cover image In America's Shadow

In America's Shadow

Kimberly Komatsu. Thomas George Books, $35 (96pp) ISBN 978-0-9709829-0-2

""Many, many years ago, when streets were dirt roads, when wagon wheels turned and buffalo roamed,... my grandfather and grandmother left their home in Japan to come to America,"" begins In America's Shadow by Kimberly Komatsu and Kaleigh Komatsu. Told from the perspective of a girl, the spare narrative recalls the experience of one Japanese-American family during the early days of the 20th century and their eventual internment during WWII at California's Manzanar Relocation Camp. Period photographs, many from the authors' collection, illustrate the volume and convey the breathtaking landscape and their cozy town of Hanna, Wyo., as well as the bleak transformation brought about by the war.