their accounts. The crucial aspect of memory is central to this study--how it is constructed, by whom and for what purpose. This book questions the prevailing interpretation, reconsiders the actions of all three groups in their cultural contexts and suggests a far greater complexity. Among the conclusions is that violence on the march was largely the result of a clash of cultures--undisciplined, individualistic Americans encountered Japanese who valued order and form, while Filipinos were active, even ambitious, participants in the drama. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - elenchus - LibraryThingReceived wisdom among U.S. citizens regarding the Bataan Death March portrays GIs as victims and the target of neglect and inhumanity at the hands of Japanese captors, soldiers characterized as ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - cweller - LibraryThingI had only limited knowledge of the Bataan Death March starting this book. I think Kevin Murphy did a great job of making me question my preconceived notions of what happened and taking a fresh look at the facts surrounding what happened. Read full review
Contents
| 1 | |
| 5 | |
| 19 | |
2 An Armys Ethos | 32 |
3 An Army Apart | 64 |
4 Chaos Meets Kata | 95 |
5 The Lens of Memory | 126 |
6 Remembering and Forgetting | 151 |
7 The Wages of Defeat | 190 |
8 Facing Filipinos | 215 |
9 Kinds of Kindness | 239 |
Conclusion | 267 |
Chapter Notes | 279 |
| 303 | |
| 317 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Allied American soldiers army’s atrocities Balanga Bataan Death March Bataan peninsula battle bayonet behavior Bollich brutality bushido Camp O’Donnell campaign canteen captivity captured civilian claimed combat command Corregidor cruelty culture Death March survivors defeat defined described Dyess emperor enemy experience fighting Fil-American Filipino film force Gordon Grashio historian Homma Horyo Ibid Imperial Imperial Japanese Army infantry island Japa Japan Japanese army Japanese guards Japanese soldiers Japs killed Last Ditch later lives MacArthur Manila March ofDeath Mariveles memory military months moral narratives nation nese ofAmerican ofBataan offered officers ofhis ofits ofJapan ofJapanese ofthe ofwater one’s Pacific Pacific War Pearl Harbor percent Philippines Poweleit POWs prison camp reality recalled recruits Red Allen remembered response rice Richard Gordon San Fernando sergeant story suffering surrender Survival theJapanese Tokyo told took trucks Tsuji USAFFE victims victory walked war’s wartime World War II wrote
Bibliographic information
| Title | Inside the Bataan Death March: Defeat, Travail and Memory |
| Author | Kevin C. Murphy |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | McFarland, 2014 |
| ISBN | 1476618542, 9781476618548 |
| Length | 328 pages |
| Subjects | › › › History / General History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |