Richard Reeves (1)Reviews

"Infamy" covers all the familiar bases of the story of Japanese internment: propaganda, Executive Order 9066, the No-No votes, and the 442nd regiment. Though Reeves' work is a historical chronicle, it is also a testimony to the diversity of experiences, as it includes many personal stories and narratives. It is important that this story be told, and be told repeatedly. What separates Reeves' work from others, though, is that he deliberately connects to the political dangers of 2015 and the current political era: that without this knowledge of Japanese experiences during WWII, the United States is able to commit the same crimes against its Muslim, Latino, and other non-white citizens today.

I was afraid it might breed sympathy for the devil but instead it just ga e me a clearer picture

President Kennedy Profile of Power, by Richard Reeves (read in 2023)

In the early hours of June 26, 1948, phones began ringing across America, waking up the airmen of World War II—pilots, navigators, and mechanics—who were finally beginning normal lives with new houses, new jobs, new wives, and new babies. Some were given just forty-eight hours to report to local military bases. The president, Harry S. Truman, was recalling them to active duty to try to save the desperate people of the western sectors of Berlin, the enemy capital many of them had bombed to rubble only three years before.

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had ordered a blockade of the city, isolating the people of West Berlin, using hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers to close off all land and water access to the city. He was gambling that he could drive out the small detachment...

A must read, especially in these times when people are talking about maybe putting Muslims in internment camps. God forbid we ever attempt something like that again!

Oh well, nobody's perfect. This not only applies to Ford, but to Reeves as well, normally a perceptive political observer. In this book, he echoed the public perception of Jerry Ford as an amiable bumbler, and failed to spot why this congressional lifer was not a bad follow-up to the trauma of Watergate. This is becoming common wisdom now, 40 years after the fact; just a shame Reeves - in common with the rest of us - didn't see it then.

Very entertaining. But believe it or not, given the long list of characters crowded into the title, Reeves didn't include Jimmy Carter in the book. But there are insightful portraits of those he does cover. Looking back, one can't help but compare the high quality of this group (he left out Birch Bayh, too) with the current cast auditioning for 2016. Sigh.

This is a startlingly detailed account of Richard Nixon's presidency, but very rarely does it drag.

What is striking is how something like the Watergate scandal that brought Nixon down seemed almost bound to happen. Very early on, dishonesty and distrust were the order of the day in the Nixon White House. From that, the Watergate break-in and cover-up were almost natural follow-ons.

Recommended.

A powerful read!

I’ve been marching through bios of the U.S. Presidents in chronological order and of the 40+ read so far, Profile of Power is definitely one of the best. What sets it apart is that Reeves puts you right next to Kennedy to see government “being made” day-in and day-out during his presidency. Much more realistic than the usual “Camelot” fairy tale, it gives a clear portrait of JFK as the man — and politician — he was. I’ll definitely include his Nixon and Reagan books on my reading list.

I requested this book through Early Reviewers, then misplaced it, now found it again. I am descended from Scottish and Norwegian families who immigrated to the US in the 18th and 19th centuries, and I heard lots of family stories about those forebears without any sense that I was anything but American. When WWII broke out, my father tried to enlist but was rejected for medical reasons, so he spent the war years working in the Kaiser Shipyards in Portland, Oregon. When I entered first grade after the war, one of my classmates was Japanese-American boy who had spent the war, with his parents, in an internment camp, and many of our classmates abused him as if he were the enemy. Fortunately for me, my parents rejected those assaults, made friends with his parents, and always welcomed him at our house. So I grew up knowing the basic story of the internments, including its injustice. I was glad to receive this book and read it, for it gives the larger picture, gives it accurately, and explores its origins in basic human insecurities and flaws. I think, in these Trumpish days, everyone should be aware of how easily such events could recur. Read it.

Easy to read history of an important event. For the most part, I'd say the work of the men and women of the Berlin Airlift represents America at its finest.

The narrative provided a significant addition to what one already knows or believed about John Kennedy. Insightful surrounding his use of power and influence.

This book was sent to me by LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review

...Infamy is written in a matter of fact style, purely written, I believe, as a reminder to us all of what we are capable of when we feel threatened. Those who are interested in History, as well as History experts will find this book fascinating; by connecting the victims with their names, professions, backgrounds and most of all, their rights as American citizens, I believe that Mr. Reeves has added a level of humanity that enables us all to put ourselves in the place of the victims. That said, there is no guarantee that this couldn’t happen again in our lifetime. Highly recommended

Read entire review on The Thugbrarian Review @ http://wp.me/p4pAFB-u9

Richard Reeve’s Infamy is a useful contribution to the study of one of the darkest periods for civil liberties in US history, namely the treatment of West Coast Japanese and Japanese Americans during the Second World War. The myriad stories of families ripped apart, dreams destroyed, confidence dashed and even lives lost makes for difficult reading at times. Over and over again each individual anecdote causes one to pause, shakes one’s head and continue reading in a desire to become a witness to this hitherto hidden and painful history.

While Jan Jarboe Russell’s recent book focuses specifically on the Crystal City, Texas federal detention center in her excellent book, The Train to Crystal City, Reeves’s book covers not only the detention centers but also the assembly centers in various states across the Western US. These were places where internees were originally sent before more ‘permanent’ accommodation could be made available. It is astonishing to realize just how many centers there were and how little of their history is yet to be fully explored. Yet what little Reeves has uncovered is enough to get a glimpse of the deprivation; places full of dust, dried animal excrement and despair greeted those rounded up with no charge. The conditions within, Reeves notes, were well below the acceptable standard for even the most violent of criminals housed in federal penitentiaries of the time.

Whereas Crystal City is more measured in its look at the actions of members of the administration, Infamy does not hold back, printing damning racist quotes from President FDR and similar statements from various people in charge like the infamous General “A Jap is a Jap” DeWitt. Reeves even goes so far as to imply that civil libertarian Roger Baldwin, President of the ACLU at the time, was too busy pandering to FDR to take up Japanese internment cases, which is based more on opinion than fact. Undoubtedly his sources for a specific quote here and there are impeccable, but Reeves misses an opportunity to give these characters the depth they deserve and delve deeper into the very real fear that was felt by the vast majority of Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor to discover motives which extended well beyond simple racism.

Having said that, one character of the book who does come out very well is attorney Wayne Collins who represented the nearly 2,000 US citizens, many children, who were deported to Japan in the aftermath of internment in a gross violation of their constitutional rights. The determination of Collins to see justice done is incredibly moving. He seems to have had no other motive than seeing that the rights of these citizens were adhered to and he wins citizenship back for many.

Finally, Reeves enlightens readers about the sacrifices made by the young men who volunteered straight out of the camps, while in many cases their families remained interned, to fight in the famed all Japanese American 442nd in Europe, the most decorated regiment per capita of any in the history of US warfare. Those who survived went on to be US representatives, actors and artists. Those that didn’t clearly changed the tide of US opinion of Japanese Americans through their ultimate sacrifice, becoming posthumous heroes in cities and small towns across a forever changed United States.

This nonfiction book covers a time in US history when we behaved disgracefully towards Japanese Americans, out of fear and prejudice, and has been too often glossed over.

In 1965, not that many years after the internment in concentration caps of Japanese Americans, I was ignorant that it even happened. It sure wasn't covered in my US history class. I found out about it when one of my high school friends, a Japanese American, told me that her parents had been interned and had lost their strawberry farm. Good, solid people, good solid citizens, treated like traitors and prisoners.

While I've looked for books on the American internment, I hadn't found one as informative as this one. The author seems to have done his homework. The book is highly readable, as well. There were a couple of spots that were a bit dry for me, but for the most kept my interest. While I like knowing the facts, it is the stories of individual people and families that give heart to the statistics.

There were a couple of things the author should have researched a bit more, like his reference to “...miso, the Japanese soup....” Miso soup is a common use for miso, but miso is not soup. That did make me wonder if there were other mistakes I was missing.

What especially amazed me, and not in a good way, is the hatred and disregard for democracy shown by so many people who later would become famous as the good guys. Some of them changed their outlooks later and apologized; many did not. Even the president of the American Civil Liberties Union would not help, apparently not wanting to embarrass “his friend the president.” Even the man who would become known as “Dr. Seuss.”

“The sweeping story of what happened to the Japanese Americans and the Caucasians who imprisoned them is not a series of isolated events, but a look into the dark side of the 'American way.'The story goes back at least to the treatment of Native Americans, to the persecution of the British loyalists after the American Revolution, to the enslavement of Africans in the New World, to the treatment of American Germans during World War I, to Jewish quotas and 'Irish Need Not Apply,' to the excesses of official bodies such as the House Un-American Activities Committee. And, at least to me, it seems there is always the possibility of similar persecutions happening again if fear and hysteria overwhelm what Abraham Lincoln called .the better angels of our nature.'”

While I do not agree with all that our country is doing now, we have improved. Still, you don't have to look far to find entire religions and people painted with the same broad brush because of some radicals and terrorists who claim to speak for people they do not have the right to speak for.

This book is an excellent look at a time in our history, but also a warning to all of us. For me, it was a solid 4 ½ out of 5 star book.

I was given an advance readers copy of this book for review. The quotes may have changed in the published edition.½

Revised Review April 21, 2015:

Infamy Best "Big Picture" History A Reader Could Hope to Find -- Concisely Details Causes, Human Impact & Present Significance of Great Injustice with Passion & Clarity

I. Why I Read This Book --

Because of the gravity and continued relevance today of the issues raised by our country's disgraceful treatment of Japanese-American citizens under color of law during WWII, I was immediately drawn to this book when I saw it listed among the titles available in a recent Early Reviewer giveaway. I studied the Supreme Court case failing to invalidate the "internment" program under the Constitution in law school (i.e. Korematsu). However I didn't know any of the details of the policy's development and enforcement -- let alone the experience of the people forced from their homes and collected in concentration camps (that was the name used in government documents apparently -- the term was not linked with the Nazi genocide program directly at that time). I wanted to know more.

II. My Personal Opinion After Reading --

Ultimately, author Richard Reeves did more than satisfy my intellectual curiosity with an engaging, accessible and concise history of the key events. However, these qualities would not suffice to constitute an outstanding history. Reeves managed to accomplish what I think is the more difficult and more important work of the historian -- to give the reader a fuller, more palpable and cognizable sense of the toll on human dignity involved in what happened. He achieved this due to the combined effects of two strengths of this history:

1) The reader got a textured sense of the impact of the incarceration on the substance and quality of daily life of the people affected and on individuals' lifetimes, which was tantamount to stealing years of time from the totality of human beings' experience on this earth! This is to say nothing of the disruptions to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness of each victim that could not be remedied upon release from internment. Lives could not be picked up and continued as if nothing had happened, to grossly understate the matter. This history makes sure readers get some understanding of what that specifically meant in individual victims' post-war lives. Through reading this book, one way readers can better appeciate the injustice done to Japanese Americans by their government during this period.due to this wise choice to particularly focus on its human impact despite the book's relative brevity. Different histories might have focused primarily on explication of the causes and machinations of state that made the injustices possible as well as detailing exactly what (as well as how,.why, where and to whom) it happened. Rather than going into further analysis of the unfolding of this awful chain of events, Reeves balanced his history with a sense of the lives impacted by the events at issue.

2) Granted I came to this book with a deep sense of personal outrage at what my country's governemnt did -- as an American and as a human being. But, I think that the second way this history does an outstanding job of presenting the breadth, depth and sheer grievousness of what happened is Reeves's own contagious passion -- which is appropriately contained between the lines, yet constant throughout -- about what happened. Because Reeves does not assume a false neutrality to the question of whether actions taken which effectuated this chain of events were right or wrong, he does an outstanding job on maintaining a laser like focus on what is most important. I, for one, couldn't ask for a better big picture from a historian.

This book effectively argues that what was done during WWII in the western part of the United States to some people on the sole basis of personal connections to Japan through ancestral descent and/or nativity, are deeds which should most properly -- most vitally -- live ever on in infamy among the people of this country and every country.

III. My Thoughts for Prospective Readers

In conclusion, I will go so far as to say that whatever you think of the title when you start reading, you will probably better appreciate the relative fitness of the choice when you finish. I personally think this is an outstanding contribution to American historical discourse that should reach as many people as possible of every nationality. I’ve set forth some of its particular strengths that distinguish it from the pack, IMHO, for your consideration...

But for reallies, who the heck am I to estimate your final valuation of a purely hypothetical reading of some book I happen to love? This is the rub: the good people at LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program gave me a free copy of this gem to read on the condition that I'd share my honest impressions in a review posted on their site. I have always thought in such cases: “Why not copy to Goodreads and Amazon?” I figure it couldn't do any great harm. So here we are. Thank you for considering my ideas, and in all seriousness, I really hope they prove useful to some of you.

I knew something about the internment of Japanese-Americans from reading books like "Farewell to Manzanar" and from hearing friends talk about their family history. For example, a neighbor, now deceased, had been interned in Arizona with his family as a high school student. Reeves' book lays out the background and the history of the creation, operation and disbanding of the concentration camps, using government documents, news reports and personal letters and statements from Japanese Americans. It is a sordid tale of racism, and I kept thinking about the stereotypes many people have today of Americans and immigrants based on skin color and origin.

I was never taught as a part of my school curriculum about the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans on United States soil during World War II. I found out about it quite by accident while visiting an American history museum. I was astounded and continue to be astounded that so many U.S. citizens never learn about that particular part of the war, which is why I believe books like Richard Reeves' Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II are so important. Reeves is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author of more than a dozen long-form works on American politics and history. Infamy, published by Henry Holt and Company in 2015, is a book that he had wanted to write for years. I was very happy to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of the work.

In Infamy, Reeves explores the history of Japanese residents of the United States and Japanese American citizens during World War II. While a large focus of the book is on their evacuation from the West Coast and their internment within concentration camps, the work also devotes some time to the efforts made by the U.S. government to relocate and detain people of Japanese descent living in Latin America (which before reading Infamy I had not known about), as well as to the service of Japanese Americans in the military as translators, support personnel, and combatants. The narrative of Infamy is largely chronological, beginning with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the signing of Executive Order 9066 soon after in February 1942, which allowed for the establishment of the camps, and ending with V-J Day in August 1945, going on to examine some of the immediate and lasting impacts the internment had on individuals and on the country as a whole.

In writing Infamy, Reeves relies heavily on existing interviews, newspaper articles, and first-hand accounts as well as on official government and court documentation. Infamy is only one among hundreds of works about the Japanese American internment; its extensive notes and bibliography will aid in guiding readers who are interested in learning more to other sources. Stylistically, Infamy is intended for a broad, general audience. It's approachable, engaging, and easy to read, requiring very little previous knowledge of the subject matter. However, readers looking for an academic or impartial approach will likely be disappointed—Reeves has very strong feelings about the people and events surrounding the internment. While Infamy is factual, Reeve's personal opinions on the matter are readily clear in his writing; he is outraged and it shows. Initially I had worried the work would be sensationalistic—the subtitle isn't just "the story of" but "the shocking story of"—but it's more that Reeves is simply emphatic.

Many factors led to the Japanese American internment during World War II, but the two most prominent to be addressed in Infamy are racism—something that the United States continues to struggle with—and the additional fear and hysteria cause by the war itself. While some German and Italian American citizens and resident aliens were detained, those of Japanese descent were the only ones to be imprisoned or forced to relocate en masse and nearly all of them were innocent of any wrong-doing. In addition to racial tensions, generational conflict was also a significant component that complicated the mass imprisonment. The different generations of Japanese Americans experienced the war and the camps differently, but they were all betrayed by the country in which they lived. Reeves makes a point to address those differences in Infamy in addition to other aspects of the internment. Overall, Infamy is both a readable and informative examination of a part of American history that shouldn't be forgotten but that is often overlooked.

Experiments in Manga½

Excellent treatment of the sad story of the Japanese American Internment of WWII. I personally had previously visited the " Manzanar Relocation Center" located near the city of Lone Pine, California. How very sad!
Such a remote location. Thank god our Country has come a long way since then. I highly recommend this book, which should be read by all citizens of our otherwise great Country. I trust our government never again discriminates against U.S. Citizens soley on Race or Country of Origin. This book is especially timely coming out just as our Country has just established THE HONOLULU NATIONAL MONUMENT, just outside Honolulu.

The internment of Japanese Americans sat on the outer edge of my awareness; we learned about it, briefly, in American History but we did not study it. More's the pity.
Infamy, the shocking story of Japanese American internment in world war 2 brings together the many actors who engineered the monumental feat of identifying, collecting and impounding over 100,000 citizens and non-citizens who were legal residents of the USA, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We read the reasons given by elected officials: California Attorney General Earl Warren,Governor Culbert Olson and military leaders: Lt General John DeWitt, Major General Allen Gullion, Karl Bendetsen and statesmen: Secretary Stimson and undersecretary John McCloy accusing people of possible treason,that undermined the rights of fellow citizens. These are people who were charged with the protection of all US citizens. We read about their fears of betrayal from within and attack from without after a Japanese submarine torpedoed an oil company tanker and 2 smaller freighters. So without due rights, American citizens were rounded up and placed under guard. We see that in the middle of chaos and confusing reports, poor decisions were made and it took years to reverse them once the errors were clear. The part that is shocking to me is that the journalists were so instrumental in whipping up fear and hatred. A few were valiant in their editorials to stand up for the rights of the Japanese Americans and due process, but few people wanted to heed them. Sadly, there were many people who resented having neighbors that didn't look like them and it didn't take much to stoke the fires of prejudice and fear and greed. We learn about the many Japanese Americans who lived through this ignominy with grace and fortitude. Many did not and were resentful. Many served in the armed forces. We learn a little about how families readjusted after the internment was ended and the war was over.
The author, Richard Reeves, recognizes that there were atrocities being perpetrated by Japan, so it is understandable that people would wonder if it were possible to know that there weren't like minded Japanese in America, but he points out the many ways that Japanese Americans, both citizens and non-citizens went out of their way to proclaim their loyalty and love for America. I got the feeling that he was pointing out that if we can do this to them, where would it stop? Do the Constitution and Bill of Rights really stand for anything?
My takeaway: Because we are faced with similar situations in every generation, it is necessary to know this history as well as our history with the other groups of our society so that we do not see our society as Us and Them. We are citizens together, making up this United States of America.
This book is repetitive and so at times tedious. There are lots of facts to keep straight, but that is history, it is complex. I got angry about the way people in power were so shortsighted and misused their positions and why we don't learn from history. Getting to know the different families made this all the more real and just points out that if we would take time to know people, we could maybe avoid the ugly wars.
the book I read was free through LibraryThing early reviewers group, and was an Advance Reader's Copy.

Many years ago when I served as district director of a congressional office, an elderly Japanese gentleman came to see me to discuss the Congressman's position on a resolution apologizing for the internment of over 120,000 Japanese who had resided on the West coast during the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. In later years I would read the Korematsu opinion in which the US Supreme Court would affirm the constitutionality of the Japanese internment without due process of law. At the time, I listened politely and promised to do what I could.

Infamy is the story of how and why loyal Americans of Japanese descent and resident aliens with jobs and property were rounded up and sent to Assembly Centers and then on to concentration camps in the harshest conditions for the remainder of the War. Most did not have sufficient time to secure their property or arrange for the operation of their businesses. In many cases, the greedy offered them a pittance for valuables and property. They lost their homes and their livelihoods.

Richard Reeves has chronicled what happened, why, and with what consequences in this detailed and fascinating history. Racism was rampant when news spread about the deaths at Pearl Harbor and the knee jerk reaction was fear. Executive Order 9906 created a large Japanese exclusion area based in the mistaken belief that people of Japanese descent would form a "Fifth column" to welcome Japanese invaders to the west coast and hasten their victory. Dissenting voices were drowned in the drumbeat of fear and anger.

The most compelling element of this book is Reeves' accounts of individuals on all sides of the chaotic removal policy. He quotes liberally from letters and documents describing the daily lives of internees. What bothered many of them the most were the armed guards and barbed wire surrounding the camps; guns were pointed inward at the people who voluntarily surrendered their lives and property during removal.

Reeves is not a neutral narrator. His outrage is clear between the lines on every page and it is impossible not to feel the same. It reminded me of how I felt about the anti-Muslim tide in the wake of 9/11. Because we are human we can and must learn from the past. Infamy has much to teach.

This was the first book have read that specifically focused on the Japanese internment during WWII. The events covered in this book are frequently mentioned in other books on WWII, but none have really shown how terrible these events really were. The author's style is very casual, as if you were talking to a friend, not hearing a lecture from a professor. It is fairly short and easy to read, which would make this ideal for readers who are interested in the subject, but not looking for a scholarly tome. In addition to covering the events that led to the camps and the events that happened inside them, the author talks about some of the military units that were comprised of Japanese Americans that went on to become some of the most decorated in the military. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a book about WWII, especially if they are looking for something covering the US during the war.

A story of the American citizens seized and forced internment after Dec 7, 1941 just because of their Japanese ancestry. I can understand why it was done, but what use is a bill of rights when your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is denied you under any emergency the government wants to declare – that never happened? A well written book about what happened on the Pacific west coast by white Americans during those dark and scary days at the beginning of WWII. At least in the end, the federal government (and most citizens) did try to make it right – but was too late for many whose lives were forever changed by their own country’s abuse of their basic civil rights.
Checkout the following web link - http://www.densho.org/
Also, be sure to read the Notes & Bibliography for this book for further research, some very good reading!

Infamy is a typical American history, in that it brings up the past in good measure just to bury it. The overall picture here is that the episode of concentration camps for Japanese Americans was just a step in the growth curve of a fundamentally good society, rather than another part of a long and horrible racist history from the nation's foundation to present. To a great extent the author focuses on the most heroic, patriotic Japanese Americans as if the only way to humanize them is to look at those most assimilated and American. While I appreciate the information presented here, it would have benefited greatly from a more critical approach.