Check out if you believe in learning from history.
I started reading this because I read The Boys in the Boat by the same author and LOVED it. (Side note: if you haven’t read that book you really need to.)
With that said, other than the World War II aspect, this is a completely different subject with a completely different feel than The Boys in the Boat. However, it is still a highly recommended read, here’s why:
There is a belief that learning history will give us the tools to avoid repeating it. In my opinion this is truer now more than ever. Intolerance is not a new subject. If you live here in Wyoming chances are you have heard of, and have possibly visited the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, so you might already know a bit about this books primary subject matter. However, Wyoming is only mentioned a couple of times (for not great reasons, either) so the chances you will learn something new are still high.
This book is about how America said to its citizens: because of your race, you are a threat to society and we are taking your rights away. It is about how the U.S. military figured, sure, we shun these people but if they want to fight, they can fight and die for us. It is about how those fighters were then sacrificed to rescue other soldiers in order to save face. Every American ought to know the personal stories from this book.
Don’t let the length of this one scare you. It is both engrossing and educational.
