Richard Reeves (1) (1936–2020)

"Infamy" covers all the familiar bases of the story of Japanese internment: propaganda, Executive Order 9066, the No-No votes, and the 442nd regiment. Though Reeves' work is a historical chronicle, it is also a testimony to the diversity of experiences, as it includes many personal stories and narratives. It is important that this story be told, and be told repeatedly. What separates Reeves' work from others, though, is that he deliberately connects to the political dangers of 2015 and the show more current political era: that without this knowledge of Japanese experiences during WWII, the United States is able to commit the same crimes against its Muslim, Latino, and other non-white citizens today. show less

Many years ago when I served as district director of a congressional office, an elderly Japanese gentleman came to see me to discuss the Congressman's position on a resolution apologizing for the internment of over 120,000 Japanese who had resided on the West coast during the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. In later years I would read the Korematsu opinion in which the US Supreme Court would affirm the constitutionality of the Japanese internment without due process of law. At the time, I show more listened politely and promised to do what I could.

Infamy is the story of how and why loyal Americans of Japanese descent and resident aliens with jobs and property were rounded up and sent to Assembly Centers and then on to concentration camps in the harshest conditions for the remainder of the War. Most did not have sufficient time to secure their property or arrange for the operation of their businesses. In many cases, the greedy offered them a pittance for valuables and property. They lost their homes and their livelihoods.

Richard Reeves has chronicled what happened, why, and with what consequences in this detailed and fascinating history. Racism was rampant when news spread about the deaths at Pearl Harbor and the knee jerk reaction was fear. Executive Order 9906 created a large Japanese exclusion area based in the mistaken belief that people of Japanese descent would form a "Fifth column" to welcome Japanese invaders to the west coast and hasten their victory. Dissenting voices were drowned in the drumbeat of fear and anger.

The most compelling element of this book is Reeves' accounts of individuals on all sides of the chaotic removal policy. He quotes liberally from letters and documents describing the daily lives of internees. What bothered many of them the most were the armed guards and barbed wire surrounding the camps; guns were pointed inward at the people who voluntarily surrendered their lives and property during removal.

Reeves is not a neutral narrator. His outrage is clear between the lines on every page and it is impossible not to feel the same. It reminded me of how I felt about the anti-Muslim tide in the wake of 9/11. Because we are human we can and must learn from the past. Infamy has much to teach. show less

This is really an outstanding book that I received as an ARC through the Early Reviewers program. Books like this matter more than most. The time in 20th century American History when we had our own concentration camps was pretty well buried if not overtly hidden. No one talked about it. I was more than a little surprised to discover later in life that the small town I grew up in had a detention center from 1942-1946. As a child I wondered about the odd Quonset Huts near the archery range show more that were pretty much all that remained but had no idea until I discovered their history decades later. Perhaps much of younger America first learned of the internment of Japanese Americans in middle school reading "Farewell To Manzanar" which was published in 1973 and is one of the most well known books on the subject.

Reeves' book seems exceptionally well researched and tries to summarize and help us come to terms with how this happened in America. He lets us see from both sides of the barbed wire. I learned a lot from this book. I can recommend this book to any reader with even a casual interest in the subject. It deserves a wider audience than that, however. This is an important book. Perhaps the people who should read it are those who are entirely unaware of what can and did happen in America. I think one of the best points Reeves makes is found in his introduction, which I will quote here:

"The story of the "Japanese Internment," as it is usually called, is a tale of the best and worst in America. I learned, I think, that what pushes America forward and expands our liberty is not the old Anglo-Saxon Protestant views of the Founders, but the almost blind faith of each wave of immigrants-including the ones we put behind barbed wire. The Germans. The Irish. The Italians. The Jews. The Chinese. The Japanese. The latinos. The South Asians. The African-Americans. We are not only a nation of immigrants. We are a nation made by immigrants, foreigners who were needed for their labor and skills and faith-but were often hated because they were not like us until they were us."

I like that line "because they were not like us until they were us."

Reading this book I got angry. Very angry. This story is frightening, detailing how quickly racism, fear, and increasingly greed created a hysteria that spread from the West Coast. There are some true villains in this story, some big, some small. Reeves does an excellent job with some surprising examples (Dr Seuss?!) of the spread of the poison sentiment. This is a very sad time in American History when the constitutional rights of American citizens were completely ignored. We move through each stage of the internment, and see the valuable service that many Japanese Americans still performed in military intelligence and the armed forces. In the end we have an epilogue and see the remorse that came to so many of the perps, perhaps most poignantly that of a weeping Chief Justice Earl Warren. We see the ugly side of America and Americans.

When I started reading this I did not want to put it down. It is that kind of book. Recommended. show less

Infamy is a typical American history, in that it brings up the past in good measure just to bury it. The overall picture here is that the episode of concentration camps for Japanese Americans was just a step in the growth curve of a fundamentally good society, rather than another part of a long and horrible racist history from the nation's foundation to present. To a great extent the author focuses on the most heroic, patriotic Japanese Americans as if the only way to humanize them is to show more look at those most assimilated and American. While I appreciate the information presented here, it would have benefited greatly from a more critical approach. show less