Synopses & Reviews
Xenophobia, paranoia, and racism have long challenged democracy, a battle played out dramatically in the concentration camps that were built, staffed, and filled with adults and children under the orders of the U.S. government. Beginning in the nineteenth century with the imprisonment of Native Americans, camps reappeared during World War II with the roundup of Japanese Americans, German Americans, Italian Americans, and Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. They resurfaced recently when Homeland Security awarded a major contract to a subsidiary of Halliburton for the construction of new camps.
In Inside America's Concentration Camps, author James L. Dickerson explores the history and the tragedy of the camps in a vivid narrative that brings the stories of the victims and the flaws of our government to life. Rebecca Neugin, Eleanor Berg, Roy Abbey, Marino Sichi, Louise Ogawa—these are some of the children and adults whose stories are found here, along with accounts of the U.S. government yanking children out of orphanages to imprison them in the camps.
To fight the erosion of democracy, Americans must remain aware of threats to our democratic ideals and understand where we have been. Inside America's Concentration Camps is an authoritative history, a heartbreaking and inspirational story of survival, and a call to action.
Review
"Points us to a future where fear and failed political leadership continue plans for concentration camps, continue to threaten individual liberties, and allow bad things to happen to good people; stories until now related only by those who had suffered from behind the razor wire fences." Mayumi Nakazawa, author, Yuri: The Life and Times of Yuri Kochiyama
Review
"James Dickerson is ringing out a warningthe light that we see at the end of the tunnel has turned out to be a train after all. A train which, if not stopped, will take away our freedom, our way of life, and finally us." Steve Gardner, author, Rambling Mind
Review
"James Dickerson has opened long-closed doors to detail our nation's shameful reliance on concentration camp justice in time of war and internal division. This book should be required reading in every American high school and collegeand for every President." Hodding Carter III, author, journalist, educator, and former U.S. assistant secretary of state for public affairs
About the Author
James L. Dickerson is an investigative journalist and the author of Devils Sanctuary, North to Canada, and Yellow Fever. He was a staff writer at the Clarion-Ledger/Jackson Daily News, the Commercial Appeal, the Delta Democrat-Times, the Greenwood Commonwealth, and the Tallahassee Democrat.