Enemy Child

The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II

By: Andrea Warren

Narrated by: Caroline McLaughlin

One by one, things that Norm and his Japanese American family took for granted are taken away. In a matter of months, they, along with everyone else of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, are forced by the government to move to internment camps, leaving everything they have known behind.

At the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming, Norm and his family live in one room in a tar-paper barracks with no running water. There are lines for the communal bathroom and lines for the mess hall, and they live behind barbed wire and under the scrutiny of armed guards in watchtowers.

Meticulously researched and informed by extensive interviews with Norm Mineta himself, this narrative sheds light on a little-known subject of American history. Andrea Warren covers the history of early Asian immigration to the US and provides historical context for the US government’s decision to imprison Japanese Americans alongside a deeply personal account of the sobering effects of that policy.

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Well presented, balanced history of Japanese internment.

Interesting and heart wrenching telling of the events that led to the internment of over 100k Japanese Americans. As a High school US History teacher, I would highly recommend this book. Gives an excellent overview of internment as well as the personal insights of someone who experienced it firsthand. Beautifully told, and a great example, of overcoming racism.

Powerful and moving

This was a great story of one of the darkest chapters in American history. It tells the story of how a subset of Americans were denied their liberty solely based on the way they look and how one of their numbers, Norman Mineta, rose above the injustice visited on him and the other members of the Japanese American community, and went on to help lead this country. He not only led the fight to make an apology for what America had done to its citizens, but also worked with American President George W. Bush to make sure it would not happen again.

This book was presented in a very approachable fashion and was of a length that kept the story brisk and never stale. This was a story I can not recommend highly enough. It was inspirational and heartbreaking at the same time while leaving you to believe that no matter who you are, or what you have been through, this is a country where you can become anything if you believe hard enough and are willing to do the hard work necessary to make a difference.

Amazing story

An amazing story that ties California in Wyoming together from San Jose to Los Angeles Santa Anita racetrack to heart mountain Wyoming two boys in Boy Scouts in the middle of wwII both became state senators. An amazing story of enduring and overcoming.