abookishtype's review
3.0
In the Author’s Note at the end of Kermit Roosevelt’s Allegiance, Roosevelt writes, “The story of America is a story of trying to live up to our ideals, of falling short, and of trying again. Thinking about the past, is one way we may hope to do better next time” (n.p.*). Allegiance centers on the decision by the US Government to intern Japanese Americans in a series of concentration camps across the country, allegedly to prevent them from participating in sabotage. A series of Supreme Court cases—Hirabayashi v. United States (1943), Korematsu v. United States (1944), and Ex parte Mitsuye Endo (1944)—established that curfews and evacuation from the Pacific Coast were legal for Japanese Americans, but continued detention in concentration camps were not. The Hirabayashi and Korematsu cases were later overturned (but not until the 1980s) because evidence finally came to light that there was no disloyalty or widespread risk of sabotage. The internment of Japanese Americans provides the background for Cash Harrison’s violent disillusionment about the law, the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, and even his own family friends...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
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