A Tragedy of Democracy

The confinement of some 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, often called the Japanese internment, has been described as the worst official civil rights violation of modern times. Greg Robinson not only presents important new information on these events but situates them within a larger transnational framework. Drawing on newly discovered material, he reveals for the first time the extent of the American government's surveillance of Japanese communities in the years leading up to war and the construction of what officials termed "concentration camps" for enemy aliens. He also considers the aftermath of confinement, including the place of Japanese Americans in postwar civil rights struggles, the movement by former camp inmates for redress, and the continuing role of the camps as touchstones for nationwide commemoration and debate.Robinson is the first to analyze the treatment of West Coast Japanese Americans within a North American context. He contrasts confinement on the mainland with wartime Hawaii, where fears of Japanese Americans justified Army dictatorship, suspension of the Constitution, and the imposition of military tribunals. He likewise contrasts the camps in the United States with Canada's confinement of 22,000 citizens and residents of Japanese ancestry from British Columbia. Readers will learn the history behind the expulsion of almost 5,000 Japanese from Mexico's Pacific Coast and the poignant story of the Japanese Latin Americans who were kidnapped from their homes and interned in the United States. In studying Japanese confinement as a continental and international phenomenon, Robinson offers a richer understanding of its genesis and outcomes.