Last Witnesses - by Erica Harth (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Sixty years after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and FDR's Executive Order 9066 making possible the incarceration of over 110,000 Americans of Japanese descent (two thirds of them American citizens) one question remains unresolved: "Could it happen again?" To the writers in this book--novelists, memoirists, poets, activists, scholars, students, professionals--the WWII internment of Japanese Americans in the detention camps of the west is an unfinished chapter of American history. Former internees and their children join with others in challenging readers to construct a better future by confronting the past. This is a fresh look at a compelling story, that continues to tarnish the American dream.

Review Quotes

"..[the essays] testify to the lasting impact of that traumatic experience on the succeeding generations of Japanese Americans." --Washington Post Book World

"...the treatment of Japanese-Americans resonates especially strongly since September 11th, as public figures...warn against repeating such mistakes with Muslim Americans..." --Publishers Weekly

"These are fresh voices that haven't been heard...a unique volume." --Library Journal

"...an often moving, sometimes disturbing collection of essays and memoirs about the internment..." --Rocky Mountain News

"...a seamless chorus that sings the core lessons of a historical error." --Women's Review of Books

About the Author

Erica Harth is Professor of Humanities and Women's Studies at Brandeis University. She is the author of many publications on early modern France. She spent a year of her childhood at Manzanar, California (one of the relocation centers for Japanese Americans), where her mother was working for the War Relocation Authority.