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Sun 16 Dec, 2007 12:14 pm
This new book is so timely as a reminder that we live is the same perilous times of government and military over-reaction in WWII.
American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II
by Eric L. Muller
Book Description
When the U.S. government forced 70,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry into internment camps in 1942, it created administrative tribunals to pass judgment on who was loyal and who was disloyal. Muller relates the untold story of exactly how military and civilian bureaucrats judged these tens of thousands of American citizens during wartime. This is the only study of the Japanese American internment to examine the complex inner workings of the most draconian system of loyalty screening that the American government has ever deployed against its own citizens. At a time when our nation again finds itself beset by worries about an "enemy within" considered identifiable by race or religion, this volume offers crucial lessons from a recent and disastrous history.
About the Author
Eric L. Muller is George R. Ward Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is author of Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II.
Editorial Reviews:
Asian American Press
"Anyone with a thirst for thoughtful and well articulated information and analysis will find value in Muller's examination."
Review
Combining intensive archival research and brilliant analysis, Eric Muller gives us another example of bad news from the good war.
?-Roger Daniels, University of Cincinnati, Emeritus, and author of Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II
Japanese, Free to Die for Their Country in WWII
These books are of interest to me because my best friend and her family were interred during WWII. I know Ciserone Imposter also will be interested because he, too, was interred.---BBB
Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II (Chicago Series in Law and Society) by Eric L. Muller (Author), Daniel K. Inouye (Foreword)
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
In the many books written about the Japanese American internment during World War II, one aspect that has not been treated in much detail is what happened when the U.S. military decided to draft the same young men the government had locked away in internment camps. Muller (Univ. of North Carolina Sch. of Law) takes a detailed look at the resisters at the Minidoka, Heart Mountain, and Tule Lake camps. Using interviews with 11 of the resisters, as well as government records, court cases, internment camp newspapers, and more, Muller investigates why the government reinstated the draft for Japanese Americans in 1943, considers why some of the Nisei resisted, and examines the trials, prison sentences, and lasting aftereffects on their lives. He also looks at the legal reasoning, or lack thereof, behind the verdicts; the Minidoka and Heart Mountain resisters were convicted, while the Tule Lake resisters were acquitted. Although all were pardoned in 1947, they still face criticism from family and from veterans, and most have remained silent until now. An important, well-balanced telling; for public and academic libraries. Katharine L. Kan, Allen Cty. P.L., Fort Wayne, IN
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
One of the Washington Post's Top Nonfiction Titles of 2001
In the spring of 1942, the federal government forced West Coast Japanese Americans into detainment camps on suspicion of disloyalty. Two years later, the government demanded even more, drafting them into the same military that had been guarding them as subversives. Most of these Americans complied, but Free to Die for Their Country is the first book to tell the powerful story of those who refused. Based on years of research and personal interviews, Eric L. Muller re-creates the emotions and events that followed the arrival of those draft notices, revealing a dark and complex chapter of America's history.
From the Inside Flap
One of the Washington Post's Top Nonfiction Titles of 2001
In 1942, the federal government forced West Coast Japanese Americans into detainment camps on suspicion of disloyalty. Two years later, it demanded even more, drafting them into the same military that had been guarding them as subversives. Most of these Americans complied, but Free to Die for Their Country is the first book to tell the powerful story of those who refused.
About the Author
Eric L. Muller is a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
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