cover image Democracy on Trial: The Japanese American Evacuation and Relocation in World War II

Democracy on Trial: The Japanese American Evacuation and Relocation in World War II

Page Smith. Simon & Schuster, $27 (476pp) ISBN 978-0-684-80354-8

Smith describes how FDR's Executive Order 9066, issued eight weeks after Pearl Harbor, drastically affected the lives of some 120,000 Japanese Americans. Forcibly evacuated from their homes, deprived of their livelihood and property, they were moved into bleak internment camps for the duration of the war. Included in this monumental study is a review of the U.S.-Japanese relationship, the history of Japanese immigrants in America and the problem of divided loyalties on the part of those with dual citizenship. Smith reveals how the internees developed a rich social and cultural life in the camps. His comprehensive account of a major, but misunderstood, chapter in American history is based on interviews with camp survivors and archival research. Smith is the author of the eight-volume A People's History of the United States. (Aug.)