Comments on Some Recent Books
Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II
Albert Marrin. Knopf, (256p) ISBN 978-0-553-50936-6
With masterful command of his subject and a clear, conversational style, Marrin (FDR and the American Crisis) lays bare the suffering inflicted upon Japanese Americans by the U.S. during WWII. Marrin delves into cultural, political, and economic strains leading up to Pearl Harbor, documenting extensive racist beliefs on both sides of the Pacific. Perceived as unacceptable security risks after the attack, Japanese immigrants living on the West Coast (issei) and their children (nisei), U.S. citizens by birth, were sent to desolate relocation centers. Only nisei trained by the military as linguists or who served in two segregated Army units in Europe were spared the humiliation of prisonlike confinement. Marrin admirably balances the heroism and loyalty of both groups with the hostile reception they received after the war and the legal battles of the few nisei who resisted; their convictions were only overturned in the 1980s. A prologue and final chapter questioning whether national security can justify the limiting of individual liberties, during wartime or as a response to terrorism, bookend this engrossing and hopeful account. Archival photos and artwork, extensive source notes, and reading suggestions are included. Ages 12–up.
—Publishers Weekly
Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
Albert Marrin. Knopf, (208p) ISBN 978-1-101-93146-2
Marrin presents a gripping analysis of “history’s worst-ever health disaster,” the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918, which infected 500 million people worldwide (“one-third of the human race at the time”) over an 18-month period. Moving easily through relevant background, from the development of urban centers to contemporary medical practices, he identifies two primary factors: the wretched and overcrowded conditions of WWI battlegrounds, hospitals, and training camps, combined with ignorance of the cause of and best ways to contain influenza. Modern transportation methods, prioritizing war over health, a weakened civilian population, and a virulent mutation of the virus all contributed to the staggering death toll (estimated at between 50 million and 100 million).
An engrossing chapter addresses the U.S. response, uncoordinated efforts to combat the pandemic that were often essentially “worthless.” Much of the current understanding of the contagion derives from research done since the 1930s; Marrin’s lucid presentation of it concludes with a sobering assessment of the risks of a similar pandemic, perhaps involving a mutated strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus as “the ultimate terrorist weapon.” Archival photos, notes, and reading suggestions are included. Ages 12–up.
—Publisher’s weekly
