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Anna (Bobs Her Hair)'s Reviews > Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II
Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II
by
by
4-4.5 stars
After reading Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics I was excited to see he had another book in the works. This author has a compelling way of telling historical events that have the evocative feel of a Ken Burns' documentary. The imagery is vivid. "Boys in the Boys" had a heart and my fingers could feel its steady pulse. So, I placed "Facing the Mountain" on to my to-read shelf and waited. About a year or two flew past and when it finally became available I asked myself what book is this? Am I in the mood for nonfiction? I reread the book blurb. A memory floated to the surface.
My grandmother was a field worker. Sometimes my nana cleaned houses or did laundry for others. She told my mom the story of a family in a nearby Arizona town that she did odd jobs. This family was placed in the Japanese concentration camps (now called internment camps). They passed their ranch to the care of their foreman. After they were released the foreman kept their house and land. My mom would sometimes point out a yellow house close to Van Buren Road and tell me this family's sad story. I wondered what had happened to them. I haven't found out.
When "Facing the Mountain" released and I read the blurb I knew I had to read this story. Like, "Boys in the Boat" this book held of hearts of several men and their families. Their heartbreak, disillusionment, the injustice of their situation, their pride and honor demand attention. I had never heard of an all Japanese-American regiment (the Nisei) that served during WW2. There's nothing in any history book or class I've taken that mention this, only a paragraph or two about the interment camps. Please read their stories in "Facing the Mountain."
https://www.100thbattalion.org/histor...
https://www.goforbroke.org/learn/hist...
https://442sd.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adjnO...
[Trigger Warning: graphic violence/scenes of war and casualties]
library eloan
After reading Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics I was excited to see he had another book in the works. This author has a compelling way of telling historical events that have the evocative feel of a Ken Burns' documentary. The imagery is vivid. "Boys in the Boys" had a heart and my fingers could feel its steady pulse. So, I placed "Facing the Mountain" on to my to-read shelf and waited. About a year or two flew past and when it finally became available I asked myself what book is this? Am I in the mood for nonfiction? I reread the book blurb. A memory floated to the surface.
My grandmother was a field worker. Sometimes my nana cleaned houses or did laundry for others. She told my mom the story of a family in a nearby Arizona town that she did odd jobs. This family was placed in the Japanese concentration camps (now called internment camps). They passed their ranch to the care of their foreman. After they were released the foreman kept their house and land. My mom would sometimes point out a yellow house close to Van Buren Road and tell me this family's sad story. I wondered what had happened to them. I haven't found out.
When "Facing the Mountain" released and I read the blurb I knew I had to read this story. Like, "Boys in the Boat" this book held of hearts of several men and their families. Their heartbreak, disillusionment, the injustice of their situation, their pride and honor demand attention. I had never heard of an all Japanese-American regiment (the Nisei) that served during WW2. There's nothing in any history book or class I've taken that mention this, only a paragraph or two about the interment camps. Please read their stories in "Facing the Mountain."
https://www.100thbattalion.org/histor...
https://www.goforbroke.org/learn/hist...
https://442sd.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adjnO...
[Trigger Warning: graphic violence/scenes of war and casualties]
library eloan
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Reading Progress
April 16, 2021
– Shelved
April 16, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 30, 2021
–
Started Reading
May 30, 2021
–
5.0%
"And that's how he came to be there on the morning of the day that would change everything he had ever known, that would shut down the Miho Hotel, separate his parents, cost him a brother, isolate his sister, challenge his identity, and send him halfway around the world deep into the landscape of a nightmare."
May 30, 2021
–
10.0%
"All they had wanted since December 7 was to serve, to do what young men were doing all across the country, to stand tall and proud like all the others, Now that opportunity was gone in a single instant, replaced by a sudden realization that they were not trusted. And worse. Not even seen as truly American."
May 31, 2021
–
16.0%
"Their firm resolve was fueled not just by their immediate anger over what had happened at Pearl Harbor but also by their deeper recognition that something profoundly evil was afoot in Europe and in Asia, an evil given face and form by soulless men who wielded racial hatred, demagoguery, blind nationalism, and brute violence as the means by which to seize and hold power."
May 31, 2021
–
31.0%
"As they talked things over and confided in one another, something solid and enduring began to take shape among them--a common identity that was both American and Japanese, but also unique, something formidable and unflinching yet warm and embracing, a unifying spirit, a silent but potent power that, in the not too distant future, would carry them through unimaginable hardships and terrors."
June 1, 2021
–
61.0%
June 1, 2021
–
Finished Reading
June 2, 2021
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
