I Am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment

A history professor, Stanley (Children of the Dust Bowl) does an admirable job of distilling the intricate story of the Japanese in America during World War II. At the same time, the author presents a highly personal portrait of Shi Nomura, one of the nearly 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry whom the federal government ordered evacuated from their West Coast homes to relocation camps as a result of war-provoked hysteria and hostility. The seeds for this prejudice, the reader learns, were sown early in the century, when anti-Japanese sentiment escalated to the point that schools were racially segregated in San Francisco and the Japanese government signed a ``gentleman's agreement'' to stop their citizens from emigrating to this country. Quotes from the perceptive, articulate Shi as well as numerous period photos underscore the ignominy of the U.S. government's wartime action and help make this volume a haunting, at times heartrending chronicle. Ages 9-up. (Sept.) q