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David A. Neiwert

Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community Hardcover – May 12, 2005

by David A. Neiwert (Author)

12 customer reviews

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Strawberry Days tells the vivid and moving tale of the creation and destruction of a Japanese immigrant community. Before World War II, Bellevue, the now-booming "edge city" on the outskirts of Seattle, was a prosperous farm town renowned for its strawberries. Many of its farmers were recent Japanese immigrants who, despite being rejected by white society, were able to make a living cultivating the rich soil. Yet the lives they created for themselves through years of hard work vanished almost instantly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. David Neiwert combines compelling story-telling with first-hand interviews and newly uncovered documents to weave together the history of this community and the racist schemes that prevented the immigrants from reclaiming their land after the war. Ultimately, Strawberry Days represents more than one community's story, reminding us that bigotry's roots are deeply entwined in the very fiber of American society.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Strawberry Days takes an atypical tack...Neiwert's research into Freeman's role in the Japanese expulsion expands our knowledge of this Eastside 'founding father.' That plus an epilogue in which the author eviscerates modern revisionists who would defend the internment and disupute racism as one of causes, are, by themselves, worth the price of this book.” ―Seattle Weekly

“In the shadow of nearby Microsoft, Boeing and Nintendo of America, Neiwert conjures the ghosts of Japanese American family farms that walk these former fields of Strawberry Days.” ―David Mas Masumoto, author, Letters to the Valley and Epitaph for a Peach

“With grace and attention to detail, Neiwert mixes personal histories with contemporary documents to tell the poignant story of the Japanese immigrants who built a community on inhospitable soil, saw their farms and families grow, and then were stripped from the land by a climactic act of official injustice. Strawberry Days serves as a telling reminder of the human costs of the wartime removal of Japanese Americans, and a continuing lesson for our own times.” ―Greg Robinson, author, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans

“David Neiwert's "Strawberry Days" brings the reader face to face with real people and a real community whose lives were shattered by American racism and wartime hysteria. It reminds us that the internment was not just the oppression of a huge ethnic group. It was the oppression of real human beings and their vibrant communities.” ―Eric Muller, author, Free to Die for their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II

“Neiwert makes a case against internment then, and racial profiling now, arguing that an innocent group of people were victimized by racism and scapegoating in response to the sneak attack. He has a spare and direct style of writing that does not go for the easy emotional buttons, allowing the story unfold in its own quiet manner. But the book is more than bygone history and it deserves a wide readership, especially post-September 11. America's response in 1941 to a racially different group of citizens, has echoes in policing Muslim communities in Detroit, Abu Ghraib prison, the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay. It is important to consider the past, and not repeat its mistakes. [A] thoughtful contribution to that discussion.” ―Tom Carter, Washington Times

“An insightful, well-reasoned analysis of why the internment happened and what its ramifications are.” ―Kevin Wood, Daily Yomiuri Online

About the Author

David A. Neiwert, an award-winning journalist, is the author of Death on the Fourth of July: The Story of a Killing, a Trial, and Hate Crimes in America and In God's Country: The Patriot Movement and the Pacific Northwest. He lives in Seattle.

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (June 4, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140396792X
ISBN-13: 978-1403967923
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 12 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3257 in Historical Study (Books)
- #1470 in Discrimination & Racism (Books)
- #2849 in World War II History (Books)

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Cinderella

Interesting and informative book

September 2, 2005

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I have read other books about the internment of Japanese-Americans before, and worried that this book would be dull. However, I found it to be a very interesting and even entertaining read. I too have Japanese-American friends who lived in California and Washington, and were sent to camps, and find it compelling that they don't seem to harbor any bitterness for what they lost, and what was done to them. I don't know that I would be as forgiving.

I would like to comment on a previous reviewer's remark that "There was never a suggestion of moving German-Americans or Italian-Americans into camps." In fact, a suggestion WAS made that Italian-Americans be interred. "Una Storia Segreta : The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment During World War II" by Sandra Gilbert is an interesting book on the subject.

17 people found this helpful

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Tammi

Seems to jump around a lot. I bought it ...

September 12, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Seems to jump around a lot. I bought it because its written about the neighborhood I grew up in. I'll keep reading for that reason alone.

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Bruce S. Backer

Five Stars

November 12, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Nice to read about early Bellevue
Well done
B.

2 people found this helpful

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William S. Romey

Four Stars

April 27, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I have not completed this book yet but it is informative so far

One person found this helpful

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Robert Bandel

Five Stars

December 29, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Great gift

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Tats Matsuoka

My Reaction to Strawberry Days

August 3, 2005

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I found the book interesting but perhaps it is because I am biased. I am of Japanese descent, a member of the community written about and the oldest son of Tom Matsuoka who is referred to throughout the book. The book is a good source for my family history and gives an accurate account of what happened before, during and after the evacuation of Japanese during WWII. From that aspect it will be good reference book. However, I am afraid that most readers not familiar with sociological writings will find this book boring.

17 people found this helpful

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Thomas A.

great book and very good service the book was a ...

October 22, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

great book and very good service the book was a very good read what is worst the japanese did not bomb pearl harbor it was a staged event in 1932 and 1938 by the united states crown colony.

One person found this helpful

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Katheryn Kusick

I haven't finished it and it is like a history book to me

January 18, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I haven't finished it and it is like a history book to me. Can't get into it and I was growing up in Puyallup at this time. Not really liking it.

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