THE JOURNEY: Japanese Americans, Racism, and Renewal

A moving depiction of the Japanese experience in 20th-century America, centered on Japanese internment during WW II. Hamanaka has painted a 25-foot, five-panel mural summarizing this experience--an artwork that's a complex, elegantly orchestrated blend of realistic portraits, caricatures, and traditional symbols that recalls the social-protest art of the 30's. The mural is reproduced in full at the conclusion here, while carefully framed details from it provide eloquent illustration for the preceding narrative. The author writes simply but without bitterness; the power and dignity of this shameful story come from the events themselves, and are beautifully reflected in Hamanaka's painting. This handsome book is not only an excellent introduction to an important, too little known chapter of American history, but a fine lesson in looking at the details and iconography of a work of art. Index.