Summary: "Focusing on a little-known event in American history that has long been kept quiet, a dramatic account exposes a secret FDR-approved American internment camp in Texas during World War II where hundreds of prisoners were exchanged for other Americans behind enemy lines in Japan and Germany."--Publisher's description.
Booklist Reviews
The internment of Japanese Americans in camps along the Pacific Coast during WWII is well known. With the benefit of hindsight, the action has been roundly condemned as a racially motivated overreaction and gross violation of constitutional and human rights. Less well-known but equally reprehensible was the roundup of thousands of Germans, Italians, and other so-called enemy aliens. These included entire families composed of both noncitizens and citizens and even some ethnic Germans and Italians deported from Latin American nations to the U.S. Most were sent to a camp in Crystal City, Texas, in a rather desolate area in the south of the state. Few, if any, could be considered as security threats. According to Russell, the Roosevelt administration viewed their internment as useful bargaining chips in efforts to negotiate the release of American citizens stuck in occupied Europe. Much of Russell's account is viewed through the experiences of two young American-born girls. Of course, the camp was nothing like the work camps and death camps of the Third Reich. Nevertheless, the barbed wire, armed guards, and watch towers made clear to the residents that they were held in prison-like conditions. This is an informative, disturbing, and necessary reminder of the dangers produced by wartime hysteria. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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