Facing the Mountain

January 1, 2021

Author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling The Boys in the Boat, Brown here chronicles the Japanese American experience during World War II by focusing on four families whose sons fought with the highly decorated Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, even as friends and relatives languished in concentration camps at home. Woven in is the story of Gordon Hirabayashi, imprisoned for standing up for his constitutional rights. With a 350,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2021

In coordination with Densho, a Seattle nonprofit organization that preserves oral histories of Japanese Americans imprisoned in the U.S. during World War II, best-selling author Brown (The Boys in the Boat) chronicles the journey of four young men from Hawai'i and the West Coast of the U.S. as they fough for their freedom during the Second World War. Three were involved in action in Italy against the Axis powers, while the fourth engaged in a legal fight on behalf of all those who refused to sign the loyalty oaths forced on Japanese Americans by the U.S. The core narrative of the book follows the achievements of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a group of Japanese American soldiers who went to fight in Italy and Germany while their families were forced into concentration camps in the U.S. Brown intersperses them with stories of how the soldiers' families were being treated back in the U.S. He weaves a tapestry that reflects the complicated situations that the U.S. government created for Japanese Americans, and the heroic actions of Japanese Americans both on the frontlines and on the home front. A foreword by Tom Ikeda, executive director of Densho, adds clarity. VERDICT Combining social and military history, Brown's latest book gives readers a heartbreaking picture of all that Japanese Americans sacrificed for their country during World War II.--John Rodzvilla, Emerson Coll., Boston

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2021
A deft new account of "one of the most decorated units in American history." While the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team continues to produce admiring histories, this definitive account tells a larger story. Historian Brown notes that Japanese immigrants began arriving in the U.S. in the late 19th century. Despite brutal working conditions and rampant racist discrimination, many prospered. In Hawaii, nearly one-third of which was populated by Japanese Americans in 1941, they suffered less discrimination and developed a more assertive culture and even a distinctive pidgin language. Matters were less hospitable on the mainland, where many state laws forbade noncitizens from owning property. Few readers will fail to squirm at events following Pearl Harbor. In the outrage that followed, most Americans and their leaders assumed that Japanese Americans (but not German or Italian Americans) were potential saboteurs. Declaring a large area of the Pacific coast a Japanese "exclusion zone," the government removed more than 100,000 Japanese Americans to concentration camps further east. They were forced to leave behind any possessions they couldn't bring with them, including homes and farms, and most were stolen or occupied and not returned after the war. In 1943, pressed for manpower, the Army formed a volunteer unit that became the 442nd. Despite the legend that young men from the camps rushed to serve, the great majority came from Hawaii. Joining brought few perks, and Brown diligently records the opposition, although activists remained a small minority. Although this is familiar ground, the author delivers a superb description of the unit's training and unparalleled battlefield achievements. Despite their remarkable accomplishments, returning 442nd soldiers and their families faced the same boycotts, threats, and violence they suffered after Pearl Harbor. Brown does an excellent job capturing this regrettable historical episode, noting how it "would take decades for the country's leadership to broadly recognize and formally address the wrong that had been done to them." An insightful portrait of exceptional heroism amid deeply embedded racism.

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Starred review from February 15, 2021
Brown follows his best-selling The Boys in the Boat (2013) with a deep and richly detailed examination of indelible decisions and events that tarnished the legacy of America's role in WWII, namely the internment of Japanese Americans. In this comprehensive history, Brown draws on research and interviews to ensure that readers meet various Japanese Americans involved as individuals, focusing on four families with sons who volunteered to serve in the American military and recounting their struggles against racism and for equality and justice. He chronicles the diversity and tensions within the Japanese American community during that era and tracks all that internment actually involved, including the abrupt loss of property and businesses as well as personal freedom. Brown describes the training and combat record of the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, recounting its bravery and valor in the face of enormous casualties without romanticizing the horrors of war. Brown does an excellent job of illuminating his subjects' motivations, including their conceptions of family honor and bushido, the samurai code of ethics, as well as their actions and the consequences. The result is a compelling and impressively redefining work on an often over-simplified and always consequential subject. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Beyond the enormous draw for Brown's fans and all readers of WWII history, this should also be read by all who are pondering the true meaning of patriotism.

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