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3.93k reviews for:
They Called Us Enemy - Expanded Edition
Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, George Takei
4.54 AVERAGE
3.93k reviews for:
They Called Us Enemy - Expanded Edition
Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, George Takei
4.54 AVERAGE
I thoroughly enjoyed this first person retelling of the WWII Japanese Internment Camp experience. I love history of WWII but sadly most of it focuses on the Holocaust and ignores the other things that happened, so this was a good book to add to my collection.
I loved the pictures and Takei's vivid imagery in words and his sense memories. Highly recommend.
I loved the pictures and Takei's vivid imagery in words and his sense memories. Highly recommend.
This is an incredible and impactful book about an often hidden black mark on American history, the interment of over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans. Takei (and co-writers) manage to move the reader about an awful past, without forcing the reader to stop and struggle. This is in large part because we are seeing this history through the lens of young George Takei who was about 5 when he and his family were first forced into an internment camp. At the time he didn't have a clue what was going on (his parents worked hard to keep it that way), and he thought he was going on some strange vacation. For a while he believed that the tall fences were not to keep the internees in, but rather to keep dinosaurs out, after an older boy convinced him that Arkansas, the site of one of the camps he stayed in, was the last place where dinosaurs stilled lived. The reader can nonetheless see the truth behind what young George believed.
This book does have jarring moments. There are a number of near-present day events where Takei has talked about his history to various audiences that serve as a quasi framing device. Except that there are a few too many to be a framing device, especially since the first starts 9 pages in. Portions of a talk Takei gave at Tedx Kyoto feels like it adds nothing since everything said could have been put in this book without reference to the talk. That particular talk also never returns. There is a better quasi frame, a talk/conversation that Takei had at the FDR presidential museum because it allows us to see the conflicting emotions that Takei, his father (and undoubtedly many other Japanese Americans) have/had toward the president responsible for their interment.
Ultimately I highly recommend this, I just wish it had ironed out a few last kinks.
This book does have jarring moments. There are a number of near-present day events where Takei has talked about his history to various audiences that serve as a quasi framing device. Except that there are a few too many to be a framing device, especially since the first starts 9 pages in. Portions of a talk Takei gave at Tedx Kyoto feels like it adds nothing since everything said could have been put in this book without reference to the talk. That particular talk also never returns. There is a better quasi frame, a talk/conversation that Takei had at the FDR presidential museum because it allows us to see the conflicting emotions that Takei, his father (and undoubtedly many other Japanese Americans) have/had toward the president responsible for their interment.
Ultimately I highly recommend this, I just wish it had ironed out a few last kinks.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Everyone should read this. I didn't even know that this happened wth
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
In the vein of Maus, probably what I expected from what I know of Takei.
As an adult, I know the history of the internment camps. I've read fiction and nonfiction about the experience. But this graphic novel through the eyes of a child brings new heartbreak to the story of imprisoning American immigrants that isn't as much a thing of the past as we'd like to believe.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This is a must read for all Americans. Both to inform us of a piece of our past that too few know about and to help us take action to prevent it happening again.