The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration

by Frank Abe, Floyd Cheung Narrated by Frank Abe, Keone Young, Ren Hanami, Traci Kato-Kiriyama, Greg Watanabe

Overview

“An essential volume” -Hua Hsu, The New Yorker

The collective voice of Japanese Americans defined by a specific moment in time: the four years of World War II during which the US government expelled resident aliens and its own citizens from their homes and imprisoned 125,000 of them in American concentration camps, based solely upon the race they shared with a wartime enemy.

A Penguin Classic

This anthology presents a new vision that recovers and reframes the literature produced by the people targeted by the actions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress to deny Americans of Japanese ancestry any individual hearings or other due process after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. From nearly seventy selections of fiction, poetry, essays, memoirs, and letters emerges a shared story of the struggle to retain personal integrity in the face of increasing dehumanization - all anchored by the key government documents that incite the action.

The selections favor the pointed over the poignant, and the unknown over the familiar, with several new translations among previously unseen works that have been long overlooked on the shelf, buried in the archives, or languished unread in the Japanese language. The writings are presented chronologically so that readers can trace the continuum of events as the incarcerees experienced it.

The contributors span incarcerees, their children born in or soon after the camps, and their descendants who reflect on the long-term consequences of mass incarceration for themselves and the nation. Many of the voices are those of protest. Some are those of accommodation. All are authentic. Together they form an epic narrative with a singular vision of America's past, one with disturbing resonances with the American present.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

An essential volume...Although there have been many books written on the history of incarceration, few have captured the kind of emotional detail that comes through in the largely first-person accounts collected by Abe and Cheung. Their selections paint a complicated picture, convening hopeful, patriotic idealists, righteous firebrands, and downtrodden cynics.” —Hua Hsu, The New Yorker

“The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, will undoubtedly serve as a seminal text for generations of students learning about the United States government’s incarceration of 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.” —Paul Constant, The Seattle Times

“Here, we see why The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration is so essential, because it serves as a flashpoint of resistance, and of righteous rage. It does that by recentering the story of the camps through the lens of stories—testament and testimony, all these voices adding up to a narrative collage.” —David L. Ulin, Alta

“Meticulously compiled and edited in chronological order (…) The impressive breadth of this searing collection makes it suitable for high-school reading and research. —Terry Hong, Booklist

“This anthology is bound by the shared voice of the Japanese American community – however stratified – telling the story of historical oppression and both the collective and personal means of resistance.” —Ana Tanaka, International Examiner

“A look at a dark chapter in American history…this book is a Penguin Classic…these are meant to be read for generations.” —Scott Tong, NPR

Library Journal

06/21/2024

Editors Abe (creator of the PBS documentary Conscience and the Constitution; coauthor, We Hereby Refuse) and Chung (English, Smith Coll.; editor, The Hanging on Union Square) have brought together 68 primary- and secondary-source texts (some previously published, some newly translated) about the period during World War II when the U.S. government imprisoned 125,000 Americans with Japanese ancestry in concentration camps. This collection organizes essays, memoirs, newspaper columns, letters, and poetry into three chronological parts: before the camps, in the camps, and after the camps (the latter section spotlighting responses from survivors and their descendants). The texts describe the community that existed, the arrests, and the people's response to their incarceration, plus firsthand descriptions of the camps and their treatment of prisoners. The volume offers multifaceted reflections from Japanese Americans who attempted to retain their dignity during a time when their government dehumanized them. VERDICT An accessible examination of the U.S. concentration camps that held people solely because of their race and heritage, plus a look at how they impacted society and generations to come. Important for both researchers and students.—John Rodzvilla

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159609953
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	05/14/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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