Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-322) and index.
Contents:
Going "home" : V-J Day, August 15, 1945. By order of the President : signing of Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942 -- Only what they could carry : Public Proclamation Number 1, March 2, 1942 -- "Keep this a white man's country" : the opening of the concentration camps, March 22 to October 6, 1942 -- A desert Christmas : December 25, 1942 -- Uncle Sam, finally, wants you : Nisei enlistment, January 29, 1943 -- "Loyals" and "disloyals" : Tule Lake, September 1943 -- "Is that the American way?" : Heart Mountain draft resistance, February 1944 -- "Go for broke" : the Lost Battalion, October 30, 1944 -- Going "home" : V-J Day, August 15, 1945.
Summary:
This book provides an authoritative account of the internment of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans and Japanese aliens during World War II. Less than three months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and inflamed the nation, President Roosevelt signed an executive order declaring parts of four western states to be a war zone operating under military rule. The U.S. Army immediately began rounding up thousands of Japanese-Americans, sometimes giving them less than 24 hours to vacate their houses and farms. For the rest of the war, these victims of war hysteria were imprisoned in primitive camps. In "Infamy," the story of this appalling chapter in American history is told more powerfully than ever before. Acclaimed historian Richard Reeves has interviewed survivors, read numerous private letters and memoirs, and combed through archives to deliver a sweeping narrative of this atrocity. Men we usually consider heroes-FDR, Earl Warren, Edward R. Murrow-were in this case villains, but we also learn of many Americans who took great risks to defend the rights of the internees. Most especially, we hear the poignant stories of those who spent years in "war relocation camps," many of whom suffered this terrible injustice with remarkable grace. Racism, greed, xenophobia, and a thirst for revenge: a dark strand in the American character underlies this story of one of the most shameful episodes in our history. But by recovering the past, "Infamy" has given voice to those who ultimately helped the nation better understand the true meaning of patriotism. -- Publisher description. Former Frontline journalist Reeves (Portrait of Camelot) examines the key causes and dire consequences of the Japanese-American internment in relocation camps during WWII, concentrating on a shortsighted military strategy and anti-Japanese sentiment following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.