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Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II
While Americans fought for freedom and democracy abroad, fear and suspicion towards Japanese Americans swept the country after Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Culling information from extensive, previously unpublished interviews and oral histories with Japanese American survivors of internment camps, Martin W. Sandler gives an in-depth account of their lives before, during their imprisonment, and after their release. Bringing readers inside life in the internment camps and explaining how a country that is built on the ideals of freedom for all could have such a dark mark on its history, this in-depth look at a troubling period of American history sheds light on the prejudices in today's world and provides the historical context we need to prevent similar abuses of power.
Hardcover
First published May 21, 2013
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About the author
Martin W. Sandler
88 books56 followersMartin W. Sandler has written more than seventy books for children and adults and has written and produced seven television series. He has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and has won multiple Emmy Awards. He lives in Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
February 4, 2014
This book is an excellent account of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Sandler's work is well-written and thoroughly researched. My issue with the book is in the layout. I had hoped to use this work as a literature circle option for a fifth grade language arts/history project; therefore, I tried to read this book from a child's perspective. I was constantly frustrated with breaks in the narrative. In the middle of a paragraph or even a sentence, the next page would be a side story. In at least one instance the side story is three pages long right in the middle of a sentence. Every chapter has one of these multi-page breaks. How is a fifth grader supposed to become immersed in the story with so many interruptions? I found myself skipping the breaks and coming back to read them at the end of the chapter, which begs the question...Why not put these at the end of each chapter?!??!?!
August 26, 2013
The story of what happened to Japanese Americans shortly after the United States entered World War II never ceases to stun me. And, as Martin Sandler shows in his newest nonfiction book, Imprisoned, it is especially ironic that while we were fighting a war to save democracy, we had no compunction about taking it away was a whole section of American society by placing them in internments camps scattered throughout the US, located out in the middle of nowhere.
But, as Sandler points out, fear and mistrust of Japanese immigrants to the US didn't begin with World War II. And so, we are given a short history about the arrival of the Japanese; their willingness to take any kind of work when they first arrived here; how they saved their money and how they were eventually able to afford their piece of the American Dream.
But they looked different, their language was different, their religion and culture were different and so they faced anti-Japanese signs and sentiments all over the West Coast. As more Japanese arrived, laws were passed preventing Japanese immigrants from owning law, then congress passed the Immigration Act, which banned Japanese immigration to the US altogether. And of course, according to The Naturalization Act of 1790, citizenship was already out of the question for any non-white not born on American soil. Yet, despite all of these obstacles, Sandler points out, the Japanese still managed to thrive in this country.
That was until December 7, 1941, when the Japan attacked the United States in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Once again, fear and mistrust reared up. And, despite the fact that there was no indication that the Japanese and their Americans born children were the least bit sympathetic to or in cahoots with Japan, it didn't take long for the hate and suspicion mongers to convince the President of the United States to sign Executive Order 9066 placing them in internment camps.
In this relatively short (176 pages), well researched, well written book, Sandler gives us tells the story of life in the internments camps through personal accounts and interviews never before published, all supplemented with a abundance of photographs, providing a more in-depth look at what went on before, during and after the war.
It was a little difficult reading this book because it was from Net Galley and I downloaded it to my Kindle App and the photos weren't where they should have been and the wonderful personal accounts that are included were also kind of helter-skelter so I am very anxious to see and reread the actual book when it comes out on August 27, 2013.
Despite my difficulty reading Imprisoned, I would still highly recommend it to anyone interested in WW2 home front history. A nice companion book, which Sandler also mentions is Citizen 13660 by Miné Okubo, which I review back in 2011.
The story of internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans didn't end with WW2. Given $25 and a ticket home, Sandler goes on to briefly cover how the internees returned to their homes to find everything gone, how they worked hard to get back on their feet yet again,despite yet more obstacles, and finally, their fight for reparations in the 1970s and 1980s.
There is copious back matter including places to visit, websites with additional information and a nice in-depth index (one of my favorite back matter elements that often is not as well done as this one).
This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an E-ARC from Net Galley
This review originally was posted on The Children's War
But, as Sandler points out, fear and mistrust of Japanese immigrants to the US didn't begin with World War II. And so, we are given a short history about the arrival of the Japanese; their willingness to take any kind of work when they first arrived here; how they saved their money and how they were eventually able to afford their piece of the American Dream.
But they looked different, their language was different, their religion and culture were different and so they faced anti-Japanese signs and sentiments all over the West Coast. As more Japanese arrived, laws were passed preventing Japanese immigrants from owning law, then congress passed the Immigration Act, which banned Japanese immigration to the US altogether. And of course, according to The Naturalization Act of 1790, citizenship was already out of the question for any non-white not born on American soil. Yet, despite all of these obstacles, Sandler points out, the Japanese still managed to thrive in this country.
That was until December 7, 1941, when the Japan attacked the United States in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Once again, fear and mistrust reared up. And, despite the fact that there was no indication that the Japanese and their Americans born children were the least bit sympathetic to or in cahoots with Japan, it didn't take long for the hate and suspicion mongers to convince the President of the United States to sign Executive Order 9066 placing them in internment camps.
In this relatively short (176 pages), well researched, well written book, Sandler gives us tells the story of life in the internments camps through personal accounts and interviews never before published, all supplemented with a abundance of photographs, providing a more in-depth look at what went on before, during and after the war.
It was a little difficult reading this book because it was from Net Galley and I downloaded it to my Kindle App and the photos weren't where they should have been and the wonderful personal accounts that are included were also kind of helter-skelter so I am very anxious to see and reread the actual book when it comes out on August 27, 2013.
Despite my difficulty reading Imprisoned, I would still highly recommend it to anyone interested in WW2 home front history. A nice companion book, which Sandler also mentions is Citizen 13660 by Miné Okubo, which I review back in 2011.
The story of internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans didn't end with WW2. Given $25 and a ticket home, Sandler goes on to briefly cover how the internees returned to their homes to find everything gone, how they worked hard to get back on their feet yet again,despite yet more obstacles, and finally, their fight for reparations in the 1970s and 1980s.
There is copious back matter including places to visit, websites with additional information and a nice in-depth index (one of my favorite back matter elements that often is not as well done as this one).
This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an E-ARC from Net Galley
This review originally was posted on The Children's War
July 14, 2017
3.5 out of 5. This is a book young adults need to read, not only for the historical knowledge but the parallel to prejudice against Muslims today. Worth the read. I had some issues with the layout and often had to flip back and forth between pages to get everything.
April 23, 2015
This might be shelved in the children's section, but don't underestimate it, or its impact. Imprisoned delves thoroughly into the historical, military, social and political issues surrounding this civil rights travesty. It offers insight into the reasoning, but without justifying. It doesn't shy away from praise or criticism, but neither does it linger on the negative, making it suitable for most ages.
An excellent book for anyone wanting an overview, or a place to start. Expect some potentially awkward conversations when your child reads this, because really the actions (not just of the imprisoners, but also the society that drove it) are unexplainable.
An excellent book for anyone wanting an overview, or a place to start. Expect some potentially awkward conversations when your child reads this, because really the actions (not just of the imprisoners, but also the society that drove it) are unexplainable.
January 10, 2018
No matter how many times I read about the events leading up to and including the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, it makes me sick every time. Every ideal represented by the American flag was violated by imprisoning people for no reason other than their race. Some of the details provided by Sandler are all too reminiscent of the Nazis and the Japanese Empire (other than murder). I've always believed that when we behave like those we fight/condemn we are no better than they are, and this time in our history shows that all to clearly. Sandler does a nice job summing up the events that led to the imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese Americans, including a discussion of Japanese immigration and Pearl Harbor. He goes on to present facts about how and why it was decided to force the Japanese Americans into concentration camps (supposedly a risk of sabotage and spying, which was never proven against any of those imprisoned). Those is favor of this plan out numbered those against. In addition to explaining about life in the camps, Sandler discusses the Japanese Americans who served in the military, both as interpreters and combat soldiers. Life after the camps and the search for redress are covered in the second to last chapter. The last chapter focuses on the possibilities of such a thing happening again and the importance of not letting it happen again, even after September 11. A powerful account of historical events that should be known, in order for it to never happen again.
April 2, 2017
This should be required reading. Not only is it unbelievable this ever happened in America, but the similarities to today are appalling. We'll only learn from the mistakes of history if we learn about the past.
May 8, 2023
I dont remember learning this in school. The whole experience is crazy and amazing that so many people thought it was okay. What fear does to people.
October 12, 2017
This book I did not expect it too be so detailed, i thought it would be more story's and fighting. This book is BORING let me tell you, its just telling you the stuff i don't know how i read it. Well i mainly read it because i was failing the class and i needed a book to do one of these on, so hear it goes. Imprisoned is a book about World War 2, in many cases we all know what happened to pearl harbor. The Japanese militia bombed them, the us took it to a hole new level they locked up any Japanese American they could find thinking they were spies. know the camps were not anything like the nazi camps they killed the jews the us did not kill them unless they died in the camp. now yes food was low at sometimes,yes it was cramped up a little bit. They all had shelter they weren't on top of each other or dieing they had sports to play. they played football and soccer and many other sports with simple materials. they waited and waited for years to get out it was dumb and ruthless, but the japanese americans thats half and half got out the full japenese spent a full fives years the last camp was closed in march of 1946.
January 6, 2014
I found the work revisionistic, and insulting.. completely lacking in context. The fact is, the wrongs of internment pale in comparison to the wrongs of Japan's actual war crimes. Am curious to learn if Sandler has sought to write book on American civilians and others interned by the Japanese prior to that happening here? And why not? Internment in the US was inconvenient and hurtful, internment in Japan was deadly, and dehumanizing. Japanese American women and their children weren't raped and tortured, they weren't starved. I am curious why the racism of the Japanese towards American (black & white), English, Dutch, Korean. Filipino, Chinese is "disappeared" by Sandler? The atrocities on par with the nazis are never mentioned? No mention that the US citizenry were considered at risk of attack, by an enemy aided by citizens of Japanese extraction, who were not shy about their loyalties? The US didn't just decide to send some Japanese to internment camps on a whim, and it wasn't some act of racism. Sandler doesn't even mention that even before Pearl Harbor, Japan allied it's self with the Axis powers and declared war on the Allies. Japanese Americans were aiding Japan as spies, traveling to Japan and joining it's army. The Japanese were invading other Asian countries and committing gross atrocities, and taking civilians, American, English, Dutch, Filipino, Korean, Chinese men, women and children, beating, torturing, rape, forced prostitution, forced labor. Medical experimentation on par with Dr Mengele's tortures. Below are links that document Japan's war crimes, and two examples of Japanese traitors, one an American citizen, the other a Canadian.
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/o...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoya_K...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanao_In...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese...
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/o...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoya_K...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanao_In...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese...
September 29, 2014
During WWII nearly everyone knows of the atrocities performed in Nazi Germany, under Hitler’s rule. Why is it then that so many people are so unaware of similar events happening in America at the same time?
Right here in America, home of the free and land of the brave, the government was breaking resident aliens’ and citizens’ constitutional rights. Rights that were spelled out in the first ten amendments, the ones deemed to be of the utmost importance. They are so important that we call them the Bill of Rights.
Imagine being forced from your homes, schools, and businesses and only given two weeks to get all of your affairs in order, and then lose everything despite all your efforts. That is exactly how it starts, and Imprisoned takes us through it all.
Why I picked it up: I have always felt that Japanese internment is an under covered topic, especially in school, so it was exciting to see an accessible book on the topic. It is laid out expertly, and uses modern design element.
Why I finished it: While it is a non-fiction book, the narrative is honest and heart felt. I felt like I could really empathize with the victims of this event, because of this insightful perspective.
Who I’d give it too: History buffs, lovers of world cultures, and anyone interested in issues surround race.
Happy Reading!
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction 2014 Finalist
Junior Library Guild Selection
Booklist 2013 Lasting Connections
Booklist Editor’s Choice
Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book 2013
Right here in America, home of the free and land of the brave, the government was breaking resident aliens’ and citizens’ constitutional rights. Rights that were spelled out in the first ten amendments, the ones deemed to be of the utmost importance. They are so important that we call them the Bill of Rights.
Imagine being forced from your homes, schools, and businesses and only given two weeks to get all of your affairs in order, and then lose everything despite all your efforts. That is exactly how it starts, and Imprisoned takes us through it all.
Why I picked it up: I have always felt that Japanese internment is an under covered topic, especially in school, so it was exciting to see an accessible book on the topic. It is laid out expertly, and uses modern design element.
Why I finished it: While it is a non-fiction book, the narrative is honest and heart felt. I felt like I could really empathize with the victims of this event, because of this insightful perspective.
Who I’d give it too: History buffs, lovers of world cultures, and anyone interested in issues surround race.
Happy Reading!
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction 2014 Finalist
Junior Library Guild Selection
Booklist 2013 Lasting Connections
Booklist Editor’s Choice
Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book 2013
October 14, 2013
Sandler has a somewhat original approach to this subject, which helps this stand out from the wealth of previous books on Japanese-American relocation. Like many previous books, this is filled with distinctive b&w photos, and quotes from people who were kids and teens in the camps. But the author also includes a chapter on Nisei military service at the time, and a chapter on the redress movement (to get an apology and repayment). That means some things had to be left out - no mention of the important court cases challenging relocation like Korematsu, or very much about the "no-no" boys, incarceration of some people accused as spies, or how Tule Lake was used as the camp for those who might protest or speak out again relocation. A clearer example of the few Italian and German immigrants and their limitations would have helped also, such as the DiMaggios (parents of Joe) being classified as enemy aliens and his fishing boat taken away. Still, this is a very thoughtful, engaging, and useful book for grades 5-8 on this important part of U.S. History.
August 18, 2014
Primary document pictures add so much to this award winning book about the Japanese Americans who were evacuated and relocated to various relocation camps during WWII. While I did know about these camps, I appreciated the quotes from actual people concerning their thoughts about relocating and what it was like.
I appreciated the information about the 442nd Battalion, made up primary of Nisei or second generation Japanese born in America, and their experiences liberating the concentration camp survivors at Dachau, while the Japanese American soldiers still had families in the relocation camps in the United States.
A list of Medal of Honor recipients from this highly decorated unit, comprised of Japanese Americans should have been included and more thought should have been taken into the placement of sidenotes. I thought I had a misprinted copy of the book when I couldn't find the pages to continue the story.
I appreciated the information about the 442nd Battalion, made up primary of Nisei or second generation Japanese born in America, and their experiences liberating the concentration camp survivors at Dachau, while the Japanese American soldiers still had families in the relocation camps in the United States.
A list of Medal of Honor recipients from this highly decorated unit, comprised of Japanese Americans should have been included and more thought should have been taken into the placement of sidenotes. I thought I had a misprinted copy of the book when I couldn't find the pages to continue the story.
April 20, 2017
4 1/2 stars. Awesome book, great format, and informative text without being at all dry. I appreciated how Sandler began by talking about groups of Japanese immigrating to America around the 1900's, rather than beginning with Pearl Harbor. I think it is important to remember that the racial prejudice was longstanding and not entirely a product of the Pearl Harbor attacks. I also enjoyed the chapters about events that happened after the WWII internment, including examples of Japanese Americans working to make sure nothing like this happens again to any group. Thank you.
November 14, 2014
Racism, hatred, and discrimination. Three very important and controversial topics were dissected in this book. They were dissected for Japanese Americans during WW2. After Pearl Harbor, many people were afraid of Japanese Americans. Due to the fear, the "Japs" were placed into interment camps. By being placed in these hastily built piles of junk, the Japanese Americans were deprived of all of their Constitutional rights.
February 15, 2016
Overall I liked this book because it showed how horrible World War two was. Throughout this book there was pictures of innocent Japanese-Americans who were put through torture just because of their race. The Japanese were stripped of basically everything they had, and were put in mini concentration camps or detention centers. This nonfictional book shows how the Japanese stayed true to America even though America violated every right ever made.
May 30, 2014
Thorough explanation of the Japanese internment camps including information I hadn't read before about the climate in California and why some public officials were arguing for internment. Lots of pictures and supporting documents included, too.
August 27, 2013
An excellent chronicle of one of the most shameful episodes in American history.
November 12, 2018
Nonfiction on Japanese. Good book, just not my cup of tea.
February 4, 2015
Richie's Picks: IMPRISONED: THE BETRAYAL OF JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING WORLD WAR II by Martin W. Sandler, Walker, August 2013, 176p., ISBN: 978-0-8027-2277-5
"If you hear the song I sing
You will understand
You hold the key to love and fear
In your trembling hand.
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command"
-- Chet Powers "Get Together"
During WWII, the fear of everyday Americans whose appearance was "different" led to a massive hate crime perpetuated by the United States against more than 120,000 of its own people, revealing that our "more perfect union" operates far from perfectly when the country is overrun with racists.
IMPRISONED: THE BETRAYAL OF JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING WORLD WAR II is an excellent and horrific account of this dark chapter in American history, and a book that I wish I'd encountered as an adolescent.
"The idea of hastily rounding up all Japanese Americans and placing them in what amounted to prison camps was a direct and outrageous violation of the supreme law of the United States, as set out in the US Constitution. More specifically, it was a violation of vital personal rights guaranteed by the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, which among other liberties, provides that:
'Any person accused of committing a crime has the right to be told what crime he or she is being charged with having committed.'
'Any person accused of committing a crime has the right to a speedy, fair, and public trial to determine whether a crime has been committed.'
'At this trial, the person charged with the crime has the right to have the assistance of a lawyer to defend him or her, and the right to have witnesses testify on his or her behalf.'
"It was these and other guarantees that had earned America the title 'Land of the Free.' Yet those who wanted the Japanese Americans -- the majority of whom were US citizens -- removed were willing to ignore these cherished rights."
This questions that must be asked all these years later are: What caused Americans to behave in this manner? When else has our country behaved in such a hatefully prejudiced, immoral, and illegal manner? What can we do to better educate our children so that they forcefully stand against such behavior when it next arises in their lifetimes? This book provides a lot of information that is really useful in answering these questions.
There were, indeed, some who opposed the Japanese internment:
"Lieutenant Commander K. D. Ringle of the Office of Naval Intelligence had searched diligently for instances of the sabotage or espionage allegedly carried out by Japanese Americans. He had failed to find a single example. In a memorandum intended for top government leaders, he wrote, 'The entire Japanese problem has been magnified out of its true proportion largely due to the physical characteristics of the people.' The memo was never released.
"James J. Martin, one of the nation's leading historians, was truly alarmed. The intention to deprive Japanese Americans of their liberties by removing them from their homes and means of livelihood was, he would write later, 'a breach of the Bill of Rights on a scale so large as to [be worse than] all such violations from the beginning of the United States.
"The FBI, the first government agency given the task of identifying disloyal Japanese Americans, testified at government hearings that those of Japanese ancestry 'were fundamentally loyal and, as a group, posed no threat to the nation's security.' In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle, Hoover wrote that the cries for removal were 'based primarily upon public and political pressure rather than factual data.'"
We also learn that Quaker groups such as the American Friends Service Committee protested the planned internment and then, during evacuation, tried to mitigate some of the damage being done.
But the reality is that the failure of the vast majority of Americans to oppose this radical, unconstitutional, and immoral course of action, this giving in to prejudice and hatred and fear, makes most adult Americans living in those days co-conspirators in this crime.
And the crime was compounded over successive decades by those who participated in successfully hiding it from school children of my generation, stealing from us the benefits of learning from that generation's stupidity. (I spent last night contacting a bunch of old friends. Not a one of us had learned about the Japanese American internment in high school.)
In the process of providing visual depictions of what Japanese Americans had to endure in those years, author Martin W. Sandler also introduces readers to photographer icons Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams.
So, how do we prevent more such crimes from being committed by the majority against a minority?
I think that we have to begin early. Several years after its publication, I am still feeling that far too many missed the boat on the brilliance and importance of Mo Willems' CAT THE CAT, WHO IS THAT?, an oh, so perfect and simple story about how we should assume that, no matter how different from you someone looks, they are a friend. Start there and gradually and honestly teach the many examples of America gone wrong, including that of the Japanese American internment.
C'mon people now, smile on your brother. As I was reminding a bunch of seventh graders to whom I was book talking this one yesterday, down inside where it counts, we're a million times more similar than we are different. It was a crime that Americans didn't stand up for one another and stand against hatred in 1942.
Seventy-one years later, at a time when we are debating the possibility of bombing some homicidal tyrant (and a bunch of innocent bystanders) in retaliation for his gassing his countryman, we best be sure we've first learned and are adequately teaching our kids the lessons of America's own past transgressions, beginning with the Japanese American internment, before we go deciding that we are the revengers of the world.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
https://www.facebook.com/richie.parti...
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
"If you hear the song I sing
You will understand
You hold the key to love and fear
In your trembling hand.
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command"
-- Chet Powers "Get Together"
During WWII, the fear of everyday Americans whose appearance was "different" led to a massive hate crime perpetuated by the United States against more than 120,000 of its own people, revealing that our "more perfect union" operates far from perfectly when the country is overrun with racists.
IMPRISONED: THE BETRAYAL OF JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING WORLD WAR II is an excellent and horrific account of this dark chapter in American history, and a book that I wish I'd encountered as an adolescent.
"The idea of hastily rounding up all Japanese Americans and placing them in what amounted to prison camps was a direct and outrageous violation of the supreme law of the United States, as set out in the US Constitution. More specifically, it was a violation of vital personal rights guaranteed by the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, which among other liberties, provides that:
'Any person accused of committing a crime has the right to be told what crime he or she is being charged with having committed.'
'Any person accused of committing a crime has the right to a speedy, fair, and public trial to determine whether a crime has been committed.'
'At this trial, the person charged with the crime has the right to have the assistance of a lawyer to defend him or her, and the right to have witnesses testify on his or her behalf.'
"It was these and other guarantees that had earned America the title 'Land of the Free.' Yet those who wanted the Japanese Americans -- the majority of whom were US citizens -- removed were willing to ignore these cherished rights."
This questions that must be asked all these years later are: What caused Americans to behave in this manner? When else has our country behaved in such a hatefully prejudiced, immoral, and illegal manner? What can we do to better educate our children so that they forcefully stand against such behavior when it next arises in their lifetimes? This book provides a lot of information that is really useful in answering these questions.
There were, indeed, some who opposed the Japanese internment:
"Lieutenant Commander K. D. Ringle of the Office of Naval Intelligence had searched diligently for instances of the sabotage or espionage allegedly carried out by Japanese Americans. He had failed to find a single example. In a memorandum intended for top government leaders, he wrote, 'The entire Japanese problem has been magnified out of its true proportion largely due to the physical characteristics of the people.' The memo was never released.
"James J. Martin, one of the nation's leading historians, was truly alarmed. The intention to deprive Japanese Americans of their liberties by removing them from their homes and means of livelihood was, he would write later, 'a breach of the Bill of Rights on a scale so large as to [be worse than] all such violations from the beginning of the United States.
"The FBI, the first government agency given the task of identifying disloyal Japanese Americans, testified at government hearings that those of Japanese ancestry 'were fundamentally loyal and, as a group, posed no threat to the nation's security.' In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle, Hoover wrote that the cries for removal were 'based primarily upon public and political pressure rather than factual data.'"
We also learn that Quaker groups such as the American Friends Service Committee protested the planned internment and then, during evacuation, tried to mitigate some of the damage being done.
But the reality is that the failure of the vast majority of Americans to oppose this radical, unconstitutional, and immoral course of action, this giving in to prejudice and hatred and fear, makes most adult Americans living in those days co-conspirators in this crime.
And the crime was compounded over successive decades by those who participated in successfully hiding it from school children of my generation, stealing from us the benefits of learning from that generation's stupidity. (I spent last night contacting a bunch of old friends. Not a one of us had learned about the Japanese American internment in high school.)
In the process of providing visual depictions of what Japanese Americans had to endure in those years, author Martin W. Sandler also introduces readers to photographer icons Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams.
So, how do we prevent more such crimes from being committed by the majority against a minority?
I think that we have to begin early. Several years after its publication, I am still feeling that far too many missed the boat on the brilliance and importance of Mo Willems' CAT THE CAT, WHO IS THAT?, an oh, so perfect and simple story about how we should assume that, no matter how different from you someone looks, they are a friend. Start there and gradually and honestly teach the many examples of America gone wrong, including that of the Japanese American internment.
C'mon people now, smile on your brother. As I was reminding a bunch of seventh graders to whom I was book talking this one yesterday, down inside where it counts, we're a million times more similar than we are different. It was a crime that Americans didn't stand up for one another and stand against hatred in 1942.
Seventy-one years later, at a time when we are debating the possibility of bombing some homicidal tyrant (and a bunch of innocent bystanders) in retaliation for his gassing his countryman, we best be sure we've first learned and are adequately teaching our kids the lessons of America's own past transgressions, beginning with the Japanese American internment, before we go deciding that we are the revengers of the world.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
https://www.facebook.com/richie.parti...
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
January 18, 2022
Quick read on a different point of WW2 history. There were many things that I learned in this book about the horrible experience that many Japanese Americans went through. Crazy that everyone knows what Hitler did to the Jews but little is known about what the US did to its own people. Great book for a 5th grader up to adult!
“While Americans fought for freedom and democracy abroad, fear and suspicion towards Japanese Americans swept the country after Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Culling information from extensive, previously unpublished interviews and oral histories with Japanese American survivors of internment camps, Martin W. Sandler gives an in-depth account of their lives before, during their imprisonment, and after their release. Bringing readers inside life in the internment camps and explaining how a country that is built on the ideals of freedom for all could have such a dark mark on its history, this in-depth look at a troubling period of American history sheds light on the prejudices in today's world and provides the historical context we need to prevent similar abuses of power.”
“While Americans fought for freedom and democracy abroad, fear and suspicion towards Japanese Americans swept the country after Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Culling information from extensive, previously unpublished interviews and oral histories with Japanese American survivors of internment camps, Martin W. Sandler gives an in-depth account of their lives before, during their imprisonment, and after their release. Bringing readers inside life in the internment camps and explaining how a country that is built on the ideals of freedom for all could have such a dark mark on its history, this in-depth look at a troubling period of American history sheds light on the prejudices in today's world and provides the historical context we need to prevent similar abuses of power.”
November 4, 2019
This book was incredibly moving and informative. I learned a lot of things I didn't know, and I was shocked by such outright brutal racism. Japanese American families were forced to endure a heartbreaking loss of property and livelihood as result of internment. Along with their liberty, their farms, businesses, and homes were stolen from them. The governor of Colorado at the time, Ralph L. Carr, was one of the few politicians to oppose internment, and it cost him his political career. I was crying by the time I read about Japanese Americans' support for Muslim Americans since 9/11, and their work to prevent anything like internment from happening again. This book was well-written, packs in a ton of information, follows an easy-to-understand chronological structure, and contains a lot of truly incredible photographs of the war, the camps, and Japanese American families. Young adults will get a lot out of this book, from general facts for research to deeper reflections on the function of racism in the United States' past and present.
May 28, 2020
This was a very interesting and engaging book about one of our most tragic episodes in American history and highlights the treatment and internment of Japanese Americans. It focuses on some of the brutal racism that Japanese American Families had to endure. Japanese American families were forced to endure a heartbreaking loss of property and livelihood as a result of internment. Along with their liberty, their farms, businesses, and homes were stolen from them.
Well written, well-documented account of a disturbing (and not enough talked about) time in our history. I would recommend this book to everybody because the book provides adequate information about the history of the internment camps and the treatment and betrayal of Japnese Americans that is not very well known and needs to be talked about more.
Well written, well-documented account of a disturbing (and not enough talked about) time in our history. I would recommend this book to everybody because the book provides adequate information about the history of the internment camps and the treatment and betrayal of Japnese Americans that is not very well known and needs to be talked about more.
July 26, 2020
Imprisoned lends a personalized and in-depth look at the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. This was a bleak time in American history when FDR imprisoned more than 100,000 Americans without trial in some of the harshest environments in the country and kept them there under armed guard for the duration of the war. This book provides information about what led up to the internment, what internment was like, and how they would recover afterwards. The amin theme I would say is best conveyed when the book goes into the opposition of the internment by the Quakers who loudly protested the suspension of Japanese-American rights and their eventual imprisonment. The author states that: :one of the most important lessons to be learned from the internment experience is that when a great injustice is done to a particular group, others must come to their aid."
December 10, 2025
This isn't necessarily the type of book you snuggle up with your kid and read a chapter of every night. I mean, you COULD, of course. Just be prepared for a lot of questions...
Imprisoned is the story of a grievous national shame in the US: the rounding up and internment of innocent Japanese Americans less than a century ago. It's a sad story of racial prejudice taken to an extreme. I hope that parents do read and discuss this book with their children, because there are some disturbing parallels between the events described in the book and events occurring in the US today.
Imprisoned is the story of a grievous national shame in the US: the rounding up and internment of innocent Japanese Americans less than a century ago. It's a sad story of racial prejudice taken to an extreme. I hope that parents do read and discuss this book with their children, because there are some disturbing parallels between the events described in the book and events occurring in the US today.
February 22, 2017
I've been on a children's and YA nonfiction kick lately, thanks to the the newest awarding of the latest Sibert and YALSA Nonfiction award books. This one is a few years old, but my community college owns it so it was an easy checkout. And, oh, so good. And so relevant with the recent "America First" rhetoric prevalent in my parts of America lately. The whole book read like it was screaming, "Warning! Warning!" to me.
January 16, 2020
I though this book was very well written and provided a lot of insight on what the Japanese Americans faced during the War imprisonment camps. The pictures provided a more realistic insight on life during imprisonment and the war. These families were given little to no privacy and treated like trash, this book doesn't fail to bring out the adversity and problems they faced.
April 23, 2022
A "children's" book but very informative. This book is not an unbiased history, but I appreciated the first person descriptions of the internment camps, the many photographs, and the unvarnished retelling of the racist motives that led to over 100,000 Japanese Americans being forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned. I also learned a great deal about redress efforts after WWII.
August 17, 2025
This book was an easy read of american history and the influence of Japanese Americans during World War II. Learning how the US treated Japanese Americans and forcing them into internment camps was emotional. The history books from when I went to school never mentioned how they were treated. I'm grateful that I read this book.
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June 24, 2019Lots of pictures and short chapters make this an exceptional nonfiction resource for teens interested not just in history, but prejudice and perseverance, as well. Read our review at the Reading Tub.
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