1274157
9781592280599
Neutral War is a compelling novel of World War II based on historical incidents and characters. It explores the war from the viewpoint of a Swedish diplomat stationed in Tokyo, walking the thin, dangerous line between secretly helping the Allies (who didn't really want the help) and trying not to further endanger his own country and the Japanese, European, and American people of good heart he encounters along the way. Sweden in desperation bought and maintained its neutrality by providing the Nazis with fine steel - the top-quality steel that went into the superior weapons that allowed the Nazis to surge forward and conquer Europe. America was not so pure, either. FDR enticed the bumbling Japanese leaders into attacking a purposely undefended Pearl Harbor. And at war's end almost all the real war criminals in Japan - those who developed and used chemical and germ warfare instruments of mass destruction - were quietly pardoned and recruited into U.S. weapons programs. Their knowledge ultimately formed the basis for the biological weapons programs of the U.S., the Soviet Union, and, ever since, all the countries in between that have not been able to resist the Pandoras box of cheap and devastating weaponry. Neutral War is a gripping story of failure: failure to stop the war; failure to end the war quickly; failure to achieve justice and real peace in its aftermath, and ultimately failure to reign in the terror of biochemical warfare. Neutral War is also the story of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, whose fatalistic career was intimately entwined with his experiences in the United States, and the many Japanese who opposed the Imperial Armys insane quest for dominance of Asia and the Pacific - all the while slogging on, performing their futile duty to emperor and nation.Gold, Hal is the author of 'Neutral War A Novel of Soul-Chilling Barter, Bioterror, and High-Stakes International Poker' with ISBN 9781592280599 and ISBN 1592280595.
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