The definitive anthology of Japanese American internment. "In these stories are lifted up our humanity, our indomitable spirit and dignity, an implacable quest for justice"— Janice Mirikitani Shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States government uprooted 120,000 people of Japanese descent from their homes and banished them to remote internment camps. This collection of reminiscences, stories, poems, photographs, and graphic art expresses the range of powerful and sometimes conflicting emotions that arose from the internment experience. Also included are propaganda, government documents, and stories of those outside the camps whose lives were interwoven with those of the internees.
This is a must read for anyone who plans to vote in the November 2016 election. Herding people into internment camps because they looked like our enemy? It happened. It was America's shame in WWII. Read this book so that it will not be our shame in the 21st Century.
This is one of my favorite kinds of history books- it's basically a book of primary sources with some short context/explanatory essays. It includes oral histories, poetry, artwork, official documents, diaries and excerpts from memoirs of people who were affected by the Japanese Internment during World War II. Most of the material is from Japanese Americans, but there are accounts from people who worked in the camps, from people who were not Japanese, but were also arrested or interned, and from those of Japanese ancestry who fought in WWII. It's part of a story that most Americans haven't been told in any sort of detail and this is a very accessible way of telling that story. I highly recommend it to everyone.
This is an unusual book on the internment process, as it consists of information, but also includes poetry, artwork, photographs, and personal remembrances, making it a very fascinating work.
The book starts right off noting that the U.S. suspended due process and put people of Japanese descent into what amounted to be prisons without any formal charges or trials, much less appeals. The book deals with the war years only.
One very interesting section is on editorials, which includes some from the Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese publication whose editors called on U.S. forces to crush the Japanese empire. One editorial from another newspaper said that “Racial hatred belongs in the arsenal of Nazi weapons and is used to inflict deep and biter wounds in the nations which Hitler would conquer.”
What is interesting is that these type of editorials happened in the time period after Pearl Harbor but, later, the Hearst papers stated their anti-Japanese campaign and the other papers changed their tune and went with the Hearst approach. One paper claimed that the moment Pearl Harbor was attacked Japanese worked quickly to block roads so the military people couldn't get to their stations. The paper even went so far as to claim that some ads had hidden codes the Japanese could decipher to help in their plot against the U.S.
Not a single one of the many, many rumors ever proved out to be true.
One thing that was true was that the Japanese could use the U.S. attitude towards blacks as a propaganda tool of their own, warning Asians they would be treated just as badly, that the war was a racial war against white oppressors.
There's an interesting breakdown of military exclusion zones, meaning all persons of Japanese descent had to move out of them. There was, of course, Military Area 1 and Military Area 2. There were also 84 other places in California, 7 in Washington, 24 in Oregon, and 18 in Arizona. This doesn't count 135 others around harbors, dams, power plants, etc.
There's a lot of interesting photographs of posters, magazine pieces, and even of the Tanforan racetrack assembly center which would pretty much disprove anyone who said that those in the assembly centers had pretty good living conditions.
There also happens to be an entry by George Takai, Mr. Sulu of Star Trek fame.
One very, very interesting thing. There was a newspaper comic strip of Superman, and part of that strip involved the visit of Clark Kent and Lois Lane to one of the internment camps. The military representative was trying to get them to believe how great the camp was, while Superman was able to detect trouble with his X-ray vision, a plot of some of the inmates to kidnap Clark Kent, Lois and the military rep.
The author of the book notes that he tried to get permission from DC comics to run a sample of the strip, and that they were the ONLY publisher they had contacted (and they must have contact a pretty large number, considering the variety of things in the book) that refused to give their permission to use any of their material.
Many of the governors of Western states did not want internees in their states, but the governor of Colorado was willing. He pointed out that there were 1,118,000 people in Colorado, and they could handle any number of internees that would be put there.
What most books don't do, but this one does, is talk about what happened to persons of Japanese ancestry in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The difference in Hawaii is noted, with only 59 families evacuated a year after Pearl Harbor.
There's a chapter on the draft resisters at the Heart Mountain camp, and discussion about the Nisei who did end up in the US military and what jobs they filled.
The book is over 400 pages long and is one of the most unique and most interesting books that deal with the internment.
Of all the books that I have read concerning the internment of Japanese Americans this is the best and if you only have time to read one this should be it. Includes diary entries, personal essays, newspaper & magazine article reprints, reprints of cartons from this time, transcripts of speeches given by FDR & Eleanor Roosevelt.
Only What We Could Carry is a collection of writings documenting the lives of the Japanese Issei (first generation immigrants), Nisei (second generation, American born), and Kibei (American born but educated in Japan). It includes short stories, memoirs, poetry, art, historical documents, letters, etc. Each piece of writing or art communicates to the audience the suffrage of people of Japanese descent during World War II. The book speaks of the internment experience and how it changed the lives of thousands of Japanese. We read about the son, the daughter, the father, the mother, and we learn from them as they struggle with betrayal, pride, and sincerity.
I enjoyed reading this book because it was very informative. I became much more aware of the period of the war. I was not drawn to one side since I received many different perspectives. At times I would resent the United States but when I read about the 442th Regiment and how the Nisei sacrificed their lives for the country that imprisoned them inside barbed wire, I was moved. They showed me their unwavering loyalty to the United States. I became enraged when I read about the high school Kibei who was violated by the FBI and charged with being an informant just because he practiced Kendo. Since every piece of work was true, I felt the emotions of each and every person. Compared to other pieces of writings, this one is creative in a way that engages the reader to want to read more. Although some stories end quickly, it makes me want to read the entire work in order to grasp it.
I would recommend that you read this if you are interested in learning about the internment experience. Be aware that you will be exposed to things that were hidden for a long time. If you are researching Japanese Americans, you will find a lot of information that is all true. If you are looking for a story that has a beginning and an end, this is not the book for you. It is a continuous story that does not have an end even though it is all history.
Essays from residents of Japanese internment camps in WWII, as well as non-internees writing about their association and experiences. Many are excerpts from books. It took me more than two months to read this (there are about 50 essays, many of which had common elements). The editors included one or more paragraphs of background information for each one. Everyone had his or her own experience that was important and interesting. Some of the atypical stories included:
• A Caucasian woman married to a Nisei man who had been detained. She voluntarily accompanied him to Manzanar to care for their three-year-old son, interned because clearly a toddler is a huge threat to national security. • An Italian opera singer living in New York City, arrested and jailed with the charge of being an enemy alien. The resolution of this was fascinating. • Experiences of Caucasian school teachers in the camp v. teachers of Japanese descent. • The rescue of Holocaust prisoners by a U.S. squad of Nisei soldiers.
I was disappointed by Eleanor Roosevelt’s piece supporting the internment camps as a “safety measure,” but it ended on a lovely, albeit incongruous, note:
“We have no common race in this country, but we have an ideal to which all of us are loyal. It is our ideal which we want to have live. It is an ideal which can grow with our people, but we cannot progress if we look down upon any group of people among us because of race or religion. Every citizen in this country has a right to our basic freedoms, to justice, and to equality of opportunity, and we retain the right to lead our individual lives as we please, but we can only do so if we grant to others the freedoms that we wish for ourselves.”
Can we require that every judge and Homeland Security employee in the U.S. read this book? And maybe someone could tweet it to the President?
This is one of the best, most informative books I've read recently, and certainly an excellent way to learn more about the Japanese American internment experience. The book is a collection of essays, fiction, poetry, art, reproductions of propaganda, and memoir, from a surprisingly wide variety of people. Many "regular" Japanese American voices were represented, as well as leaders from the Japanese American community, anonymous entries, a liberated Holocaust survivor (did you know that some Japanese American men who'd been interned volunteered to go fight in WWII and helped free some Jews in concentration camps--while their own families were still in concentration camps in the US???), and even First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. There is so much to learn from this book, about how a country that purports to believe in and be a democracy can simultaneously take away the rights of American citizens, about our notions of fairness, loyalty, family, and safety. Also addressed are the effects of wholesale, countrywide discrimination of and hatred for people of a certain ethnic or minority group--perhaps akin to what is building now in the US toward Muslims. I hope we learn from history.
As a result of wartime panic that followed the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor more than 100,000 Japanese Americans residing along the West Coast of the United States were moved from their homes and their communities and sent away to internment camps throughout the country.
Through personal documents, art, and propaganda, Only What We Could Carry expresses through words, art, and unforgettable stories, the fear, confusion and anger of the camp experience. The only collection of stories of its kind, Only What We Could Carry is an emotional and intellectual tribute to the dignity, spirit and strength of the Japanese American people. I believed this was the best introduction to the subject of the Internment of the Japanese people.
The second half of the book becomes quite tedious as it becomes a compilation of numerous retellings of the experiences of the people interned in the camps. You read it anyway because, by then, you feel like you owe it to them. Of particular interest to me was section written by George Takei concerning his experience at one of the camps. Mr. Takei is none other than Mr. Sulu, of the original Star Trek TV series!
Though I understand why it was needed, the technical parts of this book (official government documents, technical jargon) kind of 'killed my buzz', for lack of better wording. I found myself skipping through to the actual diary entries which I found much more intriguing and helped to paint a better picture of that time.
Fantastic book shedding light on the dark history in Japanese-American life just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The documentation and remembrances from the people who lived it are unforgettable, inspiring, both heartbreaking and uplifting. If you are interested in history or humanities, then pick this up.
Nice collection of essays from former internees in Japanese Internment camps. Also includes essays from people who were not interned, but had contact with the camps. Good for any other history nerds out there.
This is a great collection of (reprinted) primary materials concerning 1940s American policies imprisoning Japanese and Japanese-Americans on American soil.
This was a truly great source for history of this event. There were some inappropriate chapters, though, so one should be careful of the age of who he/she recommends it to.
Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, on February 19, 1942, FDR signed executive order 9066 ordering the internment of Japanese Americans, regardless of their citizenship. Of the several books I’ve read about that shameful episode in U.S. history, this is by far the best.
It’s a wide-ranging anthology that includes poetry, photo essays, art, and excerpts from published memoirs as well as well as historical documents, newspaper and magazine articles, and speeches by President Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. Also included are the words of ordinary citizens who were appalled at what was happening. “People fail to recall that those who are being evacuated have had no charges against them individually; they are not guilty of misconduct. They are being removed because of fear which is gripping the hearts of some people. And I feel that someday our country will feel ashamed of its conduct in this entire matter.”
Using oral history accounts, diaries, letters and other materials from museum archives, libraries, and special collections, as well as interviews and visits with writers, researchers, community activists, and those who had lived in the camps, this book is a comprehensive account of the personal histories of Japanese men, women and children who were directly affected by the interment.
It's the shocking story of what happened from the time Japanese Americans within the exclusion zone were instructed to secure or sell their houses and possessions and report to designated civil control stations. There, they were registered, labeled, and herded on buses to be taken to assembly centers until more permanent camps could be built. After about three months detainees were moved to one of 10 internment camps located in isolated areas throughout the U.S. where they were kept under armed guard, surrounded by barbed wire for the duration of the war.
A quote from another book about Japanese Interment during the War (Years of Infamy) is included in the dedication to this one: “I hope that this uniquely American story will serve as a reminder to all those who cherish their liberties of the very fragility of their rights. . and as a warning that they who say that it can never happen again are probably wrong.”
Echoing that sentiment, the preface to this anthology includes the following statement from the editors: “The story of the interment, in most ways unique to its time, is disturbingly relevant. The targets have changed, but the themes have remained constant. Recent immigrant groups, gays and lesbians, those belonging to minority racial, ethnic or religious groups still experience prejudice, hatred and contempt. A larger purpose of this anthology, then, is not just to explore history, but to use that exploration to understand more deeply the consequence of racial prejudice, to confront more fully the harm that it does and the strengths it calls forth, and by increasing intellectual and emotional awareness to help ensure that such events cannot occur again."
Living amid such a divisive climate of hatred and bigotry, one can only hope.
A thorough, wide-ranging, illuminating and often disheartening anthology that uses many voices and methods, from essays and photos to poetry and artwork, to describe a panorama of facts and personal stories relating to the unconstitutional internment of mainland Japanese and Japanese Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Most of the essays are from interned Japanese but the volume includes writings from others, like faith workers or teachers, who did what they could to ease the way of those about to be imprisoned without due process. Sections of the book are devoted to the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombing, the preparations to leave for the camps, the privations and frustrations of camp life, resistance to relocation and the draft, Nisei military service during World War II and the successful movement for redress. Many pieces are published here for the first time. These broad-based accounts chronicle the wrongs committed by a country that gave up on its democratic ideals while highlighting the confusion, resilience and loyalty of a people treated so unfairly.
If I was going to buy one book about the Japanese American relocation camps during World War 2 from the perspectives of those who saw it, this would be that book.
This is an amazing collection that gives the big picture through memories, poetry, photos, drawings, newspaper accounts, documents, and journals. Each contributor has a different experience. Seniors, children, teens, men, women, those in the camp, observers, church folks, government workers, soldiers, the list goes on.
It was interesting to read about those who loved America and tried to be cooperative, and those who were educated in Japan and hated America for trying to strip them from their heritage. Those who were used as pawns to exchange for American POWs, and those who volunteered as soldiers and rescued those at Dachau. Those who watched neighbors go insane in the camps, and those who never forgot the inhumane treatment.
The entire historical event was complex and shameful on so many levels, and this book shows the wide range of people who responded to it in so many different ways. The book is divided into 5 sections that follow the chronology of events.
The public govenment documents, newspapers articles from the time, and the private writings of the Americans internned by their own government in god-forsaken prison camps during World War II are important lessons in history that many (most) of us were not exposed to in our educational experiences. The poems, plays, and essays by Americans of Japanese ancestory are beautiful in spite of the horrific circumstances under which they were written. The official writings of the government and the news stories are eye-opening as well as heart-breaking, embarrassing and infuriating.
The government realized its mistake soon after incarcerating 100,000 Americans but continued to bumble its way through the war years and didn't provide half-hearted contrition until several decades later.
This is such a good collection of stories, art, historical documentation, and poetry about the Japanese-American Incarceration. I learned so much.
The selection from Light One Candle, which is a memoir of a Jewish man who was saved at Dachau by a Japanese-American soldier, was a highlight for me. Made me cry.
Very good collection. Highly recommend if you are wanting to find out more about this period of history, as it gives a good overview and also is a good stepping-stone for further reading/research.
There is a chronology list in the back that is also very helpful.
This collection of stories offers rich insights, both personal and historical, to the experience of Japanese Americans during wartime and context for the wrongful incarceration. The aspect I appreciated most was the wide variety brought into the story—personal testimony, anecdotes, poetry, images, scholarly essays—the gamut!
The best kinds of history books, specifically for things like this, are ones that have personal recounts of those affected. This does a great job of giving insight to how life was for the Japanese during this time. I really love the inclusion of poetry, art, photographs, newspaper articles, etc throughout the book. It makes it seem so much more human.