``This is a meticulously researched book using interviews, archives, libraries and other writings. The mammoth task of collecting this scattered material and sifting it was conducted over twenty years....Roland's simple story of the common man, coping with adversity, shows that humanity at its best will always overcome its common frailties.'' -- C.P.W. Warren, University of Manitoba -- Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, Vol 19 No 2, 2002, 200310
``Few historians had admitted what Roland proves so conclusively: that the story of Allied servicemen captured in Hong Kong is explicitly a medical story, and that their captivity experiences can best be understood by exploring them from a medical perspective....The result is a compelling account which sensitively yet graphically documents the agonies endured by Allied prisoners in Japanese captivity....Roland...has culled archives in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Britain, the United States, and Singapore, supplementing that material with interviews with former prisoners and published and unpublished memoirs....Such extensive source material, and such a nuanced and convincing argument, guarantees that Long Night's Journey into Day will be the authoritative source on the subject for many years to come.'' -- University of Manitoba -- Canadian Military History, Book Review Supplement, Spring 2001, 200110
``A welcome and excellent addition to the small literay resource available....Considering the extraordinarily difficult circumstances in which these [prisoners] lived, these records are a tribute to their fortitude and determination.'' -- Geoffrey Gill, Liverpoool School of Tropical Medicine -- Medical History, Vol 46 No 4, October 2002, 200210
``This is a story of disease and starvation, and its direct impact on POW survival rates. It is a gruesome story, punctuated with moments of comedy and pathos. Above all, it is a story of unstinting dedication by the medial officers and the hospital orderlies who performed heroic tasks in such demanding environments. The array of primary sources fomr Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Hong Kong, and the United States is indeed impressive. Of particular note, is the vast amount of hitherto unknown or unused clinical analyses produced in the immediate postwar period, which provide invaluable insights into the medical side of POW lfe. Another useful source that Roland should be congratulated on are the scores of interviews he has conducted with ex-POWs and civilian internees over the past twenty-five years. For these accounts provide a raw edge to a growing litany of horrifying POW experiences.'' -- Geoffrey Gill, Liverpoool School of Tropical Medicine -- Military History, Vol 66 No 2, April 2002, 200210
``Roland draws upon hundreds of interviews with former POWs, as well as archival material from around the world to detail and document the extreme conditions that the prisoners were compelled by their captors to endure. Long Night's Journey into Day is an essential, core title for any serious World War II studies reference collection.'' -- Liverpoool School of Tropical Medicine -- Wisconsin Bookwatch, October 2001, 200210
