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Manzanar
Bound in publishers original black cloth with spine stamped in silver. Photographs by Ansel Adams. Commentary by John Hersey.
167 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
Ansel Adams
414 books361 followersPeople note black-and-white photographs of the American wilderness of American photographer Ansel Easton Adams.
Though wilderness and the environment were his grand passions, photography was his calling, his metier, his raison d'etre.
From: Ansel Adams, Photographer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_A...
Though wilderness and the environment were his grand passions, photography was his calling, his metier, his raison d'etre.
From: Ansel Adams, Photographer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_A...
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 25, 2016
John Armor, 1988.
With photos by Ansel Adams.
The book begins with an introduction to the purpose of Manzanar. Ansel Adams was asked to take photos of the camp in 1943 and it composed the only "photo essay" that he ever did.
Interestingly enough, neither he nor any other photographers were allow to photograph the guard towers, the guards or the barbed wire. The book then goes into a brief history of the evacuation from the West Coast, the assembly centers, the attack on Pearl Harbor and its immediate aftermath.
The book has an interesting discussion about San Francisco on the night of Dec. 8. This is the night that there was a false alarm of an air-raid of the city. I read elsewhere that there was some firing that resulted in shells landing on cars and the like and damaging them. This books adds that planes searched for six hundred miles offshore and found no Japanese carrier and no Japanese planes. Although an air-raid was sounded, San Francisco made no effort as a city to achieve a blackout.
The next day DeWitt called a meeting at the City Hall where DeWitt laid into them, claiming there were enemy planes that were tracked out to sea and that it might have been good if a few bombs had been dropped so "It might have awakened some of the fools in this community who refuse to realize that this is a war."
In this case, the fool was DeWitt.
A couple of nights later DeWitt supposedly heard a rumor of a planned uprising of 20,000 Nisea in the San Francisco area. The information came from a person an FBI agent described as a flake. On the night of the 12th there was a rumor of an imminent enemy attack on Los Angeles and DeWitt almost advised all the people in the city to evacuate. That night a general described DeWitt as "a jackass."
A good judge of character.
The book goes on to describe more absurd rumors and allegations, and DeWitt's report that was ridiculed by J.Edgar Hoover. It then goes into the history of racism in California. Then it notes a bit later on how DeWitt complained when he asked for reinforcements for the Western Defense Command and he felt that too many of them were black. He said "I'd rather have a white regiment."
Equal-opportunity hater, that man.
More details about the history of the evacuation plans and implementation are then included. Then it covers the history all the way to the closing of the camps.
The next part of the book is "A Portrait of Manzanar." This section starts out going further into the history of the evacuation program, then finally ends up talking about Manzanar itself, although parts about the camp itself are mentioned intermixed into parts dealing with the camps in general.
An extremely interesting thing pointed out is that, during World War II, ten people were convicted of spying for Japan. Not a single one was Japanese or Japanese-American. They were all white.
The book describes more about Manzanar, including information about the camp newspaper, then talks about the Nisei who served in the U.S. military. Finally, the redress movement is discussed.
There is no doubt that the photographs are of very high quality. There is also some good information on Manzanar, but the book is slightly deceptive in a way since it is titled Manzanar but includes a good bit of non-Manzanar information.
With photos by Ansel Adams.
The book begins with an introduction to the purpose of Manzanar. Ansel Adams was asked to take photos of the camp in 1943 and it composed the only "photo essay" that he ever did.
Interestingly enough, neither he nor any other photographers were allow to photograph the guard towers, the guards or the barbed wire. The book then goes into a brief history of the evacuation from the West Coast, the assembly centers, the attack on Pearl Harbor and its immediate aftermath.
The book has an interesting discussion about San Francisco on the night of Dec. 8. This is the night that there was a false alarm of an air-raid of the city. I read elsewhere that there was some firing that resulted in shells landing on cars and the like and damaging them. This books adds that planes searched for six hundred miles offshore and found no Japanese carrier and no Japanese planes. Although an air-raid was sounded, San Francisco made no effort as a city to achieve a blackout.
The next day DeWitt called a meeting at the City Hall where DeWitt laid into them, claiming there were enemy planes that were tracked out to sea and that it might have been good if a few bombs had been dropped so "It might have awakened some of the fools in this community who refuse to realize that this is a war."
In this case, the fool was DeWitt.
A couple of nights later DeWitt supposedly heard a rumor of a planned uprising of 20,000 Nisea in the San Francisco area. The information came from a person an FBI agent described as a flake. On the night of the 12th there was a rumor of an imminent enemy attack on Los Angeles and DeWitt almost advised all the people in the city to evacuate. That night a general described DeWitt as "a jackass."
A good judge of character.
The book goes on to describe more absurd rumors and allegations, and DeWitt's report that was ridiculed by J.Edgar Hoover. It then goes into the history of racism in California. Then it notes a bit later on how DeWitt complained when he asked for reinforcements for the Western Defense Command and he felt that too many of them were black. He said "I'd rather have a white regiment."
Equal-opportunity hater, that man.
More details about the history of the evacuation plans and implementation are then included. Then it covers the history all the way to the closing of the camps.
The next part of the book is "A Portrait of Manzanar." This section starts out going further into the history of the evacuation program, then finally ends up talking about Manzanar itself, although parts about the camp itself are mentioned intermixed into parts dealing with the camps in general.
An extremely interesting thing pointed out is that, during World War II, ten people were convicted of spying for Japan. Not a single one was Japanese or Japanese-American. They were all white.
The book describes more about Manzanar, including information about the camp newspaper, then talks about the Nisei who served in the U.S. military. Finally, the redress movement is discussed.
There is no doubt that the photographs are of very high quality. There is also some good information on Manzanar, but the book is slightly deceptive in a way since it is titled Manzanar but includes a good bit of non-Manzanar information.
February 4, 2015
Ansel Adams was one of the few photographers allowed to take pictures showing the stark reality of Manzanar, the Japanese internment camp in CA. He let the copyright expire and gave the pictures to the Library of Congress so anyone could use them. Manzanar is an inhospitable place even now, cold in the winter, hot and windy in the summer, but so many of the pictures show people smiling. The text in this book left me believing that it was really the racial prejudice of a very few men that led to the internment of over 100,000 patriotic Japanese Americans rather than any actual spying or misconduct on their part.
February 17, 2011
Thought provoking. We should never forget our past so as not to repeat it. A great book for anyone who loves History, especially regarding the 1940s.
January 19, 2021
This is a beautiful look in to a horrible time in US history, made even more poignant by recent years. It looks at racism and the role it played in the internment of Japanese Americans in WWII. With photos by Ansel Adams .
February 23, 2013
I've always been out astonished by this part of Americans history. I was reading this book at the same time I was reading Maus by Art Spiegelman. Interesting enough is the contraction between the American promises of how rights are equally distributed regardless of ethnicity. The promise of America to its citizens of its own country was broken. Of course the holocaust was a much more horrifying event and by no means am I justifying these two events but only begging for much more attention to be given to these two historical tragedies just enough attention to humanity and what people to this day seem so ignorant about. The Manzanar camp reminds me very much about Auschwitz concentration camp. Reading these 2 books were almost reading the same stories. The results of both these camps were nothing but injustice and murder. I don’t know how we allowed this all to happen. But books like this should only give people an understanding of how we should all stop pointing fingers at others and start point fingers at ourselves.
June 9, 2013
This book is an extraordinary document of life at Manzanar, one of the concentration camps where Japanese Americans were needlessly imprisoned during World War II. Ansel Adams's photographs and the accompanying text testify to the dignity and resourcefulness that the internees displayed in adjusting to intolerable circumstances. When perusing this book, it is important to read the essays, for I find that Adams's photography alone does not adequately capture the full camp experience. So self-possessed and capable were these people that one might conclude from the pictures that life at camp was pretty pleasant. The grounds are neat and orderly and the people seem placid if not happy. The text, however, provides the missing pieces of the puzzle: the panicked racism that allowed this to take place, the loss of freedom and property, and the terrible mental and physical toll that the camps exacted. It is impossible to come away from this book without the deepest possible admiration for the Nisei.
March 28, 2014
This book is an extraordinary document of life at Manzanar, one of the concentration camps where Japanese Americans were needlessly imprisoned during World War II. Ansel Adams's photographs and the accompanying text testify to the dignity and resourcefulness that the internees displayed in adjusting to intolerable circumstances. When perusing this book, it is important to read the essays, for I find that Adams's photography alone does not adequately capture the full camp experience. So self-possessed and capable were these people that one might conclude from the pictures that life at camp was pretty pleasant. The grounds are neat and orderly and the people seem placid if not happy. The text, however, provides the missing pieces of the puzzle: the panicked racism that allowed this to take place, the loss of freedom and property, and the terrible mental and physical toll that the camps exacted. It is impossible to come away from this book without the deepest possible admiration for the Nisei.
January 26, 2009
Non-fiction story of Manzanar set in eastern CA as a concentration camp to hold Japanese "aliens and non-aliens" during WWII public hysteria. A horrible story of American citizens losing their freedom and civil rights and becoming prisoners based on public hysteria and prejudice. Photos by Ansel Adams who was visited Manzanar during its operation. Very interesting and terrifying! Glad to see we didn't do this again in 2001.
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February 7, 2008Photography, Ansel Adams
June 6, 2016
Historical. Not what I was looking for. Skimmed it. If you love history, it will be fascinating to you.
April 28, 2010
Book was OK, pictures by Ansel Adams were great.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews