Malkin sets out to make a case that the round up and detainment of over 110,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII was not only justified, but necessary to preserve national security, rather than based on racism and war-time hysteria as has been previously accepted, and in turn that "racial profiling" by the Bush administration against Arab and Muslims in the US is also rightly justified in the preservation of current national security.
The heart of her argument is based upon the "MAGIC" decryptions, a long series of secret Japanese messages intercepted by the US government in the early war years. She posits that in these messages information showed that the Japanese had a spy network of Japanese-Americans (the "Nisei") and Japanese resident aliens (the "Issei") living in the US. This in and of itself is a huge problem as it has been shown by numerous scholars over the years that these decryptions did not in fact state this, but rather that the Japanese had intentions of recruiting these individuals for espionage as well as the fact that among the thousands of messages decrypted only a handful spoke of espionage in the US.
She brings very little new evidence to the table and instead lifts most of her material from work done in the early and mid 1980's, which was soundly refuted at that time anyway.
Also very important is the fact that only a handful of administration officials had access to the MAGIC documents, while the case for internment was made quite vocally by other officials who had no way of knowing that these documents even existed. Most notable of these was West Coast Defense Commander General John DeWitt who in his final report detailing plans for the "evacuation" said that "the Japanese race is an enemy race, and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become 'Americanized,' the racial strains are undiluted." In addition, those few that did have access to the MAGIC documents, did not necessarily even read or know of the few messages, out of thousands, that referenced any sort of spy network in the US, due to the sheer volume of data contained in them. The governors of the western states that refused to allow Japanese relocated to their states freedom of movement, instead insisting that they be kept in "concentration camps" under guard, also had no access to the MAGIC decrypts.
Malkin also does not mention, even to refute, any of the decades of scholarship done on the influence of nativism, racism, economic control and war-time hysteria on the series of decisions that led to the actual confinement at military camps that is commonly referred to as "the internment". Even if she does not believe those factors were an influence, by not refuting them, her argument is weakened considerably.
Another major point of her book is based upon the idea that this was all done solely in the interest of national security to prevent a Japanese attack on the US west coast. However, the fact of the matter was that before even the first transfer of a Japanese-American to a long term "detention center", the US had won the battle of Midway and effectively eliminated any possibility of a Japanese assault on the US. She also neglects to effectively explain why German-Americans were not subject to a program of similar nature and scope, only a very small number were detained as opposed to the vast majority (about 3/4ths of the entire Japanese-American population spent most of WWII in camps) when in fact the threat of German subversion on the east coast was much larger and many more ships were lost to Nazi subs (German saboteurs even landed on Long Island).
To further compound the fact that the book lacks serious historical scholarship, in its place is a virulent attack upon all things "liberal" or "leftist". Malkin attacks a conspiracy of history books, politicians, the media and universities who "cloud the truth" with "political correctness". This is all fairly ludicrous since many of the architects of the internment have since referred to it as a mistake or overreaction, as well as many prominent conservatives speaking out against it. The 1981 Presidential Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians report to Congress stated that "The
broad historical causes which shaped [the decisions to relocate and detain Japanese Americans] were race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." Even arch-conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia likened the case of Fred Korematsu (case found in defense of internment), to that of the Dred Scott decision (case found in defense of slavery).
In the final chapter, Malkin discusses current concerns over national security and voices her support of racial profiling at airports and preventing Muslims from serving in the armed forces in the Middle East. She is quick to point out that she is not in favor of an Arab/Muslim internment, yet what possible conclusion does she wish the reader to come to when this argument comes after 148 pages of text explaining why internment is a sound decision to make to protect the national security. Not to mention the fact that the cover of the book is a photograph of a Japanese man, Richard Kotoshirodo a man who did in fact do some surveillance for the Japanese prior to Pearl Harbor (not that anyone would recognize him as such), next to a photograph of Mohammad Atta, one of the 9-11 Hijackers. This juxtaposition, along with the title of the book, clearly infers that infringing on an individuals rights based on race, as was the case leading to the interment of the Japanese during WWII, is also what should be done in the "war on terror" against Arabs and Muslims living in the US.
It seems as though Malkin set out to write a polemic against individual rights in times of war, specifically the current "war on terror", by justifying what was, and still will be, considered an indefensible blot on our nation's history, the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
| Price | New from | Used from |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| $7.95 with discounted Audible membership | |
- Read with Our Free App
-
Audiobook
$0.00 - 53 Used from $1.32 13 New from $12.78 4 Collectible from $10.00
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
$14.35
Get it as soon as Monday, Jul 10
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
+
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
