Cherstin M. Lyon: Prisons and Patriots

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#CC0000" alink="#CC0000"><center><hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade>Reexamining wartime definitions of citizenship, patriotism, prisons, and civil disobedience through the lives of Gordon Hirabayashi and the Tucsonians<hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade><p><a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/ChicagoBook.aspx?ISBN=9781439901861&&PRESS=temple" target="_top">Buy this book!</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">View Cart</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">Check Out</a></p><p><img src="1518_reg.gif" height=200 border=1 vspace=4></p></center><h1>Prisons and Patriots</h1> <H2>Japanese American Wartime Citizenship, Civil Disobedience, and Historical Memory</H2> <h3>Cherstin M. Lyon</h3> <P>cloth 1-4399-0186-4 $84.50, Nov 11, <FONT COLOR=#990033>Available</FONT> <br>paper 1-4399-0187-2 $30.95, Nov 11, <FONT COLOR=#990033>Available</FONT> <br>Electronic Book 1-4399-0188-0 $30.95 <FONT COLOR=#990033>Available</FONT> <BR> 256 pp 6x9 3 tables 14 halftones </P><BLOCKQUOTE><I>"</I>Prisons and Patriots<I> adds welcome depth and analysis to a growing number of works that are now disclosing two increasingly important reasons the Japanese American experience during World War II needs further research: first, the complex ways in which the Japanese American communities responded to the unconstitutional barbarity with which the U.S. government treated them and, second, the fascinating ways in which postwar actors sought to play roles in the crafting of a metanarrative for the ethnic group, the war, and the nation. Lyon accomplishes this by focusing on the lives of forty-one Nisei, with sensitive oral histories contextualized by solid archival research. She is especially effective in juxtaposing the well-known story of Gordon Hirabayashi with the little-known experiences of forty-one other draft resisters who were imprisoned during the war and ostracized by their leaders and communities for decades thereafter. This is a fine book, much needed at this point in time."</I><BR> &#151<B>Franklin S. Odo</B>, Chief, Asian Division, Library of Congress</I></BLOCKQUOTE> <p><i>Prisons and Patriots</i> provides a detailed account of forty-one Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans), known as the Tucsonians, who were imprisoned for resisting the draft during WWII. Cherstin Lyon parallels their courage as resisters with that of civil rights hero Gordon Hirabayashi, well known for his legal battle against curfew and internment, who also resisted the draft. These dual stories highlight the intrinsic relationship between the rights and the obligations of citizenship, particularly salient in times of war. <p>Lyon considers how wartime civil disobedience has been remembered through history—how soldiers have been celebrated for their valor while resisters have been demonized as unpatriotic. Using archival research and interviews, she presents a complex picture of loyalty and conflict among first-generation Issei and Nisei. Lyon contends that the success of the redress movement has made room for a narrative that neither reduces the wartime confinement to a source of shame nor proffers an uncritical account of heroic individuals. <BR> <h2>Excerpt</h2><P>Excerpt available at <a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress">www.temple.edu/tempress</a></p> <BR> <h2>Reviews</h2> <p><I>"In </I>Prisons and Patriots<I>, Cherstin Lyon presents, in a clear, accessible style, original material that is not available elsewhere. She provides interesting case studies of the internment of the draft resisters—known as ‘Tucsonians’—along with an examination of the generational conflict within the Japanese American community. Her discussion of internal tensions, in particular regarding the role of the Japanese American Citizens League, which was viewed as hyper-assimilationist and insufficiently protective of civil rights, is balanced and nuanced, and her research methodology is sound."</I><br>&#151<b>Frank Wu</b>, Chancellor and Dean and the William B. Lockhart Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and author of <I>Yellow: Race in America beyond Black and White</I> <p><i>"</i>Prisons and Patriots<i> is Cherstin Lyon’s first book. Its publication catapults Professor Lyon, a historian at California State University, San Bernardino, into the ranks of the premier scholars of World War II Japanese American protest and dissent.... The genius of Lyon’s book lies less in the stories she recounts than in her placing them into instructive and relevant contexts. The most important of them concerns the nature of citizenship." </i><br>&#151<b><i>Nichi Bei Times</i></b> <p><i>"With clarity and precision, Lyon tells the complicated story of Gordon Hirabayashi and a handful of resisting Nisei internees who refused to submit to the draft from inside the War Relocation Authority's internment camps during WW II.... Historically strong and emotionally powerful, this book shows that the prisons created the patriots, and it does them justice by honoring their actions correctly. Highly Recommended."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>CHOICE</i></b> <p><i>"</i>Prisons and Patriots<i> provides an insightful analysis of the causes and consequences of civil disobedience by Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) during World War II.... Lyon effectively uses oral histories and government records to show the variety of perspectives displayed by draft resisters during and after the war.... One can hope that other scholars will be inspired by Lyon’s thorough research and elegant narrative to develop a comparative analysis of the postwar discrimination faced by draft resisters and other Japanese Americans branded as 'disloyal.'"</i> <br>&#151<b><i>The Journal of American History</i></b> <p><i>"Lyon’s book is bold, balanced, and solid. Her research will get readers to view and think of history in a new way."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>Rafu Shimpo</i>, the Los Angeles Japanese Daily News</b> <BR> <h2>Contents</h2><P> <p>Acknowledgments <br>A Note on Terminology <br>Introduction: "A Footstep in the Sand of Time" <br>1. Lessons in Citizenship <br>2. Nisei Wartime Citizenship <br>3. Loyalty and Resistance <br>4. Gordon Hirabayashi in the Tucson Federal Prison Camp <br>5. The Obligations of Citizenship <br>6. Prison and Punishment <br>7. Reunions, Redress, and Reconciliation <br>Conclusion: The Changing Nature of Citizenship <br>Notes <br>Bibliography <br>Index </P><BR> <H2>About the Author(s)</H2> <P><b>Cherstin M. Lyon</b> is Assistant Professor of History, California State University, San Bernardino.</P> <BR><H2>Subject Categories</H2> <p><A HREF="/tempress/history.html" TARGET="_top">History</a> <BR><A HREF="/tempress/asian_amer.html" TARGET="_top">Asian American Studies</a> <BR><A HREF="/tempress/american.html" TARGET="_top">American Studies</a> </p> <BR><h2 class="inpageheading">In the series</H2> <P><I><a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress/asam_history.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Click for other books in this series!'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;" target="_top">Asian American History and Culture</a></i>, edited by Sucheng Chan, David Palumbo-Liu, Michael Omi, K. Scott Wong, and Linda Trinh Võ. </p><p>The "standard" written histories of Asian immigrants to the United States have been imbued with Western cultural biases. As a critique and corrective to earlier work, <I>Asian American History and Culture</I>, edited by Sucheng Chan, David Palumbo-Liu, Michael Omi, K. Scott Wong, and Linda Trinh Võ, aims to develop a history of Asian Americans that is compatible with their own experience, that treats Asian Americans as agents of historical change and as creators of a new culture. In addition, this series intends to focus on the groups that are flourishing in the contemporary U.S.&#151Filipinos, Koreans, Vietnamese&#151about whom little has been written as well as to add to the substantial work done on the Chinese and Japanese in this country.</p> <p align="center"><a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/ChicagoBook.aspx?ISBN=9781439901861&&PRESS=temple" target="_top">Buy this book!</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">View Cart</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">Check Out</a></p><p><font face="Arial" size="1"><a href="copyright.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Web Copyright Policy';return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''" title="Web Copyright Policy">©</a> 2013 <a href="http://www.temple.edu" target="new" onMouseOver="window.status='Link to Temple University home page';return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''" title="Link to Temple University home page">Temple University</a>. 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