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When Can We Go Back to America?

Voices of Japanese American Incarceration during World War II

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The searing stories of Japanese American resilience

". . . now, for the first time ever, you can learn in one place about the entire trajectory of the Japanese American experience. . . . And their stories will come alive for you, as you read about their thoughts and feelings, in their own words, as the situation was unfolding."

— Foreword by Secretary Norman Y. Mineta

STARRED REVIEW

“This landmark historical account shines a light on a part of American history that must be remembered.”

Kirkus Reviews

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Reviews

  • Kamei's narrative nonfiction work dives deeply into what it means to be American, then and always. This comprehensive and engaging history of Japanese incarceration during and beyond WWII is essential for all collections.

    School Library Journal
    * Starred review *

  • Kamei...interweaves a personal framework, an impressive array of first-person stories, and painstaking research to craft this authoritative, unblinking account of the incarceration of approximately 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry in the U.S. between 1942 and 1946. This is a truly remarkable, comprehensive resource with an emphasis on allyship, indispensable for researchers and any resistor of injustice.

    Publishers Weekly
    * Starred review *

  • "When Can We Go Back to America?" provides readers with an immersive look at the experience of Japanese incarceration during World War II. Teeming with first-hand accounts of both the experience in the camps and the fight over what incarceration did and should mean to the American nation as a whole, Susan Kamei’s book is an invaluable resource for any related history course. In addition, thanks to the richness of the material captured in a single volume, the text is brimming with opportunities to teach critical thinking skills suitable for any History or English course.

    Jason LaBau
    Waterford School, Sandy, Utah

  • As a US History teacher, I consider "When Can We Go Back to America?" to be a valuable teaching reference. Kamei’s strength as a legal scholar comes through in making the historical context and legal significance of key court cases accessible to high school students. The work motivates us to apply the lessons learned to current events and inspires us to consider ways we could act in allyship with other communities.

    Russell Spinney
    The Thatcher School, Ojai, California

  • The voices of the incarcerated Japanese Americans in "When Can We Go Back to America?" pack a gut-wrenching punch. Their raw emotions force the reader to step back and consider what it is like to be imprisoned by the US government for an indeterminate time without regard to one’s innocence. The power of their stories compel us to face up to our country’s past, a necessary step towards having a more just society today and in the future.

    Ronald K. Ikejiri
    Attorney and former Washington, DC representative of the Japanese American Citizens League

  • The incarceration of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry is often characterized as a tragic “mistake” arising from wartime hysteria. Susan Kamei’s absorbing page-turner reveals that what happened was no mistake—the reasons asserted to justify forcing these Americans at gunpoint into concentration camps were entirely made up—and the government knew it at the time. She deftly synthesizes crisp historical narrative with powerful first-person accounts to illustrate the perils to democracy when “alternative facts” hold sway over the real ones.

    Donald K. Tamaki
    2020 American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award winner and member of the team that overturned the wartime conviction of Fred Korematsu of the Korematsu Supreme Court case

  • "When Can We Go Back to America?" is a remarkable blend of scholarly analysis and popular narrative. At a time when Asian Americans face new threats in their own homeland, "When Can We Go Back to America?" is a bracing reminder of the challenges facing minorities—and their hard-earned successes.

    Robert Asahina
    Author of Just Americans: How Japanese Americans Won a War at Home and Abroad

  • A tour de force account of the Japanese American incarceration experience during WWII from the perspective of those who lived through forced removal, indefinite confinement, unjust deportation, and in some cases, family separation. With scholarly precision and a compelling narrative, When Can We Go Back to America? is a must read for anyone interested in America’s legacy of racial exclusion and the nation's struggle to perfect the union.

    Duncan Ryūken Williams
    Author of American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War

  • "When Can We Go Back to America?" is spell-binding tour de force that illuminates the heart-wrenching reality of lives forever changed by a national atrocity of inhumane proportions. In drawing upon first-hand accounts of those incarcerated, Kamei has created a moving record that shows the consequences of unchecked political power.

    A. Kirsten Mullen and William A. Darity Jr.
    Authors of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-first Century

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About the book

During World War II, the United States government imprisoned more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living on the Pacific Coast just because of their race. The voices of those who lived through this experience—many of them children, teenagers, and young adults who were US citizens—illuminate the frightening reality and enduring tragedy of this dark period in American history. Through their stories, you will confront how and why an unconstitutional, large-scale, racially-based incarceration occurred in our country founded on principles of justice and freedom. Now more than ever, their voices will resonate as our society grapples with questions about racial identity, immigration, citizenship, and what it means to be an American.

About Susan Kamei

SUSAN H. KAMEI’s family members were forcibly removed from their homes and detained by the US government during World War II on the basis of their Japanese heritage. Susan was a leader in the campaign for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that acknowledged these wrongful actions and provided token reparation payments to the survivors of the wartime detention.

She continues her commitment to educating the public about this shameful episode in our country’s history and to creating greater awareness of why our civil liberties need to be protected now more than ever.

Susan Kamei at blackboard

Photo by Rebecca Little