American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: community analysis section, individual excludees, expatriation requests, Japanese Americans, United States, West Coast (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Anyone with a thirst for thoughtful and well articulated information and analysis will find value in Muller's examination." -- Asian American Press

Review

"An excellent study of the mid-level agencies' messy job at evaluating the loyalty of Japanese Americans, and concludes by contextualizing this case within past and present governmental evaluations of loyalty."
— Western Historical Quarterly

"The author places this work within the broader context of history and ties into the development of subsequent loyalty programs to ferret out communists during the Cold War. . . . Recommended."
— Choice

"Insightful."
— Arkansas Historical Quarterly

"[A] good book on an unexplored dimension of a sorry chapter in American history."
— Journal of American History

Combining intensive archival research and brilliant analysis, Eric Muller gives us another example of bad news from the good war.

—Roger Daniels, University of Cincinnati, Emeritus, and author of Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (October 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807831735
• ISBN-13: 978-0807831731
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #724,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important and Timely Study, October 24, 2007

By	Bao (California, USA) - See all my reviews

Contrary to the first review, I believe that Eric Muller's book is an important and timely study of the Japanese American internment, and while narrowly focused on the question of "loyalty," this question and how it was determined and the racial prejudices that were exhibited by the various military agencies and WRA point to the ways in which the line between those deemed "loyal" and "disloyal" were arbitrarily drawn, largely by the prejudices of those involved (DeWitt being foremost among those who has been documented as saying that the internment was revenge for Pearl Harbor--a troubled and flawed and revealing comment if ever there was one since it demonstrated that DeWitt, like to many others during WWII could not distinguish between Japanese nationals, Japanese miltitary, Japanese in America of the first generation unable to apply for citizenship due to racist immigration/citizenship laws, and Japanese Americans whose cultural influences included Mickey Mouse, the Boyscouts, and American jazz, as well as Akido, Sushi, and Buddhist practices).

The work that Muller has done will resonate with the questions we are currently facing as a society living in a post-9/11 world; Muslim and Arabs living in America are at risk in a similar way currently. We need to remember the lesson of internment and this question of "loyalty" as not being commensurate with race or religion.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American Inquisition:The hunt for Japanese American......., November 2, 2007

By	James L. Muller "Sebior Lawyer" (Chery Hill, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is well researched and written in a manner that, although scholarly, is very readable and full of information of facts not previously known to me. In the light of the current state of afairs in our country, this book points out how we have previously acted under the stress of war.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inaccuracy, January 15, 2008

By	Robert Tsujimoto (Concord, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There were many inaccuracies in this book regarding Dr. George Ochikubo. Much data was gathered from the national archives written by persons that did not care for Dr. Ochikubo due to the fact that he embarassed them in the courts. One of the discrepancy was that he did not speak the Japanese language. The fact is that he was fluent in the language because his grandparents only spoke Japanese. That was his only method to communicate with his parents.