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The Unknown Great: Stories of Japanese Americans at the Margins of History
Through stories of remarkable people in Japanese American history, The Unknown Great illuminates the diversity of the Nikkei experience from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day. Acclaimed historian and journalist Greg Robinson delves into a range of themes from race and interracial relationships to sexuality, faith, and national identity. In accessible short essays drawn primarily from his newspaper columns, Robinson examines the longstanding interactions between African Americans and Japanese Americans, the history of LGBTQ+ Japanese Americans, religion in Japanese American life, mixed-race performers and political figures, and more. This collection is sure to entertain and inform readers, bringing fresh perspectives and unfamiliar stories from Japanese American history and centering the lives of unheralded figures who left their mark on American life.
276 pages, Hardcover
Published January 2, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 2, 2024
THE UNKNOWN GREAT: Stories of Japanese Americans at the Margins of History, by Greg Robinson with input from Jonathan van Harmelen, can justifiably be pronounced a page turner. A formidable product of research, interpretation, and presentation, this is a fascinating, “can't put it down,” nonfiction read, and its relevance cannot be overstated. Robinson offers the reader a tour through the noteworthy achievements of forty-five Japanese Americans, representative of diversity within diversity, the names of whom most readers are unlikely to recognize.
Toshi Aline Ohta, July 1922 – July 2013, and Pete Seeger were married in 1943. By 1950, Pete Seeger was well known as a folk music performer. Toshi Seeger was his producer, booking agent, publicist, and managed his financial affairs, a partner with her husband in his musical career and in support for progressive causes. However, author Robinson writes, because she was an Asian American woman and because she preferred to work in the background she hasn’t had the recognition she deserves. He terms this “erasure,” and writes, “It is therefore essential not only to bring her remarkable career out of the shadows but to use the example of her life to better understand the larger context within which that erasure occurred.”
Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, July 1888 – April 1960, an Evangelical Christian pacifist and advocate for Women’s Suffrage, was a world-renowned evangelist, and social reformer who toured the U.S. extensively, his speaking engagements drawing overflow audiences. Kagawa wrote more than one-hundred fifty books, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947 and 1948, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1955.
Kinjiro Matsudaira, September 1885 – October 1963, was, in his early life, a working clown who according to family legend, fled an orphanage and joined a circus as one of a troupe of three “Novelty Comic Acrobats.” Among later occupations were clerking in retail establishments, city council member and, in 1927, mayor of Edmonston, Maryland.
Discovery awaits the reader in Greg Robinson’s THE UNKNOWN GREAT. Use a highlighter, write in the margins, affix sticky notes. Turning over in your mind these examples of challenges and champions, you will return to the book’s pages again and again.
Toshi Aline Ohta, July 1922 – July 2013, and Pete Seeger were married in 1943. By 1950, Pete Seeger was well known as a folk music performer. Toshi Seeger was his producer, booking agent, publicist, and managed his financial affairs, a partner with her husband in his musical career and in support for progressive causes. However, author Robinson writes, because she was an Asian American woman and because she preferred to work in the background she hasn’t had the recognition she deserves. He terms this “erasure,” and writes, “It is therefore essential not only to bring her remarkable career out of the shadows but to use the example of her life to better understand the larger context within which that erasure occurred.”
Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, July 1888 – April 1960, an Evangelical Christian pacifist and advocate for Women’s Suffrage, was a world-renowned evangelist, and social reformer who toured the U.S. extensively, his speaking engagements drawing overflow audiences. Kagawa wrote more than one-hundred fifty books, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947 and 1948, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1955.
Kinjiro Matsudaira, September 1885 – October 1963, was, in his early life, a working clown who according to family legend, fled an orphanage and joined a circus as one of a troupe of three “Novelty Comic Acrobats.” Among later occupations were clerking in retail establishments, city council member and, in 1927, mayor of Edmonston, Maryland.
Discovery awaits the reader in Greg Robinson’s THE UNKNOWN GREAT. Use a highlighter, write in the margins, affix sticky notes. Turning over in your mind these examples of challenges and champions, you will return to the book’s pages again and again.
January 11, 2025
Greg Robinson takes a step beyond traditional research of Japanese and Japanese Americans, which often focuses on their wartime experiences and coastal areas of North America, and looks at the contributions they made to culture and history.
Specifically, Robinson unpacks relations between Japanese Americans and African Americans, the story of LGBT Japanese Americans, and Japanese American musicians, just to name a few. Weaving each story together with impeccable narrative and detail, Robinson tells stories we should all know—those of the “unknown greats.”
As an avid reader of Japanese American history and culture, I applaud Robinson for his dedication to expanding the scholarship. I cannot recommend this book enough. 10/10!
Specifically, Robinson unpacks relations between Japanese Americans and African Americans, the story of LGBT Japanese Americans, and Japanese American musicians, just to name a few. Weaving each story together with impeccable narrative and detail, Robinson tells stories we should all know—those of the “unknown greats.”
As an avid reader of Japanese American history and culture, I applaud Robinson for his dedication to expanding the scholarship. I cannot recommend this book enough. 10/10!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews