Additional information
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (Author), James D. Houston (Illustrator), James D. Houston (Author)
The powerful true story of life in a Japanese American incarceration camp.
During World War II the incarceration camp called Manzanar was hastily created in the high mountain desert country of California, east of the Sierras. Its purpose? To house thousands of Japanese Americans.
In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston recalls life at Manzanar through the eyes of the child she was and the experiences of her family. She relays the mundane and remarkable details of daily life during an extraordinary period of American history: The wartime imprisonment of civilians, most native-born Americans, in their own country, without trial, and by their fellow Americans.
She tells of her fear, confusion, and bewilderment, as well as the dignity and resourcefulness of people in oppressive and demeaning circumstances. Jeanne delivers a powerful first-person account that reveals her search for the meaning of Manzanar.
Farewell to Manzanar has become a staple of curriculum in schools and on campuses across the country. Named one of the twentieth century's 100 best nonfiction books from west of the Rockies by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Author Biography
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston was born in California in 1934. She attended San Jose State University, where she met her husband, James D. Houston. For their teleplay for the NBC drama based on Farewell to Manzanar, they received the prestigious Humanitas Prize.
James D. Houston (1933-2009) was the author of several books including The Last Paradise, which received a 1999 American Book Award for fiction.
