Status
Call number
Publication
DDC/MDS
| 940.53 |
Description
Biography & Autobiography. History. Sociology. Nonfiction. The author at 16 years old was evacuated with her family to an internment camp for Japanese Americans, along with 110,000 other people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. She faced an indefinite sentence behind barbed wire in crowded, primitive camps. She struggled for survival and dignity, and endured psychological scarring that has lasted a lifetime. This memoir is told from the heart and mind of a woman now nearly eighty years old who experienced the challenges and wounds of her internment at a crucial point in her development as a young adult. She brings passion and spirit to her story. Like The Diary of Anne Frank, this memoir superbly captures the emotional and psychological essence of what it was like to grow up in the midst of this profound dislocation and injustice in the US. Few other books on this subject come close to the emotional power and moral significance of this memoir. In the end, the listener is buoyed by what Mary learns from her experiences and what she is able to do with her life. In 2005 she becomes one more Nissei who breaks her silence.… (more)
User reviews
Even though I was aware of the basic history of the internment and knew it to be a horrible injustice, I could not begin to feel the awful indignities and terrors without reading such a first-hand account. On a more general level, it helps me to understand that the effects of any catastrophe on its victims can linger long after the intense crisis. Even if one could argue a justification for interning or profiling people, it remains that, although it wasn't as bad as it could have been, it also wasn't conducted with due regard for the possibilities, indeed the near certainty, that a large number of the people were innocent. I am not certain that any such program ever would be handled with the care that such a drastic step would require.
I recommend this not only for understanding this terrible event in American history, but also a a more general cautionary tale about the dangers of letting suspicion and fear override our sense of fairness.
Includes a significant bibliography of other works on the subject.
The more I read about people's experiences in the internment, the more flabbergasted I am to think our government thought this was a good idea. A powerful witness to maintaining our civil rights!