The Japanese Americans

by Jennifer M. Contino, 2003

The book starts with an introduction explaining immigration and assimilation and the “hyphenated American” that is now so prevalent.

Then it starts to talk about Japanese history. I had to stop just a few pages in because of a reference to “Emperor Edo” at the time of Admiral Perry. The person's name was Emperor Komei. Edo is the old name for Tokyo, not the name of the Emperor of the time.

The book also says the Emperor was assassinated. Emperor Komei is said to have died of smallpox, although there is a possibility that he was poisoned, but the smallpox explanation seems to be the more common one. I can't recall seeing a book like this that has two factual errors on the same page.

The book then talks about Japanese immigration to the U.S. The book does do something good which most others have not, and that is talk about how the Japanese plantation workers were abused by their bosses.

The book then goes on to talk about the various anti-Japanese legal measures that were taken to slow and then stop immigration; it also discusses the prejudice against them shown by whites.

After that it discusses the evacuation and internment camp process.

The book has a glossary and further references.

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Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page