Review: Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II, by Daniel James Brown

Abstract

Book Review| August 01 2022 Review: Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II, by Daniel James Brown Daniel James Brown. Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II. New York: Penguin Random House, 2021. 540 pp. Paperback $18.00. Jonathan van Harmelen Jonathan van Harmelen JONATHAN VAN HARMELEN is a doctoral student in history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work has appeared in Southern California Quarterly, Journal of Transnational American Studies, Journal of Urban History, BC Studies, and Journal of Asian American Studies. He is a columnist for the Japanese American National Museum’s blog “Discover Nikkei” and contributes to a number of Japanese community newspapers. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2022) 99 (3): 83–85. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2022.99.3.83 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Jonathan van Harmelen; Review: Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II, by Daniel James Brown. California History 1 August 2022; 99 (3): 83–85. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2022.99.3.83 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search Over the past fifty years, accounts of the World War II experiences of Japanese Americans have proliferated in popular literature. Authors like James and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Richard Reeves, Julie Otsuka, and George Takei, to name just a few, have presented mainstream accounts of the camp experience, drawing either from personal experience or from extensive research. Recently, a number of authors, both Japanese American and otherwise, have attempted to retell the story of the camp experience in new ways, with some receiving acclaim. Facing the Mountain, however, is an exception. This new work by Daniel James Brown, author of the best-selling The Boys in the Boat (2013), presents riveting accounts of four Japanese American men and their journeys from prewar tranquility in Japanese communities in Hawaii and on the West Coast to the chaos and uncertainty of the war years. Along the way, each of them confronts racial discrimination... You do not currently have access to this content.