The short review: I was absolutely riveted by this book. Rather than being a complete history of the 442nd Regiment and 100th Battalion, Just Americans focuses on the formation of the units and the way that their actions in the Southern France campaign of World War II helped to end the internment of Japanese Americans back home. As a part of that Asahina examines the political motivations for and consequences of the internment, as well as an appendix that attempts to address some of the issues of revisionist history and the current state of the civil rights movement. I'm not sure I completely agree with everything Asahina says, and certainly fans of FDR will be struck by his scathing attack of New Deal social policies, but at the very least it's food for thought. That covers the intellectual part of my reaction. A more detailed discussion of the more personal part will follow in the Useless Opinions section.

Started: 2006-07-29 | Finished: 2006-08-03

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