American History

The prevailing majority of the American population is familiar with the story of forced Japanese-American relocation or, rather, displacement during WWII. However, hardly anyone ever tried to look deeper into the meaning of Japanese-American displacement and to explore its legacy. John Howards book is a successful attempt to shed the light onto the most controversial aspects of life in Japanese-American internment camps in Arkansas. Howard is professor in the Department of American Studies at Kings College London. His first book was called Men Like That A Southern Queer History. The author begins his book with the description of Earl Finch who, neither a sport figure nor an elected official, became a recognized celebrity for his Santa Claus intentions, including feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, seeing those in prison, and welcoming strangers (Howard 1). This picture does not satisfy Howard and he, as a true historian, will try to understand the underlying meanings of the charity, which never goes without a reason. As Finchs involvements with the 442nd were not merely financial but also social and, perhaps, sexual, so were the American governments involvements with the lives of the Japanese-Americans, who were forcefully relocated to several isolated camps, with the biggest two  Jerome and Rowher  in Arkansas.

Howards book is built in a manner which allows to cover the most controversial topics and to create a holistic picture of Japanese-American relocation during WWII. The story of Violet (former Kazue) and forced assimilation of the Japanese with the American culture flows and transforms into the narration about the role and place of sexuality in the Japanese and African American racial discourses  in his second chapter, Howard positions sexuality as a convenient instrument of expressing and embedding racism intentions and moods with the basic cultural norms of the American society. These are followed by the discussion and analysis of collective living in camps, with Spartan arrangements, with centralized shower, wash, and toilet facilities (71). Cooperative enterprises shape the basis of the economic organization in camps, which Howard, throughout his book, intentionally calls concentration camps. Sports, sexuality, the lives of gays and bisexuals in Jerome, dancing and segregation altogether create a controversial picture of challenge and compliance. Regardless of the topic he chooses, Howard tries to explain the underlying racial, ethnic, sexual, and queer motives of the federal governments actions and their consequences. If Japanese Americans are allowed to play baseball, these activities must underline their inferior nature. Whenever Jerome residents are allowed to leave the camp and to shop in nearby towns, these actions signal difference and dominance of the privileged group, which decides whether and when each camp resident has the right to temporarily leave the camp (127). Howard describes Christianization and Americanization, resistance and strikes, segregation, resettlement, and dispersal, and concludes with the statement that any person, any group, any nation that dwells in moral superiority has the potential to take us all to the ultimate precipice (266).

Viewpoint and purpose
The purpose of Howards writing is to provide a detailed insight into what was happening to thousands of the Japanese-Americans in the United States during WWII. Relocation and the existence of internment camps were well-known to masses, but much of what the Japanese had to go through at that time was beyond the scope of a profound historical analysis. Howards book is a perfect means to close the existing historical and moral gaps and to understand the far-reaching ethical, moral, racial, sexual, and cultural implications of discrimination against ethnic communities in the United States. Throughout his book, Howard tries to look deeper into every single, even the smallest aspect of peoples lives in Jerome and other concentration camps. He wants to assure the reader that he is objective, detailed, and unbiased. Howard tries to break and deny the relevance of the historical picture which for years prevailed in the hearts and minds of thousands American citizens. For years, Americans naively believed that everything done by the American government was done for the best of the Japanese people. Howard is confident and wants to prove that even if hard work is meant to lift a person up from the masses into the classes and then into an elite, all ideas of America simultaneously seem to cherish the middle class, which, for Howard, is an equally situated, contented citizenry (25).

As a gay, it is no surprise that Howard is particularly interested in sexual implications of Japanese-American displacement to concentration camps in Arkansas. Simultaneously, his book is filled with the sense of never ending scorn toward everything that took place and happened to the Japanese Americans in internment camps. From marriage as the means of retention and the official ban on homosexual relations, to centralized wash, toilet facilities and the lack of medical support, Howard discusses and evaluates his viewpoint on American history, which for him was colored with unreasonable discrimination, segregation, humiliation, and racism.

Evidence
Since the very beginning of his book, Howard relies on the primary sources, family narratives, the works of scholars in history and sociology, and his own analytical skills. Population, flows, cultural dynamics, and economic rationale are the three most important elements of Howards discussion, which create a holistic picture of life in the Japanese American communities before and during WWII. Yet, even though the works of scholars are extremely helpful, supporting, and provide solid evidence and analysis of the most controversial issues, their importance is secondary compared with family narratives and primary sources of information, including statistics. Obviously, only through the stories and memories of those who had to experience humiliation and pain can historians understand the true meaning of historical events and interpret their contextual meaning. The story of Violet Yamane in the first chapter is followed by the tragic revelation of Mary Tsukamoto and her familys forceful displacement, and nine months pregnant Miyasaki who, without anyones support, had to undertake the four-day railway journey as a part of the forceful expulsion (107). The narratives are so numerous and so identical, that displacement and internment resemble a circle of human tragedies, which separated families, humiliated women, and discriminated against men.

Argumentation and counterevidence
The first half of the book is a smooth narrative of Japanese-American life in Jerome and other concentration camps. By the middle of his book, Howard gradually realizes the value of historical argument. As a result, the discussion becomes more controversial and, thus, more productive. Howard writes his book to close the existing knowledge gaps and to create a completely new picture of the American history, but achieving this goal is hardly possible, unless the author can successfully deal with dominant beliefs, stereotypes, and counterevidence. To prove the relevance and truthfulness of his assumptions, Howard refers to a whole range of primary and secondary sources. The sources that had always been the basic sources of information about internment camps in Arkansas are of questionable validity to Howard. This is exactly the case of the newspapers and other materials that were published in camps. Howard recognizes that writers in camps had to satisfy the people who were interned and also those who were in charge of the camp (91). Other writers aligned themselves with the camps administration as a result, those who view camp newspapers as the sources of objectivity and primary historical information should also be able to evaluate their risks. Again, Howard applies to primary sources to create a realistic picture of sexual deviance in camps, where prostitution went against the basic norms of the Japanese society and where the camp authorities, despite the existing cultural controversies, favored and successfully used prostitutes (109). Nevertheless, Howards argument does not always seem convincing due to the fact that one and the same primary document can be readily interpreted in a variety of ways.

Nowhere else in his book is Howard as argumentative, abrupt and unexpected as in his discussion and description of strikes and resistance which for decades had been silenced, to present life in camps as peaceful and self-satisfactory. Howard provides solid evidence to disputes over pay and conditions (176), struggles over employment rights (179), and uses the example of Woodcutters strike to analyze the crisis of labor in Jerome. Howards picture of Japanese-American camps is completely different from the one to which thousands of Americans familiar with history have been used for years. That is why this book could become a useful supplement to the study of modern and postmodern history in America.

Evaluation
Despite the multiplicity of narratives, Howards book is very academic and involves a whole range of theoretical perspectives, from queer theory, to feminism and Marxism. Howards cultural and sexual background contributes to the objectivity of his historical discussion, especially within the boundaries of sexuality topics. Howards methodology is so complex, that it is difficult to define whether his book is purely historical, or can also target sociologists and even psychologists. Historians and sociologists can use this book to explore the changes in social, population, and historical trends as a result of Japanese American displacement. The book can provide extensive information about the lives and difficulties in Japanese Americans camps during WWII. Unfortunately, the way Howard presents his book and his observations is rather confusing. Howard seems to lack one single universal thesis which he would defend throughout his discussion. At times, his topics are too separated and distanced. As a result, one has to re-read the chapter again and again to link the new knowledge to what has been said in the previous section. It would be fair to assume that John Howards book is just the starting point in the subsequent analysis of Japanese-American displacement to internment camps in Arkansas during WWII. What Howard said and wrote in his book leaves much room for further analysis and discussion.