In Western media, World War II in Asia has never received as many stories dedicated to it compared to the events in Europe. The lack of stories set in Japan before and during the war makes me really appreciate novels like F. Paul Wilson’s Black Wind.
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Tokyo Joe (1949) Movie Review
Tokyo Joe combines three of my favorite things: film noir, a historical setting, and political intrigue. It’s a criminally underrated movie and while it’s not Humphrey Bogart’s best, it still deserves to be rediscovered by audiences.
Zero Over Berlin Review
What is the Luftwaffe possessed the Japanese Zero fighters? From this intriguing premise comes the book Zero Over Berlin, a fairly standard adventure novel set in 1940 from author Joh Sasaki.
Goodbye Chairman Mao Review & Interview With Christopher New
Goodbye Chairman Mao by Christopher New deals with one of the most fascinating and least known events of modern times; the Lin Piao Incident. For those of you unfamiliar, in September 1971, Mao Tse-tung’s successor, Marshal Lin Piao fled China in route to the Soviet Union but never made it any farther than Mongolia. His plane crashed landed, killing him and everyone on board.
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That Evening in Shanghai Review
In the early months of 1931, the world was a very different place. There was no Nazi regime in Germany, Japan hadn’t invaded Manchuria, and Stalin was solidifying his power within the Soviet Union. It is on this world stage where That Evening in Shanghai by Paul Thorne is set.
Hugh Cardell, an American engineer finds himself unemployed after a job prospect falls through in China. Deciding to kill some time in the Orient, Hugh spends a few days in Shanghai where he encounters a blonde woman in a green dress, pursued by sinister persons.
Babylon Berlin & Weimar Republic Fiction
Weimar Germany has always held a special place in my imagination, as it has so many elements I find interesting in history and fiction. A weak moderate government, torn between the extreme Left and Right, the constant threat of a military coup, and a seedy underbelly where vice, crime, and corruption scurry, all the byproducts of a failing society. [Read more…] about Babylon Berlin & Weimar Republic Fiction