Hello,

Anyoen can recommend non-fiction or fiction books involving Japanese-Americans around WWII? Either in the continental United States or in Hawaii. I'm more looking for books where it tells what the civilians were doing before and during the war. Not so much the military aspect.

I've collected a ton of books already, but I'm looking for more. If anyone can recommend titles that I don't have, I'd appreciate it. Or maybe even reputable websites or alternative materials.

Thanks!

Natalie

The two books I can recommend without reservation to you are: Farewell to Manzanar, by Jean Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, a true story of Japanese-American experience during and after the World War II internment; and

When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka, a poignant story of  the ousting of a family of four Japanese-Americans from their home and business in Califonia, their internment in a remote 'relocation center', and their return to their desecrated  home upon 'release', and the impact these experiences had on each of the four members of the shattered family.   Otsuka never uses the names of the father or mother, son or daughter in this affecting little book, and  the author's use of NON-particularity, for me, somehow underlined the tragedy of  the Japanese-Americans' wartime experience.  One of my grandchildren brought this book to me after reading it in a high school English class.

I'll second the suggestion for Farewell to Manzanar!

You might also be interested in:

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford

The Invisible Thread, Yoshiko Uchida

Strawberry Days, David A. Neiwert

I forgot to recommend Obasan, by Joy Kigawa.  She is a Nisei, the child of Japanese immigrant parents, and Obasan is her first novel.  It tells of what happened to her, her family, and her people in Canada during the Second World War.

Here are a few:

Alice Takemoto - Nisei Memories: My Parents Talk About the War Years

Karen L. Ishizuka - Lost and Found: Reclaiming the Japanese American Incarceration

Yoshiko Uchida - Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family

Sorry, hit enter instead of tab!

Recommend "Snow Falling onCedar"  involves community in Puget Sound post-WWI

Tallgrass, by Sandra Dallas, is a murder mystery set in a Japanese internment camp in the western US. It's very good.

Review:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3HW7539X8JRK6/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm