The Unknown Internment: An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans During World War II

by Stephen R. Fox (Contributor)

Tells about the Italian and German nationals held for interrogation in 1942

Genres: Nonfiction, History

223 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1990

About the author

Stephen Fox, an independent historian who did his PhD at Brown University, is the author of six previous books, including Transatlantic, a history of the steamship. He lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all know about internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, but Italian Americans were singled-out too in a slightly different way. Generally, only those living along the west coast of the U.S. were surveilled and targeted. Fox uses oral accounts (written), to explain how Italians in the west tended to resist assimilating into American culture and learning English. Their enclaves were tight-knit, and many had no desire to become American citizens, rather just in the U.S. awaiting the end of the war and Mussolini's reign. Their short-wave radios in homes were tuned for news from Italy. Unfortunately, this made them targets for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

This is yet another chapter in American history that is not included in history text books. This book should be required reading in all high school history classes. I was only able to access the book through InterLibrary Loan, and it came to me from a nearby university by way of my public library. If your library doesn't have it in the collection, ask the librarian to get it for you. Librarians love helping with ILLs.

UNCENSORED LIBRARIES ARE VITAL TO DEMOCRACY.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking. Excellent read. One thing, the year of dates mentioned throughout the text was often left off, which left me flipping back and forth in the pages to try to figure out to which year the date was referring. Otherwise it's an easy read, and the oral histories are fascinating

[Maria Strayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the Twayne Oral History Series--Stephen Fox traces the issue of American internment camps during World War II focusing especially on Italian-Americans. His work is based on a wide range of research in manuscripts, memoirs and government documents as well as personally conducted interviews from the 1980s. Fox looks at Italians in California along the coast first looking at early assimilation and acculturation from 1900 until the 1930s, then proceeds to investigate the restrictions placed on "enemy-aliens" and their families. He uses first hand accounts and opinions of life in America to demonstrate how confusing of a time this was for Americans of all backgrounds. Although not neglecting the restrictions placed on Germans and Japanese, Fox intends to show that WWII in America was a trying time for Italians.

[Drrk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book goes into real depth on an important topic, but it's a real slog to read in spots. I found myself doing a lot of skimming.