Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience during World War II by Albert Marrin

Abstract

Reviewed by: Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience during World War II by Albert Marrin Elizabeth Bush Marrin, Albert Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience during World War II. Knopf, 2016 [256p] illus. with photographs Library ed. ISBN 978-0-553-50937-3 $20.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-553-50936-6 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-553-50938-0 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10 Executive Order 9066 and the infamous Japanese internment camps are at the core of this thoughtful work, but Marrin offers here an impressively comprehensive and contextualized overview of the topic. The opening two chapters, which dig back into Japan’s history, its isolationism, and its conflicts with Asian neighbors, examine a deep seated and rarely explored background. Then when Marrin plants himself on U.S. turf, discussing anti-Asian bigotry and the run-up to World War II, it becomes clear that this retelling of a now familiar tale will take a different tone and reveal some surprises. Episodes that are only hinted at in other youth works receive more attention here. Franklin Roosevelt was not only a commander-in-chief making a tough call to suspend civil liberties but a man deeply and personally prejudiced against the Japanese as a race. Nisei translators worked in military code-breaking and communications well before the famous 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team were formed. In training the newly enlisted Japanese-American soldiers, the Army was forced to grant them “honorary” white status to keep them separated from their even more demeaned black brothers at arms. Marrin’s subtlety shifts the emphasis away from the mannerly forbearance of the internees and onto outbursts of anger and incidents of resistance, such as the refusal to sign loyalty papers and the growth of nationalistic sentiment among resisters transferred to Tule Lake. With illustrations, notes, index, and an extensive bibliography, this will be a valuable resource for students who are ready to look more deeply at this shameful chapter from the Good War. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois