The Hood River Issei: An Oral History of Japanese Settlers in Oregon's Hood River Valley

An excellent, insightful collection of American stories gleaned from oral histories of the small-town community of Hood River, Oregon. Tamura herself has family from this area. Her scholarly eye focuses on the early immigrants of Japanese ancestry from the early 1900s, whose pioneering spirit and ingenuity helped them to survive the travails of the 1900s, including the Great Depression and en masse incarceration during World War II. A must read, in my opinion, for anyone seeking to study about this period in American history. I must reveal my bias, as a descendant of two of the featured "isseis," in the book. I personally do not know the author, but learned that first generation members of our families were friends. I was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, but grew up visiting Hood River with family, and have seen this town change over the past 30 years. My family and I have found the book to be honest and revealing into my grandparents' lives. The book peers into the lives of the extended "issei" community, who are now all but gone in the year 2006, but live on through stories such as those found in this book.