Life After Manzanar

by Naomi Hirahara

From the editor of the award-winning Children of Manzanar, Heather C. Lindquist, and Edgar Award winner Naomi Hirahara comes a nuanced account of the “Resettlement”: the relatively unexamined period when ordinary people of Japanese ancestry, having been unjustly imprisoned during World War II, were finally released from custody. Given twenty-five dollars and a one-way bus ticket to make a new life, some ventured east to Denver and Chicago to start over, while others returned to Southern California only to face discrimination and an alarming scarcity of housing and jobs. Hirahara and Lindquist weave new and archival oral histories into an engaging narrative that illuminates the lives of former internees in the postwar era, both in struggle and unlikely triumph. Readers will appreciate the painstaking efforts that rebuilding required, and will feel inspired by the activism that led to redress and restitution—and that built a community that even now speaks out against other racist agendas.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Asian Literature, Memoir, 20th Century

Audible Audio

First published April 3, 2018

About the author

Naomi Hirahara is the USA Today-bestselling and award-winning author of multiple mystery series, noir short stories, nonfiction history books and one middle-grade novel. Her Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai series features a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor. Her first historical mystery, CLARK AND DIVISION, which follows a Japanese American family from Manzanar to Chicago in 1944, won a Mary Higgins Clark Award in 2022. Her two other series star a young mixed race female LAPD bicycle cop, Ellie Rush, and a Filipina-Japanese American woman in Kaua'i, Lellani Santiago. She also has written a middle-grade book, 1001 CRANES. In 2025, the history book she co-wrote with Geraldine Knatz, TERMINAL ISLAND: LOST COMMUNITIES ON AMERICA'S EDGE, won a California Book Award gold medal. She, her husband and their rat terrier live happily in her birthplace of Pasadena, California.

Reviews

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

In today’s climate of altering history, this book should be required reading on the high school level. Americans cannot alter our history. We are, and always have been, a racist country. Those who are trying to prevent their grandchildren and great-grandchildren from uncovering their racist behaviors will not succeed.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got curious about Manzanar after reading Properties of Thirst and then Clark and Division. By the same author as the latter, this history tracks what happened to the thousands of Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in US concentration camps during WWII. It was interesting to hear their stories and how they sought to start new lives after losing everything.

It felt like a lot of detail - I almost wish she took an Isabelle Wilkerson approach and followed the stories of just a handful of people or families, so the reader could really dig into their lives and paths out from Manzanar.

The parts toward the end about the efforts to get historical status (and federal funding) for the Manzanar camp site and to educate Americans about their history, as well as to win reparations, was particularly interesting.

[Petrea Burchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew, but I didn’t know

The story of the imprisonment of our citizens was familiar to me in the general, historic sense, but the personal stories here, the individuals and their experiences, bring it home. Everyone needs to know.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first glance, this looked like one of those museum gift shop books that is super attractive to look at, but that no one reads. The first section is about how those who survived Manzanar resettled across the United States (although some went to Japan). While the authors provided a useful service by documenting these stories, this part of the book only mildly interested me.

Then the book transforms into the story of the Japanese-American effort to make their version of Japanese internment the officially accepted narrative and to obtain reparation payments It's a remarkable success story, as anyone who has visited the Manzanar National Historical Site can attest. And it was accomplished within the lifetimes of many of those who were incarcerated! That's way better than we've able to do in quashing Lost Causism and acknowledging the true nature of the Confederacy.

[Eve Koguce · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are pages in history known to everyone. No matter where we live and whether or not an event happened near us, we still know about it. Often, we treat the event personally, even if it happened on the other continent across the ocean. For example, 9/11 feels like a personal tragedy to me, despite the fact that I live in Europe and hadn’t even visited the USA until 2024.

Other history pages remain hidden from the general public, both by distance and the people who wish to bury them as deeply as possible so that they wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of their decisions. Naomi Hirahara and Heather C. Lindquist bring one such page into view in “Life after Manzanar.”

I first learnt about the Americans of Japanese ancestry being imprisoned in internment camps following the Pearl Harbour attack by accident. A very dear friend mentioned it in her mother’s obituary. Next, I read about it in J. Edgar Hoover's biography. So, I couldn’t pass by “Life after Manzanar” when I came across it.

As the title implies, the book doesn’t dwell on the people’s lives in the camp. It does provide some details to ensure the context. Yet, the main focus is on how Japanese Americans, cruelly uprooted from their homes, adjusted to freedom when it was returned to them. It can be imagined that their stories differ vastly.

It didn’t surprise me, but still saddened me deeply that those who rebelled against the injustice ended up the worst. Those who renounced their American citizenship, protesting against the way their government treated them, and moved to Japan, found neither happiness nor prosperity. It made me think again about the futility of fighting the system. The system seems to always win, having the resources to push forward its agenda, destroying the lives of those who disagree with the rules.

While some people took their unlawful imprisonment painfully and made radical decisions, others chose to move on. After they were released from camp, they concentrated on building their lives anew. For many, it meant starting from scratch. If they had a flourishing business before, it was gone now. Not all employers were eager to take back the ‘untrustworthy’ workers. There were also the entrepreneurs who used the situation in their selfish interests and hired the ex-internees, offering them lower pay and poor living conditions.

It felt acutely familiar to read about people refusing to even mention their time in the camps. Some experiences are so traumatising that ‘talking about it’ doesn’t help. We are taught to believe that ignoring things doesn’t make them go away. But sometimes, it is exactly what makes a person go on.

I was glad that at least some of those who went through this horrific experience got some compensation for their suffering. True, one might say that it was too little and too late. And that money and apologies and turning the Manzanar camp into a national historic site are not enough. But, as I mentioned earlier, in a world where the system always seems to win, it is a huge victory, worth writing about and celebrating.

I found it challenging to follow numerous storylines, since a lot of names are mentioned in this book, and then the authors move between their life stories in different time periods in different chapters. It read more like a research paper. Nevertheless, the book left a lasting impression on me, and I’ll keep thinking about it for a long time.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled a few months ago across this book in a progressive bookstore in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco, and I read the back cover and knew I wanted to read this. I had visited Manzanar in college and it made huge impression on me. With huge efforts on the parts of politicians to stop teaching history that "offends" and "challenges" white conservative, close-minded people, it's more important that ever to learn about the troubling history of this country even if there are those that would prefer it to be erased from the history books.

This is also a subject I've never really thought much about before. I knew the history that led up to the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans, but I never thought about what came after for all of those that had been held in these camps. This was something I needed to be educated on, and I am so glad I read this informative, interesting, and fascinating book. The trauma for many didn't stop once they left these camps but continued on due to continued anti-Asian racism in the country; the idea of being a model minority and just being quiet; and trying to move on with their lives in an often hostile environment. But, I also saw the strength and resilience of all of these people, many who went onto to do extraordinary things and make an impact on their community and the wider world. These are the stories we don't learn about in school.

I am so glad that I found this book by accident. Something like Manzanar can never happen again!

[Tbfrank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Franklin Roosevelt described December 7th 1941 as a "date which will live in infamy" then 74 days later issued an equally infamous Executive Order 9066 ordering the forcible removal and incarceration of persons of Japanese ancestry including those who were American citizens. Imprisoned, subjected to brutal conditions, treated as enemies, homes were lost, businesses forfeited, and many were left destitute. The suffering did not end when the war was over. The narrative in these pages reveals the struggles to find housing and jobs while faced with persistent racism and suspicion. Tragic and heroic in turn, the narrative follows many lives from the moment each left Manzanar, through the difficult months and years spent reestablishing lives and careers.

In the aftermath of the war, part of the Japanese American community focused on getting on with their lives, while another segment grew determined to see the US government called to account for what was done. While not an in depth, historical analysis of the movement, the authors provide a readable account of how the pressure for reparations coalesced and eventually resulted in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 signed into law by President Reagan.

Once collectively stripped of their rights as citizens under the guise of military necessity, the Japanese American community continues to advocate for other ethnic and religious groups at risk for targeting as occurred in 1942. So should we all.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a definitive book but an important piece of the history of the incarceration of the Japanese during WWII and what happened afterwards as thousands of Japanese-Americans tried to reintegrate themselves into American life. People didn't talk about this when I was growing up in Northern California. I slowly learned over the years parts of the story. Not the only book out there but it does a good job of describing life after the war, up to today. Some of the photos are missing (probably due to difficulties getting the rights). Otherwise great photos.

I visited Manzanar in the mid-'80s before the reconstructions started. It is a lonely, windy, dry and dusty place in the middle of nowhere. At the time there was one building. LA Water owned the land and required that everything be removed after the war. Manzanar is located in the Owens Valley which LA Water notoriously drained dry (see the movie Chinatown).

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts off noting that over 120,00 persons of Japanese American descent were forced to move from their homes on the West Coast and go into temporary holding camps and then on to the relocation/incarceration/internment/concentration camps, whichever term you prefer.

It discusses the Manzanar camp and describes the camp and what went on there in fairly good detail. It also notes how many of the males were moved to the Tule Camp camp which was basically a maximum security prison, for their answers on the loyalty test.

It then goes on to cover the closing of the camps and what happened to the people in them, many spreading throughout other states but some trying to return to the West Coast where they had been living. It also covers the redress hearings.

It's a good overall examination of one particular camp and what happened to the people interned there after the camp was closed.

[Jessica Biggs]

DNF
The pictures in this book are fantastic, and the story itself is one I am very interested in, but unfortunately this book wasn’t what I thought it was. It read as a scholarly paper more than an actual narrative. A lot of facts, but lacked a streamline to connect it, which just left me with information I felt like I could read in an article

[Carol Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

While travelling through the southwest many years ago, we came across Manzanar and stopped to visit the site. This book brought back memories of what we saw there, and added real human stories to the location. America's terrible mistreatment of Japanese people must never be forgotten, lest we repeat our past prejudicial actions toward any other group!

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In 1942, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 men, women and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military style camps. Two-thirds of them were born in America. Not one was convicted of espionage or sabotage.”

[Rosemary Blough · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very hard to read. I felt so bad how we treated the Japanese and Japanese American born. Interesting how the children fared and as adults how they looked back on it. Hope this NEVER happens again.

[Sherry Boschert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating historical account that's pertinent to our times. Freeing people from concentration camps is just the first step in recovery. Let's learn from our past.

[Robfen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sort of book you need to reread frequently because each page has powerful insights. I benefited tremendously from this book and look forward to referencing often.

[Sheri Parisian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the history and the lovely ending. Worth your time!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happened to the Japanese (many of them American citizens) in camps like Manzanar after WWII? One of the many themes the author focused on was the use of language. Were the prisons concentration or internment camps? Were the people in them expelled or incarcerated? Based mainly on extensive oral histories, the book reads like a research report rather than a coherent narrative. It was somewhat disconcerting that the research questions were not posed until the final chapter.