Murder in Manchuria, Scott D. Seligman
Murder in Manchuria, Scott D. Seligman
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Murder in Manchuria
The True Story of a Jewish Virtuoso, Russian Fascists, a French Diplomat, and a Japanese Spy in Occupied China

Author: Scott D. Seligman

Narrator: Eric Jason Martin

Unabridged: 6 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/19/2024


Synopsis

In Murder in Manchuria, Scott D. Seligman explores an unsolved murder set amid the chaos that reigned in China in the run-up to World War II. The story unfolds against the backdrop of a three-country struggle for control of Manchuria—an area some called China's "Wild East"—and an explosive mixture of nationalities, religions, and ideologies. Semyon Kaspé, a young Jewish musician, is kidnapped, tortured, and ultimately murdered by disaffected, antisemitic White Russians, secretly acting on the orders of Japanese military overlords who covet his father's wealth. When local authorities deliberately slow-walk the search for the kidnappers, a young French diplomat takes over and launches his own investigation.

Part cold-case thriller and part social history, the true, tragic saga of Kaspé is told in the context of the larger, improbable story of the lives of the twenty thousand Jews who called Harbin home at the beginning of the twentieth century. Scott D. Seligman recounts the events that led to their arrival and their hasty exodus—and solves a crime that has puzzled historians for decades.

About Scott D. Seligman

Scott D. Seligman is a historian, retired corporate executive, and career China hand, and he holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard. Fluent in Mandarin and conversant in Cantonese, he lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China and has worked as a legislative assistant in Congress, a businessman in China, and a communications director of a Fortune 50 company. He is the author of many scholarly and business books, including Chinese Business Etiquette and The First Chinese American. He has published articles in the Asian Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Seattle Times, the China Business Review, the Jewish Daily Forward, and China Heritage Quarterly.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on January 28, 2024

While it is an investigation of an unsolved kidnapping and murder in the ‘wild east’ that was Manchuria between the wars, the book begins by exploring the developments in the area in that time the influx of Jews and White Russians, escaping the Russian Civil war, the Russian fascists and the Bolshev......more

Goodreads review by Reader on October 30, 2023

“Murder in Manchuria: The True Story of a Jewish Virtuoso, Russian Fascists, a French Diplomat, and a Japanese Spy in Occupied China” is an extremely fascinating true-crime story. This book takes the reader on a journey through the madness that was ruling China prior to the start of World War II. Th......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on March 21, 2024

There’s a joke about Jewish holidays that says, “They tried to kill us; we won; let’s eat.” When thinking of recorded Jewish history, that statement could be changed to read, “They invited us to live there. We prospered, so they hated us and tried to destroy us. Then we left.” This is a simplified v......more

Goodreads review by Fishface on August 11, 2024

A pretty good read collected from what seems like many, many disparate sources in half a dozen languages. This is highly recommended if you are interested in hate crimes, official misconduct, baffling court decisions, international intrigue...I could go on. Perfect addition to my weird little corner......more