Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese and 32 similar items

Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family (Classics of Asian American Literature) ISBN 978-0295958989 Just a Girl 5.0 out of 5 stars For those who think "things like that can't happen here." Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2002 Verified Purchase While everyone has heard of the Holocaust and of the horrors inflicted upon the Jewish peoples during World War II, fewer people seem aware of the shameful treatment of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans in the United States following Pearl Harbor. While the American 'internment camps' did not play the same role as the concentration camps of Germany, and while the Issei and Nisei were not exterminated en masse as the Jews were, the actions taken by the American government with regard to "enemy alien" Japanese was nonetheless deploreable, and should not be forgotten, lest such a thing happen again. Yoshiko Uchida had been living a fairly normal life with her Nisei sister and Issei family in Berkeley, California. Though she was aware of her Japanese heritage (sometimes moreso than others), Yoshiko never considered herself to be anything but an American. So when the American government tells her and her family that they have 10 days to report for relocation, Yoshiko suddenly finds her entire identity thrown into turmoil. If she isn't American, and she isn't Japanese, then who is she? Much of this story was familiar to me, because I have read The Invisible Thread, another book by Uchida covering the same topic, but written for children. In each book, she speaks with anger, with sadness, and with fondness. She speaks of the confusion felt by the Nisei at being treated as criminals - actually, with less rights than criminals - by their own country. She speaks of the horrific living conditions at Tanforan and Topaz. She speaks of the fortitude of the Issei and Nisei, who meet the challenges present to them with typical Japanese aplomb. There are any number of books out there by survivors of the Japanese internment during World War II. Uchida's is particularly well told, and should be read by anyone who think that "things like that couldn't happen in America." This is particularly pertinent now, when we seem to be in danger of following the same slippery slope.