Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II

Martin Sandler's book is the compelling story of the banishment over 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. Japanese Americans were forced from their homes due to hysteria after the bombing of Perl Harbor. They had no notice and had to leave homes, businesses, pets, and possessions to move into internment camps for the duration of WWII. Sandler uses photographs, interviews, quotes, and sidebars (backed up with extensive research) to tell about this very dark part of American history. Each chapter consists of information with certain pages containing large font (to stand out)and within these chapters sections highlighted areas of importance, like Dorothea Dix and Ansel Adams photography to document the internment, but their differing viewpoints. Another section is Titled, Expressing Feelings Through Poetry and shares examples of children's poems from camp classrooms. Within the camps were the Isei and the Nisei, nurses, doctors, writers, teachers who work hard to end the isolation and depression many felt. Sports, like baseball, became an important way for the Japanese Americans to fight boredom. There were those who created gardens, made jewelry, and found other ways to beautify their substandard lives. The camps were harsh and crowded, hot during the day and very cold at night; there were long waits to for lunch, dinner and laundry of 2-3 hours. There were many Japanese Americans who served in the 442nd Regiment and Nisei who served as interpreters and translators and they had a very profound impact on the US's victory. The chapters on how the Japanese Americans fared after the war and as the years wet on were so interesting. Today the Japanese Americans are working hard to make sure this does not happen to anyone ever again. They are strong supporters of the Muslim communities in the aftermath of 9/11 because they look like the enemy and have experienced discrimination like the Japanese Americans.The book ends with Place to Visit, Visiting the Sites of the Relocation Centers, Further Reading and Surfing, Websites, Sources and Bibliography.

Great for anybody looking for information of the internment of Japanese people during WWII

Book is in excellent condition. My son has become a WWII buff. He is absorbing a lot of information. Thanks Beth's Book for an excellent addition to he growing collection.

This perfect used copy of the book, at a fraction of the published price, meets all my expectations.

Excellence book. Help children learn about discrimination and it's effects. Great for discussions in the classroom for Social Studies.

Sobering history. We have to make sure it doesn't happen again to other people.

Once again, Sandler has written a text for our intermediate/middle grade readers that captures the reader in the grip of a devastating experience – the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. What stood out for me in this book is Sandler’s continual revelation of the irony of this situation and the language he uses to make this irony explicit for students. Let me back up. Japanese Americans faced racism when they came to the states – and yet they figured out how to thrive and be successful economically. There was no evidence in general of espionage or lack of loyalty to the U.S. after Pearl Harbor and yet the decision was still made to intern this group of citizens. They could have languished in terrible living conditions and yet they turned these spaces into livable communities and joined the military and received the highest recognition for their contributions to the war effort (combat, nursing, translators, etc.). And all of this in the face of loss of identity, long-term emotional/psychological scarring, loss of wealth or means of making a living – all of which also occurred.The beauty of this book is how Sandler’s writing helps our student readers access these themes – perseverance, injustice, irony, courage, the effects/impact of displacement, surmounting obstacles, knowledge versus ignorance, determination, ingenuity, etc. The book is crafted in a way that you see how terrible things are and THEN you see what the Japanese Americans do in response (that reveals perseverance, etc.). Next you see how terrible things continue to happen to them and AGAIN you see what the Japanese Americans do in response and WHAT ELSE THEY DO in response AND what else they do in response. Does this make sense? Sandler’s tone, his language, his choices about chronology all contribute to this.Our instruction or our coaching of students might highlight this. For example, we could do a close reading of pages 76-78 (no text on page 77), where Sandler describes how the internees turned the unfathomable living conditions into culturally relevant spaces. The first paragraph starts with “In the opinion of many of the internees who had become unofficial leaders in their camps, there was only one way to combat the sadness and depression that had come with imprisonment…” He’s clearly setting the reader up here – for a contrast, for a shift, for a defining moment. Students should continue by noticing language like “ambitious projects” and “remarkable achievement.” Phrases that reveal that “and they also did this” theme – like “In addition to improving their surroundings…” You might then engage students in a close reading of the paragraph at the top of 87 that starts with “But despite this type of demonstration and the continual pronouncements of allegiance to the United States by internees of all ages, the question of how loyal they really were would not go away.” Here Sandler proceeds to introduce another obstacle.By doing a close reading – helping readers think through just these few paragraphs – students can begin to see what Sandler does throughout the book to reveal the Japanese Americans’ determination in the face of obstacles as well as the irony involved. My copy of this text is riddled with sticky notes – all marking where I see him using language and structure to help the reader access these ideas. This should have a ripple effect when they read other texts about the mistreatment of groups like Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickels, America’s First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone and Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport and shorter texts like “Yellow Journalism” by Small Planet Communications.