Searching for Subversives - by Mary Elizabeth Basile Chopas

Book Synopsis

When the United States entered World War II, Italian nationals living in this country were declared enemy aliens and faced with legal restrictions. Several thousand aliens and a few U.S. citizens were arrested and underwent flawed hearings, and hundreds were interned. Shedding new light on an injustice often overshadowed by the mass confinement of Japanese Americans, Mary Elizabeth Basile Chopas traces how government and military leaders constructed wartime policies affecting Italian residents. Based on new archival research into the alien enemy hearings, this in-depth legal analysis illuminates a process not widely understood. From presumptive guilt in the arrest and internment based on membership in social and political organizations, to hurdles in attaining American citizenship, Chopas uncovers many layers of repression not heretofore revealed in scholarship about the World War II home front.

In telling the stories of former internees and persons excluded from military zones as they attempted to resume their lives after the war, Chopas demonstrates the lasting social and cultural effects of government policies on the Italian American community, and addresses the modern problem of identifying threats in a largely loyal and peaceful population.

Review Quotes

"Adds a good deal to our understanding of the internment process for Italian enemy aliens."--H-Net Reviews

"An important book with material relevance to some of the most important political and social issues of our time. By tapping into new and revealing archival research, Chopas has enriched the field of Italian American studies and American political and legal history in general."--American Historical Review

"An important contribution to Italian American studies and US ethnic history." -- CHOICE

"Masterfully untangles the American government's process for interning 343 Italian American enemy aliens during World War II. . . . The lessons derived raise timely questions about how democracies can and should protect civil liberties when experiencing threats to national security."--Journal of Social History