Manzanar to Mount Whitney - by Hank Umemoto (Paperback)

About the Book

A poignant, at times humorous account of Japanese American life in California

Book Synopsis

In 1942, fourteen-year-old Hank Umemoto gazed out a barrack window at Manzanar Internment Camp, saw the silhouette of Mount Whitney against an indigo sky, and vowed that one day he would climb to the top. Fifty-seven years and a lifetime of stories later, at the age of seventy-one, he reached the summit. Part memoir and part hiker's diary, Manzanar to Mount Whitney gives an intimate, rollicking account of Japanese American life California before and after World War II. As he wanders through the mountains of California's Inland Empire, Umemoto recalls pieces of his childhood on a grape vineyard in the Sacramento Valley, his time at Manzanar, where beauty and hope were maintained despite the odds, and his later career as proprietor of a printing firm, all with grace, honesty, and unfailing humor. And all along, the peak of Mount Whitney casts its shadow, a symbol of freedom, beauty, and resilience.

Review Quotes

''An entertaining romp...He's the closest writer in Niseidom to write like Charles Bukowski.''--Rafu Shimpo

''Equal parts memoir and hiking diary, the book's Owens Valley landscapes give way to tales about Umemoto's many lives: as janitor, dishwasher, skid row denizen, soldier, jeweler, and writer.''--Los Angeles Magazine

"A Nisei's story of being confined in an internment camp during World War II and hardscrabble years afterward, interspersed with a diary of high-altitude hiking."--Kirkus Reviews

"With both grace and humor, Hank Umemoto tells stories of resilience, adventure, and courage. His engaging memoir is a welcome addition to the literature of the Japanese American experience."--Maggie Wittenburg, executive director, Manzanar History Association