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Such Splendid Prisons: Diplomatic Detainment in America during World War II de Harvey Solomon

Such Splendid Prisons: Diplomatic Detainment in America during World War II

Autor Harvey Solomon
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 2020

Bazându-ne pe documentația istorică și pe recunoașterea primită prin premiile Independent Publisher Book Awards, observăm că Such Splendid Prisons de Harvey Solomon recuperează un episod marginalizat, dar revelator, al celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial. Apreciem modul în care autorul transformă o notă de subsol a istoriei diplomatice — detenția diplomaților Axei în hoteluri de lux americane — într-o analiză socială și politică profundă. Premisa este una paradoxală: în timp ce națiunea americană era zguduită de atacul de la Pearl Harbor, administrația Roosevelt a ales să cazeze oficialii inamici în stațiuni montane opulente, sperând să asigure un tratament reciproc pentru diplomații americani blocați în străinătate.

Observăm o structură narativă atent calibrată, care trece de la haosul primelor zile ale războiului („On the Diplomatic Front Lines”) la realitatea claustrofobă a izolării („Fenced Inn”). Cartea nu se rezumă la politici de stat, ci urmărește destine individuale, precum cel al unui ambasador nazist calculat sau al unei tinere naive, fiica unui atașat militar german. Această abordare umanizează tensiunile dintre agențiile americane rivale care supravegheau detenția, pe fondul indignării publice față de tratamentul preferențial oferit „inamicilor”.

Comparabil cu Axis Diplomats in American Custody de Landon A. Dunn în rigurozitate, volumul lui Solomon se diferențiază prin accentul pus pe dinamica psihologică și pe detaliile de viață cotidiană din aceste „închisori splendide”. În timp ce lucrarea lui Bruce Elleman, Japanese-American Civilian Prisoner Exchanges and Detention Camps, 1941-45, se concentrează pe mecanismele tehnice ale schimburilor de prizonieri, Such Splendid Prisons oferă o perspectivă mai intimă, susținută de un aparat ilustrativ bogat, despre cum diplomația a supraviețuit în condiții de supraveghere strictă și incertitudine.

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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9781640120846
ISBN-10: 164012084X
Pagini: 360
Ilustrații: 41 photographs, 9 illustrations, index
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 33 mm
Greutate: 0.68 kg
Editura: Potomac Books Inc
Colecția Potomac Books
Locul publicării:United States

De ce să citești această carte

Recomandăm această carte cititorilor pasionați de istorie militară și diplomatică care doresc să exploreze o fațetă mai puțin cunoscută a frontului domestic american. Veți câștiga o înțelegere nuanțată a modului în care protocolul internațional a interacționat cu presiunea opiniei publice în timp de război. Este o lectură esențială pentru cei care apreciază istoria narativă bine documentată, oferind detalii inedite despre spionaj, loialități fracturate și viața în spatele gardurilor de sârmă ghimpată ale unor hoteluri de cinci stele.

Despre autor

Harvey Solomon este un autor și jurnalist recunoscut pentru cercetările sale aprofundate în arhivele istorice americane. Prin Such Splendid Prisons, Solomon își demonstrează abilitatea de a sintetiza documente oficiale, jurnale personale și rapoarte de presă pentru a reconstrui atmosfere complexe. Expertiza sa în navigarea birocrației de război a SUA și a relațiilor internaționale i-a permis să scoată la lumină detalii despre agențiile guvernamentale implicate în gestionarea diplomaților străini. Munca sa a fost premiată internațional, confirmându-i statutul de cercetător riguros al istoriei sociale a celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial.

Descriere scurtă

2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Silver Medal Winner
2020-21 Reader Views Literary Awards Bronze Medal Winner 

In the chaotic days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt administration made a dubious decision affecting hundreds of Axis diplomats remaining in the nation’s capital. To encourage reciprocal treatment of U.S. diplomats trapped abroad, Roosevelt sent Axis diplomats to remote luxury hotels—a move that enraged Americans stunned by the attack. This cause célèbre drove a fascinating yet forgotten story: the roundup, detention, and eventual repatriation of more than a thousand German, Japanese, Italian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian diplomats, families, staff, servants, journalists, students, businessmen, and spies.

Such Splendid Prisons follows five of these internees whose privileged worlds came crashing down after December 7, 1941: a suave, calculating Nazi ambassador and his charming but conflicted wife; a wily veteran Japanese journalist; a beleaguered American wife of a Japanese spy posing as a diplomat; and a spirited but naive college-aged daughter of a German military attaché.

The close, albeit luxurious, proximity in which these Axis power emissaries were forced to live with each other stripped away the veneer of false prewar diplomatic bonhomie. Conflicts ran deep not only among the captives but also among the rival U.S. agencies overseeing a detainment fraught with uncertainty, duplicity, lust, and romance. Harvey Solomon re-creates this wartime American period of deluxe detention, public outrage, hidden agendas, rancor and racism, and political machinations in a fascinating but forgotten story.

Notă biografică

Harvey Solomon is a freelance writer based in Washington, DC. He is the author of three nonfiction books, including Book of Days: ’60s: A Day-by-Day Look at the Pop Culture Moments That Made History. He has written articles for dozens of publications, including the Boston Herald, the Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood Reporter, and Variety.
 
 

Cuprins

List of Illustrations
Dramatis Personae
Author’s Note
Prologue
1. On the Diplomatic Front Lines
2. Rivals and Arrivals
3. Soirees to Spies
4. Inactive Vigilance
5. Reverberations of War
6. Isolation versus Intervention
7. War Wary
8. Full Speed Ahead
9. Executing an Exodus
10. Fenced Inn
11. Moving Daze
12. (Not So) Happy New Year
13. Watched While Waiting
14. Quiet Desperation
15. Life at the Homestead
16. “But Still They Complain . . .”
17. Twice Removed
18. A Feud Renewed
19. Homeward, Unbound
20. Perplexing Passage East
21. Home Aghast
22. Vichyswap
23. Last Grasp
Afterword
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Recenzii

"Such Splendid Prisons is a detailed, thoroughly researched study that should be essential reading for anyone interested in the Second World War in America, diplomatic history, and the history of internment in general. Thanks to author Harvey Solomon's fluent prose, his book will attract both academic and general audiences."—Rachel Pistol, Michigan War Studies Review

“It’s not every day that a significant piece of neglected WWII diplomacy comes to light, but it has done so in Such Splendid Prisons. . . .[I]t’s a fascinating lesson in how diplomacy is meant to function and should enthrall American history buffs, current and retired U. S. diplomats, and employees of the FBI and CIA whose predecessors played such crucial roles in this daring operation.”—Peter F. Spalding, Foreign Service Journal

“Uncovering a hidden slice of wartime America, Harvey Solomon’s Such Splendid Prisons tells an intriguing story of elite Axis prisoners incarcerated by the U.S. government, replete with behind-the-scenes diplomatic machinations and political calculations.”—Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump, The Generals, and The Allies

“In World War II the U.S. government detained thousands of the Axis powers’ diplomats and dependents—by putting them up in luxury hotels. In this absorbing, cinematic account, Harvey Solomon examines the one place where Germans, Italians, and Japanese all had to live together: the United States of America.”—Stephen Wertheim, visiting assistant professor of history at Columbia University

“With sharp characterization, crackling prose, and an eye for humorous detail, Harvey Solomon takes us on a wild technicolor ride. . . . His prodigious research has cracked the code of silence surrounding the secretive detention of Axis diplomats and their families. This is the most detailed and lively account of this ironic wartime episode yet written.”—Max Paul Friedman, professor of history at American University

“In a consistently fascinating book, Harvey Solomon guides his readers though what really is—in that overused phrase—one of the last untold stories of World War II. Here in their faded glory are the experiences of the enemy diplomats obliged to remain in the custody of the U.S. government after the outbreak of war. Exotic characters and arcane attitudes abound in this window on diplomatic lives as they were lived in what now seems like the end of an era. Readers have to pinch themselves to be sure this isn’t some dream of the nineteenth century but rather events that unfolded simultaneously with the horrors of Auschwitz, Stalingrad, and Hiroshima.”—Nicholas J. Cull, professor of communications and director of the Masters of Diplomacy Program at the University of Southern California

“In this engagingly written volume, Harvey Solomon tells the unknown—and fascinating—story of enemy diplomats who were detained in America during the Second World War. Anyone interested in the war will find Such Splendid Prisons an intriguing, memorable tale.”—Jonathan Rosenberg, associate professor of history at Hunter College, CUNY Graduate Center

“A lively depiction of the Washington scene on the brink of World War II, with fascinating revelations about the fate of Axis diplomatic staffs interned in the U.S. at the outbreak of hostilities. Highly engaging and personal, this account will captivate general readers and scholars alike.”—Alfred M. Beck, author of Hitler’s Ambivalent Attaché

“Such Splendid Prisons provides a well-crafted and dramatic narrative of a little-known aspect of World War II. It tells a fascinating story with lively accounts of the individual personalities: a real pleasure to read.”—Derek Mallett, author of Hitler’s Generals in America: Nazi POWs and Allied Military Intelligence

Descriere

Harvey Solomon tells the vivid story of the roundup, captivity, and eventual repatriation of Axis diplomats and their families who were stranded in the nation’s capital after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.