Book Review: Facing the Mountain
Review by Joyce Kesterson
A previous book, Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, tells the story of the University of Washington rowing team that went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Although they were the underdogs, they won Olympic Gold. The author has a history of writing interesting books about US history. Facing the Mountain is no different, but this time the story is more personal to many people of Japanese American heritage.
The stories of the boys and the families they left behind in guarded internment camps were very personal. I call them “boys” because they were so young to be fighting this war, but they were definitely men.
This book taught me so many things that I did not know about the World War II soldiers who fought in Europe in the all Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th Infantry Battalion. I was familiar with this chapter in history but the detailed stories of the boys from Hawaii and from the internment camps in the United States reveal much more information than what I was aware of about their differences as well as their similarities.
Facing the Mountain also explored the lives of the Japanese in Hawaii. It discussed the experiences of Japanese families living on the plantations, the experience of Japanese soldiers returning from the war, and the road to statehood. Soldiers returning to Hawaii after the war had a different experience than soldiers returning to the continental United States, particularly to places like Hood River, Oregon.
For those interested in learning more about the experience of the Japanese Americans on the continental United States, the book details Gordon Hirabayashi's experience fighting against the curfew restrictions for Japanese in West Coast cities. This fight led to his imprisonment and eventual case in the Supreme Court.
I highly recommend this book.
Note: This book is available at the Deschutes Public Library and available for purchase online.
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