James D. Houston (1933–2009)
Author of Farewell to Manzanar
About the Author
James D. Houston is the author of "Continental Drift" & six other novels, & of several nonfiction works, including "Farewell to Manzanar", coauthored with his wife, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. (Publisher Provided) James D. Houston was born in San Francisco, California on November 10, 1933. He show more received a bachelor's degree in drama from San Jose State College and a master's degree in American literature at Stanford University. During his lifetime, he wrote nine novels as well as nonfiction books and essays. His works include Bird of Another Heaven, Snow Mountain Passage, and Farewell to Manzanar. His second novel, Gig, won the Joseph Henry Jackson Award for Fiction. He taught writing part-time at numerous universities including the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Hawaii, the University of Oregon, the University of Michigan, George Mason University, and San Jose State University. He died due to complications of cancer on April 16, 2009 at the age of 75. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Jana Marcus
Works by James D. Houston
The Men in My Life: And Other More or Less True Recollections of Kinship (A Graywolf Discovery) (1900) 18 copies
West Coast Fiction: Modern Writing from California, Oregon, and Washington (1979) — Editor; Contributor — 7 copies
One Can Think About Life After the Fish Is in the Canoe and Other Coastal Sketches / Beyond Manzanar: Views of… (1985) 6 copies
Gas Mask 1 copy
Associated Works
Treasure Island Trek; Children's Author & Illustrator Festival Saturday Oct, 18, 1969 — Contributor, some editions — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Houston, James D.
- Legal name
- Houston, James Dudley
- Birthdate
- 1933-11-10
- Date of death
- 2009-04-16
- Burial location
- Santa Cruz, California.
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- San Francisco, California, USA
Santa Cruz, California, USA - Education
- San Jose State University
Stanford University - Relationships
- Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki (wife)
- Organizations
- US Air Force
- Awards and honors
- Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award (1999)
Members
Reviews
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
This memoir sheds light on an all-but-forgotten shameful part of American history when Japanese Americans were forcibly evacuated to settlement camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The author was 7 years old and one of 10 children sent with their parents to live in Manzanar, an internment camp in California. Most left behind belongings and homes that were plundered. This is an insight into the deplorable living conditions when they arrived and life in the camp. It is also a memory of how her family survived until they were forced to leave with no home to which they could return. Many of these Japanese Americans served in the military and many did not return from WWII.… (more)
½Great novel about the Japanese-American experience during World War II. What stook out to me was the honesty. The author tells the story from the perspective of a young girl and doesn't hold back. She goes into detail on how the experience affected her parents and her siblings/herself differently. This novel is a great read for younger students, because it gives a young person's perspective on life during the internment process.
Follow Jeanne as she retells her time living in an internment camp during WWII. This story recalls before being at Manzanar Camp, living there, and the impact on life after the camp. A memoir that touches on a part of WWII that isn't often talked about as well as growing up during that time. Reading level appropriate for middle school.
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Statistics
- Works
- 26
- Also by
- 13
- Members
- 3,256
- Popularity
- #7,855
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 50
- ISBNs
- 81
- Languages
- 2