Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family (Oregon Reads)

As an Oregon resident, I particularly appreciated this book and the story. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the personal histories of those affected by the WWII internment camps.

Excellent book of the history of the Japanese in Oregon, specifically Hood River. No sugar coating, and Oregon was not the nicest to the Japanese. I gained a lot of respect for incoming minorities.

I recently discovered Stubborn Twig, the featured book in Oregon Reads, a statewide reading project offered in conjunction with Oregon's sesquicentennial celebration. Lauren Kessler has provided a well-researched and compelling multi-generational story of the Yasui family, a Japanese American family headed by patriarch Masuo Yasui. Masuo emigrated to this country in 1903, and eventually settled in the Hood River Valley, Oregon. He built up his power and position in society as a community leader and successful businessman, even while he and his family faced rising anti Japanese sentiment. This culminated in the family's internment during World War II, as a result of President Franklin Roosevelt issuing Executive Order 9066 in mid-February of 1942, calling for the removal of all people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. This book follows the Yasui family through the internment and the war's aftermath, touching on Masuo's legacy to the next two generations. It has only been relatively recently, on August 10, 1988, that then President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act, calling for an official apology to all survivors of the internment, as well as some financial reparations. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to gain an understanding into what is one of the more shameful chapters in our country's history.

This was my book club book this month. Good thing. Otherwise I might not have 1) chosen it...I don't tend to pick up history nonfiction books for my reading, and 2) gotten through the dense first few chapters. I'm so glad I kept reading. Kessler does an amazing job of pulling together an incredible amount of research and interviews to clearly show the history and culture of Japanese immigrants moving to our country as well as their experience here, in the past and up to current time -- all through the lens of one large extended family. I'd certainly heard about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII...but I had no idea of the full extent of what that meant. I think every American should read this book so that we don't ever allow that kind of treatment of our citizens again. This book may well have you reevaluating your own sense of right and wrong and what it means to be prejudiced. And it will have you thinking about your own background & history. Kathie Hightower, co-author of Help! I'm a Military Spouse -- I Get a Life Too! 2d Edition

I found this book while browsing in the stacks one day. I had no idea that Japanese had been imported to build the Railroads in the Northwest during the late 19th and early 20th centuries (this was because Chinese were not available... laws had been passed making their immigration to the US illegal), and mainly ONLY MEN. It was a real eye-opener (I have seen NO such information ever in any US History book I read in school, and I am born and educated in the US -- graduated from UC Berkeley). This book is very easy to read and become engrossed into. I could not do anything else in my spare time other than work on finishing reading this. It goes a long way to filling in much of the missing pieces with Japan of US History before, during, and after WWI and WWII. Most US Citizens NEVER heard of Min Yasui, a newly minted Lawyer and Japanese-American US Citizen (by birth) from Hood River, Oregon, who decided to challenge Executive Order 9066 by deliberately disobeying it, getting arrested, charged, convicted, and put into Solitary Confinement for the duration of WWII even as the US Supreme Court ruled against him regarding the Constitutionality of it. And, yes folks, Executive Order 9066 could be reissued today, against anyone (even you), without Due Process. You too could be treated just like the Yasui's, ripped out of your job and home, have your bank accounts frozen, told you had 48 hours to pack and could only bring what you personally could carry with your hands and nothing more... and then lose your property and home when you could not pay the property taxes (because your Bank Accounts had been frozen by the Federal Government). You say you're a US Citizen? So were the Yasui's (except for Min and his wife, who were prohibited by Federal Law from ever becoming Naturalized Citizens -- a Law that was not changed until 1958!! Whites could, and Blacks after the Civil War in 1865 were added to the list. But Asians were never mentioned anywhere. It didn't say they could not, but it didn't say they could either. It just didn't say... and so the US Supreme Court ruled that Asian Immigrants were EXCLUDED from ever becoming Naturalized US Citizens. Hard to believe? Read about how the Yasui's coped with this issue. And the next time you eat an apple from a box marked HOOD RIVER, OREGON... you will know "the Rest of the Story... ".This book should be Required Reading for anyone taking or even remotely interested in US History.