Small Press & Self-Published Books about WWII

ALAN Review, Fall 2004 by Broz, Bill

Faint in the background of the cream-colored cover is a map of eastern California showing the detail between the towns of Independence and Lone Pine on Route 395, in the remote Owens Valley, in the shadow of Mt. Whitney. The title, simply Our World-Manzanar, California, begins a reading/learning experience like no other I have ever had. I feel the same way every time I open the cover.

From the "Dedication:"

From a dusty wasteland to a lively community, Manzanar had progressed to become an exciting chapter, developing from World War II. This part of the story depicts the temporary wartime life of 10,000 tireless, self-sacrificing residents living in one square mile of barracks. . . .

From the "Forward"

Since that first day when Manzanar High School was called in session, the students and faculty have been trying to approximate in all activities the life we knew "back home." With the publication of this yearbook, we feel that we have really come closer to our goal .... In years to come, when people will ask with real curiosity "What was Manzanar?" we can show them this volume. . . .

The first few pages of montage photos seem pretty ordinary for an old yearbook, teachers posing in front of blackboards, students behind lab tables sporting chemistry apparatus, girls at student events in sweaters and bobby sox. The first things that really rock readers are the senior pictures. Of course, we know the seniors are all Japanese. What we do not think about until we read the captions under the graduates names is that they all should be graduating from some other, normal California high school. Each name is accompanied by the name of the high school that student would have graduated from if he or she had not been imprisoned-"North Hollywood, San Pedro, Van Nuys, Santa Monica, Herbert Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Venice, San Fernando." These are all young Americans who just happen to be of Japanese ancestry. It's a yearbook, an American school yearbook, just like the ones your students want their parents to buy for them this year. There are sections and pictures for each grade down through the seventh, student activities-music, drama, science club, and of course a big section for the journalism and yearbook students. It seems the sports, like sports in any prison, were all intramural. One thing you begin to notice is that almost all of the group shots are taken outside, with the snow-capped Sierras in the background. It would not do to show the temporary, knocked together buildings-and no shots of guards, guns, or barbed wire were allowed-but guards, guns, and barbed wire were part of the Manzanar experience.

Some other incredible special features will grab you. On page 00 we see the Baton Club, the first squad decked out in skirted uniforms and majorette hats, the second squad in back in white tops and dark skirts. On the end of the line is a much younger girl, not a secondary student, a kind of mascot. This, according to Diane Honda, is Jeanne Wakatsuki, Jeanne Wakatsuki who was inspired by this yearbook to write, Farewell to Manzanar. And what about first semester senior class officer Ralph Lazo. Not a Japanese name, not a Japanese face. To quote some of the new supplementary material in the back of Our World, after stowing away on the internment train, "Ralph [. . .] went with his buddies from Belmont HS in Los Angeles to Manzanar. [. . .] the only Mexican-Irish American to voluntarily place himself in camp out of loyalties to his buddies." Fellow Manzanar senior William Hohri eulogized Lazo at the 50th class reunion saying: "When 140 million Americans turned their backs on us and excluded us into remote, desolate prison camps, the separation was absolute-almost. Ralph Lazo's presence among us said, No, not everyone." The unique features of this teaching artifact go on and on. Some of the wide-angle shots of the Sierras seem really well done-many were taken by a very talented Japanese professional photographer (also interned) Toyo Miyatake. And then of course there was Ansel Adams who was invited by camp director Ralph Merritt to take photographs for historical purposes. Not every high school yearbook has photographs like that.