Monday, January 21, 2002
Nisei Daughter
by Monica Sone
Do you ever see the Hand of God in the mundane parts of your life? I mean, have you ever seen things come together so perfectly that you suspect there's a conspiracy afoot? Getting this book was one of those moments for me. You've probably heard of the Japanese internment, in which all of the people of Japanese descent living on the west coast of the United States were forced to move to concentration camps located inland. You've probably heard that it was a gross injustice fueled by racism. Well, I think so, too, but I happened to be privy to a conversation where an honorable, loving and (as far as I can tell) non-prejudiced woman whom was living in Seattle at that time put forth her opinion that the event was a justifiable war-time security measure. In the course of the discussion, she had mentioned this book and I had scribbled down the title, knowing that I would probably never have enough interest in the specifics of the event to pick it up. Well, time passed and I was picking over the remnants of the King County Library book sale. Nothing looked good and I feared that I would leave the sale empty handed, save for whatever volumes my wife manged to find. As I scanned the titles, however, my eye happened to catch Nisei Daughter. A surprising coincidence and since I was empty handed, I decided to risk 50ยข and pick it up. (Of course, I then managed to find two other minor acquisitions, but I digress...) It was another great find. It touches many of my interests in history: it's local, first person, set in the early 20th century and deals with immigration and cultural issues. It's a good book to share with my daughters as they learn about history. And it's just an engaging, well written book. So, this "accidental" find is now firmly entrenched on my shelf.
LibraryThing link
Do you ever see the Hand of God in the mundane parts of your life? I mean, have you ever seen things come together so perfectly that you suspect there's a conspiracy afoot? Getting this book was one of those moments for me. You've probably heard of the Japanese internment, in which all of the people of Japanese descent living on the west coast of the United States were forced to move to concentration camps located inland. You've probably heard that it was a gross injustice fueled by racism. Well, I think so, too, but I happened to be privy to a conversation where an honorable, loving and (as far as I can tell) non-prejudiced woman whom was living in Seattle at that time put forth her opinion that the event was a justifiable war-time security measure. In the course of the discussion, she had mentioned this book and I had scribbled down the title, knowing that I would probably never have enough interest in the specifics of the event to pick it up. Well, time passed and I was picking over the remnants of the King County Library book sale. Nothing looked good and I feared that I would leave the sale empty handed, save for whatever volumes my wife manged to find. As I scanned the titles, however, my eye happened to catch Nisei Daughter. A surprising coincidence and since I was empty handed, I decided to risk 50ยข and pick it up. (Of course, I then managed to find two other minor acquisitions, but I digress...) It was another great find. It touches many of my interests in history: it's local, first person, set in the early 20th century and deals with immigration and cultural issues. It's a good book to share with my daughters as they learn about history. And it's just an engaging, well written book. So, this "accidental" find is now firmly entrenched on my shelf.
LibraryThing link
Labels: OnMyShelf
// posted by John @ 2:10 PM 
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