WE HEREBY REFUSE

I have read numerous books on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This is one of the very few books that use a graphic novel-type format. It has a text size that is easy to read. The artwork quality is really up to whoever is looking at it. I like a lot of the artwork and some of the more what I would consider abstract forms I don't like.

What is really important, though, is that the book covers the events leading up to the internment, the beginnings of the internment (being taken to the assembly centers), then being moved to the actual semi-permanent camps and on to the end of the internment.

It also centers around a few particular characters and what they did and the effect of the interment upon them. It also covers the controversial questionnaire problem, violence in the camps, the troubles at Manzanar and the gradual release of some of the internees who were taking jobs somewhere else in the U.S. But not on the West Coast.

Then it also includes the various court activities that tried to overturn the internment rulings. It also has a very strong anti-JACL emphasis.

I think using the graphic novel format is good since it giving actual (drawn) faces to the people involved yet, at the same time, it is providing a lot of good information on the entire situation. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting an overview of just what happened to these people (2/3rd of who were actual American citizens).

Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page