Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II

by Albert Marrin

On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor comes a harrowing and enlightening look at the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II— from National Book Award finalist Albert Marrin
 
Just seventy-five years ago, the American government did something that most would consider unthinkable today: it rounded up over 100,000 of its own citizens based on nothing more than their ancestry and, suspicious of their loyalty, kept them in concentration camps for the better part of four years.
 
How could this have happened? Uprooted takes a close look at the history of racism in America and carefully follows the treacherous path that led one of our nation’s most beloved presidents to make this decision. Meanwhile, it also illuminates the history of Japan and its own struggles with racism and xenophobia, which led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, ultimately tying the two countries together.
 
Today, America is still filled with racial tension, and personal liberty in wartime is as relevant a topic as ever. Moving and impactful, National Book Award finalist Albert Marrin’s sobering exploration of this monumental injustice shines as bright a light on current events as it does on the past.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Audiobook, War, Historical, Teen

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2016

About the author

Albert Marrin is a historian and the author of more than twenty nonfiction books for young people. He has won various awards for his writing, including the 2005 James Madison Book Award and the 2008 National Endowment for Humanities Medal. In 2011, his book Flesh and Blood So Cheap was a National Book Award Finalist. Marrin is the Chairman of the History Department at New York's Yeshiva University.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Numerous fiction and nonfiction books for kids had previously addressed forced internment camps in the United States during the 1940s, but none so thoroughly as Albert Marrin's Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II. The book features an extensive historical lead-in to explain why Japan sided with Germany and Italy in the war, and what drove their ambition for world domination. Racism and cynical politics reigned on all sides, and Albert Marrin isn't afraid to give his young readers a look at some of the ugliest incidents surrounding the war. The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese aircraft was the first domino to fall, but how did the world get to such a place? To answer that, we go back thousands of years to the birth of Japan.

More than four thousand islands of various size make up Japan. From its earliest days, eras of competent and incompetent leadership have come and gone, as have peace and armed conflict with the rest of Asia. Japan may have peaked with the age of the samurai, warriors whose lives were defined by Bushido, a code of conduct that placed personal and family honor as the highest value. To prevent itself from being contaminated by China's opium crisis, Japan closed to outsiders for many years, but was pushed to reopen by American Commodore Matthew Perry in the 1850s. Many Japanese hated the U.S. for intruding; now there was no way to restrict the influence of the Western world. Samurais faded out of the culture and Japan modernized, becoming a world power. Critics from around the globe feared the West would come to regret coaxing Japan out of its closed society, but for better or worse, the world order had changed.

Traditionally ruled by emperors claiming a divine mandate, Japan's military now seized control. Stoking resentment of the U.S. by pointing to incidents of shameful treatment against Japan, the military adopted an aggressive stance on the world stage. The 1937 Rape of Nanking left outsiders shellshocked; the brutal assault on China had few modern parallels, and images caught on film haunted the public. Japan consolidated its burgeoning strength by joining Adolf Hitler's Germany and Benito Mussolini's Italy among the Axis powers, and World War II was set into motion. The attack on America's Pearl Harbor naval base was the last straw for U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who already held anti-Japanese biases. More than 100,000 Japanese immigrants lived on the U.S. West Coast, many born and raised as American citizens called Nisei. Were they loyal to the country of their birth, or of their forefathers? Driven by public panic and his own prejudice, FDR signed executive order 9066, authorizing government detention of Japanese Americans in concentration camps, without legal process. It was a day of infamy every bit as dark as Pearl Harbor.

Japanese Americans expected reprisal after Pearl Harbor, but nothing prepared them for the coming tribulation. Federal agents raided their homes, tearing through their belongings for evidence that they were spies. Families were carted off to concentration camps, held captive behind barbed wire fences. Many Nisei had prospered financially, but now lived in filthy, overcrowded compartments, threatened with violence if they attempted escape. FDR claimed he had reason to suspect the Nisei of espionage, but in truth the internment was based solely on the color of their skin and shape of their eyes; no proof was presented that any Nisei were disloyal to the U.S. The prisoners strove to live as decently as possible, using skills from their previous lives to beautify the camps. As World War II progressed, American leaders realized Japan was not being careful communicating classified codes over the airwaves; anyone who spoke fluent Japanese could translate them. Despite their treatment by FDR, many Nisei signed up as code breakers for the U.S. military, serving as loyally as though politicians had not robbed them of their constitutional rights. The "Yankee Samurai" was destined to play a vital role in winning World War II.

"Let not harsh tongues,
that wag in vain,
Discourage you.
In spite of pain,
Be like the cactus,
which through rain,
And storm, and thunder,
can remain."

—A poem by Kimii Nagata, quoted on P. 115 of Uprooted

Via radio transmission and on the ground, Nisei worked to give America the advantage over Japan. Many white Americans looked with suspicion on Nisei following Pearl Harbor, but their contribution to the Allied war effort was a fact. Uprooted offers story after story of valor by these marginalized Americans, who faced gruesome torture if captured by Japan. If not for the Nisei, experts project the war may have lasted some two additional years. FDR died before Japan waved the white flag, but executive order 9066 was still in effect, and it took time for the bureaucracy to free the more than 100,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps. A wave of popular goodwill toward the Nisei, backed by legal action in the courts, eventually won the day, but nothing could erase the trauma inflicted on Japanese Americans by their government. The United States internment program of World War II shows that tyranny is never more than a step away.

"That is why the study of history is so important. History is not destiny; it describes the past but does not decide the future. Yet it is a constant reminder of tragedies...and a warning against repeating them. Human beings can learn from experience. And therein lies hope."

—Uprooted, P. 209

The U.S. was founded on the conviction that all humans are born with rights that government must not infringe on. If it does, the justification for that government to exist vanishes. Uprooted explains it well: "The American ideal of justice is based on individual rights and equality before the law. It rejects any notion of group guilt. We are responsible for what we do personally, not for who we are or how we look...In violating this core principle, decision makers (during the internment crisis) failed to discharge their first duty: to protect all the people equally. Rather than confront fear and rumor with facts and reason, they let them run wild, even fed them in the name of "national security." Leaders' failures set the stage for untold personal tragedies, casting doubt on the very essence of America." Politicians illegally superseding the Constitution opened the door for them to commit atrocities against American citizens of Japanese ancestry, the exact sort of overreach the Constitution was created to prohibit. "Well-meaning dictators" are often the most nefarious.

America's founders implemented safeguards against moments of crisis, when the public are prone to accept government intrusions they normally wouldn't. Politicians typically increase their own power at every opportunity, so limiting them is essential to a free society. What effect does a national or global catastrophe have on the collective psyche? Historian John W. Dower, quoted in Uprooted, points to the reaction of many Americans to Pearl Harbor. "Japanese aggression provoked a response bordering on the apocalyptic," he said. In the 1980s, after overturning convictions of several Nisei interred at concentration camps, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel spoke of that period in American history as a reminder of what can happen in a climate of uncontrolled anxiety: "It stands as a constant caution that in times of war or declared military necessity...[we] must be prepared to protect all citizens from the petty fears and prejudices that are so easily aroused." Politicians prey on people's fear, but we mustn't allow the cure to do more harm than the disease. Humans can emerge better off from any crisis as long as we don't forget we're on the same team regardless of ideological, racial, or other differences. Ignoring this is what led to the Rape of Nanking in 1937, as Japanese soldiers admitted. "The Chinese didn't belong to the human race...[we] did not see Chinese people as human beings..." If we hold to our belief that all people are created equal, possessing the same natural rights, we can overcome the prejudice and politics that threaten to destroy us. Every man, woman, and kid has a part to play.

Why do I only rate Uprooted two and a half stars? Large portions of it are considerably better than that, filled with emotional stories from Nisei betrayed by the U.S., a nation they loved no less fiercely for the shape of their eyes. The idea that individual behavior is paramount—and group identity superfluous—is presented in compelling fashion; however, Albert Marrin's political biases often bleed onto the page. Criticizing administrative policy is fair, but labeling Abraham Lincoln a "white supremacist" is inappropriate unless he explicitly said he considered whites superior to other races. Marrin crosses the line in similar ways throughout this book. In the final chapter, he casts himself in the role of an Islamic religious scholar to delineate the "true" version of their faith. An unbiased curation of the facts so readers can judge for themselves would be better. These negatives damage what otherwise is a masterful book, but they can't ruin Uprooted completely. There's a lot to like, and I almost rounded my rating to three stars. I don't always agree with Albert Marrin's methods, but he's a forceful documentarian and storyteller. I haven't read another children's author like him.

[Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just seventy-five years ago, the American government did something that most would consider unthinkable today: it rounded up over 100,000 of its own citizens based on nothing more than their ancestry and, suspicious of their loyalty, kept them in concentration camps for the better part of four years.

Uprooted takes a close look at the history of racism in America and carefully follows the treacherous path that led one of our nation’s most beloved presidents to make this decision. Meanwhile, it also illuminates the history of Japan and its own struggles with racism and xenophobia, which led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, ultimately tying the two countries together.

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this on my library wishlist for awhile, and after finishing George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, I decided it was time to listen to this. I'm glad I read them in this order. Takei's book was understandably focused more on his family's experience in the internment camps and how that affected them during and after the war. In Uprooted, the focus is much broader and the research that was put into this was incredibly comprehensive. It helped to have Takei's more personal account so fresh in my mind while listening to this.

Marrin gives us a well-rounded and thorough history of this time period that saw over 100,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans dislocated from their homes into internment camps based on nothing but rumor, hysteria and racism. He starts by going back even further to give an account of ancient Japan's traditions and how it became the imperial Japan of WWII. It delved into the racism of Imperial Japan and the atrocities that they committed against China, Korea and other countries and island nations that they took over. He then goes back to detail how racism in the US developed against the Chinese and Japanese immigrants during the late 1800s and early 1900s and how that impacted decisions made after Pearl Harbor. In this way, the reader can have a full understanding of the mindsets in both Japan and America at the time of Pearl Harbor.

He delves into all the various aspects of the uprooting and how the US government treated the Japanese-Americans before, during and after the war, including those already in service before Pearl Harbor, detailing the various accomplishments and acts of bravery that Japanese-Americans soldiers performed in WWII, both in the Pacific theater and on the European front. He discusses as well the history of internment laws themselves, which every country has. I was surprised to learn some things - like how FDR had immigrants from Italy, Germany and Japan deported from South American countries to the US to hold here in case we needed to trade them for US POWs. One of these camps was in Santa Fe - just south of where they were working on the atomic bomb!

The Japanese uprooting went across all political lines and ideologies, from Republican to Democrat, conservative to liberal. This doesn't let anyone off the hook. It lays all the facts bare and does it unflinchingly, using a variety of firsthand accounts from politicians and internees, and citing the laws and propaganda, from the media to Hollywood, that helped fuel the hysteria.

For anyone wanting to know more about this time period, this is an excellent place to start. It's not an easy book to get through, but it is an important one.

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: UPROOTED: THE JAPANESE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE DURING WORLD WAR II by Albert Marrin, Knopf, October 2016, 256p., ISBN: 978-0-553-50936-6

“A prominent supporter of Donald J. Trump drew concern and condemnation from advocates for Muslims’ rights on Wednesday after he cited World War II-era Japanese-American internment camps as a ‘precedent’ for an immigrant registry suggested by a member of the president-elect’s transition team…
“We’ve done it based on race, we’ve done it based on religion, we’ve done it based on region,’ Mr. [Carl] Higbie said...We did it during World War II with Japanese…’
“He stood by his comments in a phone interview on Thursday morning, saying that he had been alluding to the fact that the Supreme Court had ‘upheld things as horrific as Japanese internment camps.’”
--New York Times, 11/17/16, “Trump Camp’s Talk of Registry and Japanese Internment Raises Muslims’ Fears”

“The whole world is festering with unhappy souls,
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch,
And I don’t like anybody very much.”
--Sheldon Harnick, “The Merry Minuet,” popularized in 1959 by The Kingston Trio

“Rightly called humanity’s most dangerous myth, racism has no scientific basis. Modern genetics, neuroscience, and physiology have proved that there are no basic differences between races. Apart from skin color, hair texture, and facial features, all human beings are essentially alike. We inherit physical traits from our parents, but social traits--morality, manners, ideas, religious beliefs, work habits--are not, and cannot be inherited. We acquire these from our upbringing, education, and life experiences.”

In his impeccably-researched and fascinating read, UPROOTED, author Albert Marrin frames the shameful story of America’s locking up Japanese-American citizens in concentration camps during World War II within a larger history of racism, as practiced in the United States and by other nations.

There are some big surprises here. Did you know that…
… Dr. Seuss drew racially demeaning, anti-Japanese cartoons during World War II?
… Eleanor Roosevelt called the uprooting “absurd,” “vicious,” and “pathetic,” and told FDR that the West Coast Japanese “are good Americans and have the right to live as anyone else”?
… Dorothea Lange took hundreds of stunning, candid photos of Japanese Americans incarcerated at Manzanar that were “impounded” by the government and only came to light a decade ago?
… World War II was arguably shortened by years thanks to brave Japanese-American soldiers, most of whom had family imprisoned in camps?
… The U.S. War Department separated all blood plasma by the race of the donor until 1950?

From cover to cover, UPROOTED is a gold mine for those of us who love learning the truth about American history.

While it is nowadays common knowledge that Thomas Jefferson was a slave-owning racist who fathered half a dozen children by a woman he owned, it was a shock to read about Abraham Lincoln’s pre-presidential writings.

“Lincoln was a white supremacist, a believer in the superiority of the white race, and laced his early speeches with this idea. The Declaration of Independence, he insisted, was ‘the white man’s charter of freedom.’ The founders had made the United States government ‘for the white people and not for the Negroes.’ The future sixteenth president called blacks members of ‘the inferior races’ and Mexicans ‘a race of mongrels.’”

From Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pre-presidential writings, we learn that the man ultimately responsible for the Japanese-American concentration camps, “viewed people of Japanese origin racially--as a group--not as individuals. Japanese were Japanese in his eyes; they could no more change their nature than a zebra could change its stripes to polka dots. ‘Japanese immigrants are not capable of assimilation into the American population,’ FDR declared.” As president, “he insisted that the Japanese were a ‘treacherous people’ and that aggression ‘was in the blood.’”

It was with this mindset that, in 1942, FDR signed Executive Order 9066 which permitted the exclusion of any or all people from defined “military” areas. Without debate or dissent, Congress set severe penalties for violating the order. The order didn’t specify any particular group, but it seems everyone was in agreement as to whom they were targeting.

According to the author, “The presidential order and the law that confirmed it were unjust. The American ideal of justice is based on individual rights and equality before the law. It rejects any notion of group guilt. We are responsible for what we do personally, not for who we are or how we look. Innocence or guilt cannot depend on race, ancestry, religion, language, family, social class, sex, wealth, politics, feelings, or ideas. In violating this core principle, decision makers failed to discharge their first duty: to protect all the people equally. Rather than confront fear and rumor with facts and reason, they let them run wild, even fed them in the name of ‘national security.’ Leaders’ failures set the stage for untold personal tragedies, casting doubt on the very essence of America.”

The author explains that there are recognized laws for rounding up and confining “enemy aliens,” foreigners inadvertently stuck in America when their country and America become enemy combatants. But taking away the constitutional rights of American citizens, because their ancestors came from a country that was suddenly at war with America? You’d think that this would be unthinkable and unconscionable.

Yet that was the result of FDR’s executive order and its enforcement against Japanese Americans. As the result of American “fear, economic jealousy, and racial bigotry,” more than 100,000 Japanese American citizens were forced to leave behind virtually all of their possessions--and their pets--as they were uprooted and imprisoned in concentration camps for the crime of being of Japanese descent. Having pursued the American Dream, they lost everything they’d worked for and accumulated, along with their Constitutional freedoms. Racists, con artists, and opportunists got great bargains on the belongings that had to be left behind. (I was surprised to learn that Japanese Canadians suffered similar treatment in Canada.)

The author explains how the War Relocation Authority (WRA) employed euphemisms and propaganda in seeking to influence public opinion about what was taking place. A euphemism is a mild word or phrase that is used in place for another one that is normally considered blunt, unpleasant, or upsetting. The term “concentration camp” was banned by those in charge of running the program. Instead, it was stated that Japanese Americans were “evacuated” to “internment camps.” But as FDR’s secretary of the interior Harold Ickes, stated, “‘They were concentration camps nonetheless.” Interestingly, the author points out, the 1940s euphemistic term “internment camp” is still used today by authors, journalists, and textbooks.

Trump confidante Carl Higbie was only partially correct about the Supreme Court. Albert Marrin details the cases brought by imprisoned Japanese Americans that reached the Supreme Court. A court majority affirmed the curfew and exclusion orders, but ultimately ruled that Japanese American prisoners were being denied habeas corpus and were Constitutionally-entitled to either a court hearing or freedom. This effectively ended their imprisonment.

The author concludes by drawing out the historical parallel between Japanese Americans during World War II and American Muslims today. American Muslims have been vilified as a group over the past fifteen years. The president-elect has still not walked back his lie that he saw “thousands and thousands” of American Muslims cheering on New Jersey rooftops as the Twin Towers collapsed. Will he try to bar all Muslims from entering the U.S.? Will he try to force Muslim American citizens to register like the Japanese Americans?

UPROOTED shows that in times of national crisis, individual liberties can be far too easily abrogated. Fortunately, as UPROOTED teaches us, the U.S. Constitution safeguards these liberties and requires due process if and when a president pursues such un-American actions.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I felt that Marrin provided a lot of background to what led to the government's mistreatment of Japanese Americans and he was also very clear that it was a mistake and violated Constitutional rights. I expect this to end up on year end best lists and maybe even award lists at ALA Midwinter.

However, there's one relatively small matter that annoys and angers me, especially in a book about prejudice. As Marrin explains how white gold prospectors saw California as a white paradise and clashed with the Native American tribes already living in the area, he lists some of the names the whites called the "Maidu, Miwok, Pomo, and other tribes [living] in areas destined to become goldfields." (p. 46) These include slurs often used for other groups, like "'beasts,' 'swine,' 'snakes,' 'pigs,' 'baboons,' 'apes,' and 'gorillas.' The common name, however, was 'Diggers,' because they dug up edible roots." (p.46)

Marrin himself then goes on to call these tribespeople Diggers, sans quotes, for the next two paragraphs, until the end of the section. Diggers may not be a terribly shocking slur--it sounds like the kind of thing you could say in polite company--but that doesn't make it appropriate to use it to refer to the Maidu, Miwok, Pomo, or any other tribal nation native to California. These paragraphs should have been rewritten and I'm frankly appalled that a number of people--an editor or two, his agent, other readers?--read this and saw no problem.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important read, particularly in our current political climate.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough Account of Japanese Americans During WWII.

This account travels back in time to the time of bog ships and European exploration. Europeans began moving in on parts of China in the 19th century and eventually looked at Japan. The response of Japanese leaders was at first preventing Europeans from getting far into Japan and meeting at port but watching the problems of China, decided to open up more and modernize rapidly. Japanese sent to the United States to work in Hawaii or the West were required to have a full education, what we'd call 8th grade They worked on pineapple plantations or later on the railroads. They experienced a lot of racism and were unable to become citizens unless born here. By the 1920s, the Japanese in order to obtain resources and food, had colonies of their own. They developed an idea that they were a superior race. As World War II came around, there were atrocities caused by the Japanese on allied soldiers and the US put Japanese Americans in Internment Camps. This book details their experience and search for justice. I highly recommend it. Important read.

[Barb Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished this I wanted to turn around and reread it again. I really liked author Albert Marrin's turn of phrases and found myself wanting to write them down. I read it on the elliptical machine and writing notes wasn't in my wheels - I'm not that skilled at multi-tasking. The overall message is that racism exists all over the world and that people need to learn from the past or they will repeat it. The framework of the book begins with racist views promoted by the Japanese during World War II in Japan, a bit of China, Germany, and last America. The views in America and the questionable decisions by leaders to incarcerate Japanese Americans without due process during WWII is brought to light. Marrin puts the issues in historical context and shows how the actions by leaders and the justice system as well as the use of media influenced and later changed the public's mind to overturn the unjust laws infringing on civil rights. He points out leaders that had racist views and shows how it mirrored the national or global dialogue at the time. He argues that racism harms countries and the civilians leading to poor decisions and harmful consequences. A well-written and thoughtful book that I highly recommend.

[Valerie McEnroe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Albert Marrin's books always disappoint. He chooses excellent material, but he is unable to communicate the information to his target audience. He always goes into textbook mode and loses my interest. If he can't keep an adult interested, it's highly unlikely a teen is going to see it through.

He starts off effectively talking about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At this point, I have high hopes it's going to be a good book. Then he goes way off topic, in my opinion, talking about Japan's history with China. It ruins the book for me. He needs to tighten up his writing. Stick to the topic. Write in narrative mode rather than textbook mode. And dig deep to connect the reader emotionally. Books about detainment camps should strike a nerve. If he's trying, he's not successful.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had just learned to the internment of Japanese Americans two years ago. Eye opening then. This book is an intricate and comprehensive account of the history of anti-Asian hate in the US even before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This is a must read. I learned so much.

[Jaymie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second book by this author. I really enjoyed listening to them both. Very informative!
My heart hurts for how much humans hurt each other!

“History is not destiny. It describes the past but does not decide the future.”

“History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.”
-Maya Angelou ❤️

[Max]

This was first a very big-picture, context-providing summary of relevant race and international relations throughout history, and then afterward a bit about WWII. For such a short non-fiction work, I suppose I was hoping for more detail about the actual Japanese-American Experience (concentration camps, military translators and soldiers, etc.) and less about the Opium Wars and Jim Crow laws... there are other (hopefully more specific) books I'll read to learn about them.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, war hysteria ran rampant. Unfortunately for Japanese Americans living in the United States that meant facing increasing prejudice and mistreatment. On February 29, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then President of the United States, issued Executive Order 9066 calling for all necessary measures to protect the country, especially ‘military areas’. The purpose of the order was to justify moving all Japanese American people living on the mainland to what were called internment camps (really concentration camps). Marrin presents a thorough look at what lead up to this decision (going back to our encounters with the Japanese in the 1880s), what happened as a result of that decision (the creation and filling of the camps), and what happened afterward. This compelling narrative holds nothing back, providing a look at blatant racism as a cause of Japanese Americans being uprooted, but also the cause of Japanese aggression and brutality during the war. Some of the stories and photographs included are rather graphic, but necessary in telling what really happened. In addition to telling the stories of those imprisoned by their own government, Marrin tells the stories of some Japanese Americans who played key roles in helping the Allies win the war, as interpreters with military intelligence and also as soldiers in segregated units. Discussion of the legalities of the executive order and how it has been dealt with since are also included. The last chapter compares the events that lead to the unfair imprisonment of the Japanese Americans to the current furor over Muslim extremists after September 11, 2001. Marrin repeats the quote by George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” He makes a very strong case.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books tells the story of how, through executive order, the president of the United States sent thousands of innocent people to concentration camps simply because of their race and ethnic origin. There was no evidence at the time (and none has since been found) that Japanese Americans were spying for the Japanese. In fact, most of the "nisei" (second generation Japanese Americans) had no connection to their country of origin and many did not even speak the Japanese language. Despite this reality, racist hysteria fueled by a dishonest media led to one of the most shameful due process and equal protection failures in American history. The Supreme Court compounded this disgrace by upholding the president's executive order in its notorious Korematsu v. United States decision. It wasn't until 2018 (see Trump v. Hawaii) that the Court finally recognized its terrible mistake and relegated the case to its rightful place atop the atop the trash pile of history (joining other Supreme Court gems like Plessy and Dred Scott).

This story is interesting and tragic. However, Marrin's book has a number of issues. It provides a large amount of unnecessary background information on WWII and racism throughout American history (this background info takes up at least 20% of the book). In addition, much of the book is quite dry despite the engaging topic. Despite these problems, I still enjoyed the book and can confidently recommend it to others wanting to learn more about the subject matter.

[Zebulynn Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Aunt G won an essay contest a long time for one she wrote on this subject. I read more into for her & after hearing the author call abe lincoln a white supremist. Ill admit it was kind of hard to want take much he said after that serious. Im glad i did though & of course we could talk about lincoln all night. I still think thats a harsh summarization of someone who went through so much & was assassinated to free people. Not for profit mind you but on a moral high ground. To judge his earlier speeches agains this actions is like calling a tomato a fruit. Ill admit that i really admire FDR & he did so much for the country during its worst crisis but this is still unforgivable. No german & italian families were uprooted & even truman denounced the internment camps. This book offers a very insightful history of japanese before, during, & after WW2. Highly recommend to everyone to read. Especially to those who may harbor feelings that internment camps today or yesteryear are necessary. The intolerance of man demonstrated here hopefully will move their hearts to be more hopeful. America is made up of its differences & while it is harder for us. It is also what makes us stand out.

[Marija S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

!! Important book !!

It literally gave me nightmares. War is insanity, 20th century left no doubts about that, but this book, with its patient explanations of causes and reasons that lie beneath the course global politics took in the WW2, gives insight into darkness that is in every human. A darkness that will bloom into hysteria, racism, hate and destruction of life if individuals are blinded by (manipulated) propaganda, groupthink and the lowest urges.

This is ultimately not about who was right or wrong, or wronged. There is no difference between people who stand under different banners in terms of capacity to inflict evil (or good!). This is how history / ethics should be taught - so that no one in under the illusion that they have the monopoly on justice, righteousness or victimization. This is a reminder that no one may hide behind a nation, orders, flags, color, ethnicity,... and that actions of each individual are their own choice and responsibility.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. The US made it very difficult and in some cases, impossible for Japanese migrants to become citizens. Then they criminalized their presence being here and moved them into concentration camps. We look back on this history as a stain on America, but today we are doing it to another population whom the US has made it very difficult or impossible to obtain citizenship. We are literally repeating the worst parts of our history.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marrin details the history of US concentration camps for Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Focusing on racism, the author presents detailed histories of Japan, China and the US. He asks important questions like, how could this have happened, by examining the balance between liberty and security, history and law.

This is a really difficult subject, well handled as a YA title, and it seems, to me, more important and relevant than ever. Words matter.

[Alex Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

With gracefully page-turning prose, Uprooted explores how racism, history, and cycles of oppression led to America’s darkest moment: the internment of innocent Japanese-Americans during World War II. Through well-curated photography and intriguing sidebars, Uprooted sends an especially relevant message for these divisive times. (from my CCPL Great Books for Kids review)

[Jamie Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

So thorough and the amount of research is amazing. I particularly enjoyed the brief yet detailed and very readable history of Japan, which I didn't really know much about. Marrin has a brief chapter at the end about 9/11 and American Muslims. Would be great for middle-school and up.

[Stacy Pelletier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this

Lots of information! We live in a precarious time in history, war and racism are at our door. I hope to never repeat what happened during WWII to our people.

[Adrienne]

I did the audiobook because that's all my library had available, and I thought it was great, but I really wish I'd read the book; I know the photographs would have added a lot to the book.
Really great information.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strengths:
I've read other books about the Japanese WII Internments, and attended a fascinating presentation on the subject by someone who's parents were among the Japanese-Americans so unjustly treated. And this book added so much to what I know. There is a whole chapter at the beginning that gives an overview of Japan/China, ending with the Rape of Nanking (sorry, spelling). Throughout the book the author gives more history around the story, such as experiences of Japanese-Americans fighting in Europe and translating/fighting in the south pacific. I didn't realize that some second-generation Japanese-Americans refused to be drafted (when the USA finally decided they were worth drafting).

I also appreciated how the author explains racism (as much as it can be explained, because it really is not logical), which is particularly helpful for people who may not be aware how intense racism has been in the past. (Not to say that it isn't a problem today, just to point out that racism is not a new problem.) The author discusses the Holocaust and Jim Crow laws and the Trail of Tears. The last chapter covers modern issues, such as the Islamaphobia rising after 9-11.

The author also does a great job covering the return once people were released from the camps. Unfortunately, prejudice did not completely stop when Japanese Americans returned.

I especially enjoyed the author's examples of people who learned and changed their views--letting go of prejudices. This is an important thing for all of us to see. Those who are realizing how prejudiced they are need to see that they can change and be better people. Those who are persecuted can see how people can change and that there is hope for the future.

Weaknesses:
In my mind, it isn't appropriate to identify Abraham Lincoln as a white supremacist, and include a few quotations supporting that claim, without also mentioning that Lincoln was a progressive thinker for his time and did move things in the right direction.

There were also a few places where it seemed the author contradicts himself. For example, he wrote that it was decided that people with 1/16th Japanese blood must be sent to the camps. However, a page or so later, while discussing mixed marriages, he gives an example where a husband was white and his wife Japanese, and they could decide whether the children went with her to the camps or stayed with their dad. Confusing. (I'm sure it was confusing back then as well.)

Throughout the book the author makes several unilateral statements that, in some cases, aren't a strong as presented. For example, some people have compared the forced relocation of the Japanese-Americans to a reverse pioneer movement, referring to when many Americans moved from the east coast to settle in the western mountains. The author states that no whites were ever forced to move west However, I know of at least one group of whites who were driven from the homes at gun-point, some killed, many homes burned so they wouldn't return, basically forced to go west to survive.

In addition, I found another statement by the author unsettling. Near the end of the book, the author talks about how unjust it is for today's Americans to be prejudiced against Moslems. A very important point. However, the author states "we must also consider this fact: The Japanese American threat was entirely invented, but radical Muslims have carried out several terrorist attacks in the United States" (page 208). In my mind, today's American Muslims have no more responsibility for the actions of the radicals claiming to be of their faith than the Jfapanese Americans had responsibility for the actions of the Japanese army.

Overall, however, excellent book. Clear writing. Does a great covering the story and more.

[Saleena Longmuir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uprooted is an examination of the Japanese internment camps set up in the US during WWII. Marrin looks at the racism that caused the government to set up concentration camps, as well as the racism and vitriol that led to WWII. Marrin also goes a step further, at the conclusion, showing how prejudice and racism still happen by referencing 9/11 and the issues with anti-Muslim violence happening in the US today. An excellent book for anyone wanting to learn more about this shameful era of American history.

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extremely light introduction to the internment. The author spends an inordinate amount of time on tangential issues -- do we really need to know the history of the Opium Wars between Britain and China to understand racial attitudes towards the Japanese in the US a hundred years later? No. No, we don't. The author spends so much time on the history of Japan that Commodore Perry doesn't even show up until a eighth of the way through the book.

And in exchange for that level of background, there's frustratingly little room left for the actual internment, and very little time is spent on life in the camps. We get tidbits, like there were newspapers published by residents, and prisoners were permitted to engage in agriculture, but despite the author's assurances that this wasn't a fun holiday getaway, he doesn't do much to show us the horror of Manzanar.

But bizarrely, even this light treatment is too much for some people. Looking through the reviews here on Goodreads, I see a bunch of whiny snowflakes complaining about the author's "liberal bias" because he dares call the American government racist and paints American history as being inextricably tangled with white supremacy. Uh, guys, that's not bias. That's fact. Real history books include more than the good bits that make you feel patriotic. America has a screwed up past, and putting Japanese-Americans in concentration camps isn't even on the Top 10 list of the worst atrocities committed by this country. Just because school textbooks gloss over this stuff doesn't make it untrue. FDR was a great president in most respects, but he was a racist dick. The military made decisions about the treatment of the issei and nisei based not on misguided beliefs, but pure racism. If you can't handle that truth, you need to go back to your safe space and stop bothering the grown ups.

[Meag McHugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very thorough and well-researched presentation of a fascinatingly disturbing period in American history - the Japanese American uprooting during WWII. The title is a little misleading - the uprooting only takes up about half the book, while the first half is a summary of Chinese and Japanese history, particularly in relation to the US. This background information does make the emotions and sentiments surrounding the uprooting easier to understand, but it was a lot to take in. I also found the random moments when the author inserted himself into the text to be a little jarring, and the photo quality for a lot of the pictures wasn't great. But overall, this is a well-done history of an embarrassing time in our country that is in danger of repeating itself today (in regards to xenophonic rhetoric toward Muslim Americans).

This didn't quite live up to the bar that "Vietnam: A History" by Russell Freedman set for me a few weeks ago, but it was a solid nonfiction read for teens.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. It's a clear overview of the internment camp experience of Japanese-Americans, as well as giving historic background of Japan and its relationship to other countries (which I found very helpful) and tying in other American movements. So well done.

[Amy (folkpants) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes this country really disgusts me.

[Jadyn]

I personally love to read nonfiction texts. Fictional works have never been my favorite type of texts, but sometimes they are a lot more exciting than nonfiction texts. I remember as a child being forced to read texts in our huge reading books. The stories we read never seemed interesting to me, because I felt like I had to read this type of text. After being able to explore other kinds of texts, I realized I actually love nonfiction. There are so many great nonficiton books out there! “Uprooted” written by Albert Marrin was an example of a great nonfiction book that captured my attention. I am very interested in historical events, so this book easily drew my attention. From the start, the picture on the cover drew me near.
I thought this text was interesting, because it is written in such honesty. Therefore, all of the events within the book seem so real. I felt like I was a part of the horrific events in WWII. I felt as if Marrin proposed the needed information and facts up front for a reader to understand how the government mistreated the Japanese and what events led them to doing so. For readers to understand a bigger picture, an author must once start somewhere, and this begins with laying the foundation of the history or lesson they are going to present in the future. Marrin achieves this easily and in a unique, well-written way. For younger students, I believe this is a very important piece in them understanding the severity of the event that took place. If I had to pick one thing that I did not like about the text, it would be the lack of details it provides about the actual internment camps. The history before the camps and the explanation of why the government had hard feelings against the Japanese and how that began is excellent. However, I want to know a little more about life in the camps themselves. This is a very interesting piece of the puzzle to me, so I felt as if more details (even maybe the gruesome ones) could be explained more by the text. On the other hand, I understand this was written for a younger audience, so those details may not necessarily need to be included. As I was reading this book this was just one thing I would like to see included more.
The text features of a nonfiction text can either distract or add to the content within the text. I believe Marrin was able to use first-hand accounts by including interview, speeches, and newspaper articles into the text to add to his reasoning and description in the text. Marrin also includes a list of suggested further readings which allows readers to further their understanding of the topic within the text. The pictures within the text were about what I expected. I did not think the pictures within the text were over-bearing or too much. Instead, they added to the content within the book and allowed me to see some pictures of what it may have looked like during this terrible time. I loved how personal and real life the pictures in the text were instead of being drawn or made up photographs. Younger students may also appreciate this, because they want to connect the pictures to a time period in their head and understand what it may have looked like. Overall, I thought this text was well written with good pictures to add to informative text.

[Kim Gjerde · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published in October 2016, prior to the presidential election, but I felt it quite prophetic and haunting as I read about what our white anglo-saxon protestant leaders and government did to the Japanese who where technically American (either 1st or 2nd generation) during World War II. As I read, I was simply appalled by how our government could treat it's very own citizens based on their race. What made it so haunting is that you would think that history would be a valuable lesson to us, but it appears even now that our government continues to head down treacherous paths when making decisions regarding race and religion. The Japanese Amereicans in this book are portrayed as amazing and resilient people. Despite all they endured, the unfairness, very few waivered in their commitment to their country. They served in the U.S. military dutiful and saved countless lives, even as their families where confined to "relocation camps" in the US. They are an example of suffering with honor. I almost think because of their chosen way to "suffer" they were able to turn the tides more quickly than perhaps other minority groups, but this is just my hypothesis as I have no evidence of this. What also I find appalling is that basically until the time of Kennedy's presidency, minorities where truly considered inferior people. I find that so hard to believe that in a system where it we claim liberty and justice for all, that has not been many people's experience, unfortunately even now many people are still experiencing that. In some ways I am ashamed to have the heritage of a white person. The only saving grace is that I am a Jewish white person and my "race and religion" also experienced it's own type of persecution. Reading this book made me want to read about our founding fathers and their beliefs about race and religion and I must say I'm not loving the founding fathers. Even those who we esteem greatly in our culture such as Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson all have that ugliness in their past. But I guess that is the nature of sin our lives. It is my prayer that our government will realize the value of everyone's lives...black, white, purple, red, unborn, born, gay, straight, trans, rich, porr etc....that we truly could be one nation with liberty and justice for all.